Wednesday, April 9, 2003 · Last updated 2:49 p.m. PT

Diet Promoter Robert Atkins Hospitalized

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- Low-carbohydrate diet promoter Dr. Robert Atkins was
hospitalized Wednesday with severe head injuries after falling on an icy
sidewalk, his spokesman said.

Atkins, 72, slipped and fell Tuesday outside the Atkins Center for
Complementary Medicine, spokesman Richard Rothstein said.

"He was negotiating the snow and ice and failed in that negotiation,"
Rothstein said.

A colleague rushed Atkins to New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he
underwent surgery for severe head trauma, Rothstein said.

The extent of Atkins' impairment was unknown, he said.

"He's in recovery now, and the doctors are telling us that it will be a day
or two days or three days before we have the answers to these questions,"
Rothstein said.

Atkins is the author of the best-selling "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution."

The Atkins diet emphasizes meat, eggs and cheese and discourages bread, rice
and fruit. Long a source of controversy among nutritional experts who have
favored a low-fat, high-carbohydrate approach, the diet recently gained
adherents after several studies showed that people lost weight on it without
compromising their health.



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