Diet doctor Atkins injured in fall

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.

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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On the Net

Atkins center: atkinscenter.com/