Well, this certainly isn't great press for the Atkins Diet.... (1 Viewer)

[Mark Lee]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/diet....iet/index.html
Though the press release asserts it had nothing to do with the Diet....

 

[Jason Handy]

....and Jerry Garcia died of "natural causes"...

P.S. I am not trying to make jokes about the seriousness of anybody being hospitalized. I think it is terrible that he has fallen ill, but I couldn't help but comment on the irony in the article.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

I knew that somebody would be posting about this. The guy is 71 and has a heart infection. I don't think that the Atkins diet will cause a heart infection. It would be interesting to know if he has a family history of heart disease, however.

 

[Mark Lee]

No, I doubt the Atkins Diet would be responsible if, in fact, his cardiac arrest was secondary to an infection, though I'm rather curious as to the exact details of this "infection." The first thing that comes to mind would be some manner of endocarditis, with resulting valvular complications. Such a condition, left uncorrected long enough, could certainly lead to global heart problems severe enough to lead to a cardiac arrest down the road.
I have no reason to doubt the diagnosis coming from the mouth of a physician treating Dr. Atkins. I would have a bit of skepticism, though, if it were coming solely from Dr. Atkins' circle. Atherosclerotic heart disease would not exactly be a great selling point for his diet....