Of all the things people do to their bodies, nothing - including smoking, alcohol or drug use - elicits as much anger and emotional content as what we eat.

 

Since humans sat around in caves or around campfires, we have tied so much of who we think we are by the foods we provide to our families. There have been times in history that being under tall - you know, fat? - was a sign not only of wealth but of health.

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The pendulum of this argument about how much you weigh, what you eat, and how important you are, have dovetailed together so tightly that it is no wonder we have the term food fight.

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After decades of research looking at the various components of the ITIR factors producing ITIRDs, I found myself presented with the results of study participants who thought they were doing the right thing by following diets that were made popular by individuals promoting their diets as the way to lose weight and thus, be healthy.

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As you will hear in the following interview, there was no science to support this position and the primary proponent of one of these diets was Dr. Atkins.

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Dr. Atkins who had been overweight for many years found a diet regimen promoted by Mr. William Banting, who in 1862 promoted a low-carb, high-fat diet.

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Mr. Banting had been under tall all of his live. He died that way. Banting it turns out was a British casket maker and following his death, he needed a double wide casket to be buried.

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Undeterred, perhaps because he didn't know or didn't care, Dr. Robert Atkins who was a general practitioner (he completed an internship year after his medical education), sought ways to lose weight. When he tried the Banting diet, Atkins lost weight. 

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One of the last patients Dr. Atkins saw before going on a week of holiday, was a woman who asked how Atkins had lost weight. She too was under tall and was trying to do something about it.

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When Atkins returned from his week away from the office, the woman who had lost weight following the Banting diet had written an article for a major newspaper. You see,  the woman was a reporter.

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With that, the Atkins Diet was born.

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Atkins had written several books and was happy with his success. He had not conducted any research on what other effects the diet had on people and despite concerns he promoted The Atkins Diet.

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So in the late 1990s, when I was continuing to ask questions and work through the details of what did and did not reverse or promote heart disease - as actually measured using the early versions of FMTVDM - I was surprised when 10 of the 26 patients I had enrolled in a study to determine the effect of diets controlling for calories (10kCal/pound/day), protein (15%), carbohydrate (70%) and fat (15%), got worse.

 

It turned out that these 10 individuals thought they were helping me. They had heard that the Atkins Diet was good for you, so they followed that diet instead of the diet the other 16 individuals followed.

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The result was published after being peer-reviewed and on the 6th of October 2000, I met Dr. Atkins in the Green Room of The Today Show.

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The meeting was unusual for several reasons. First, he was not involved in the study. The producers of the program called me the day after scheduling the interview to let me know Dr. Atkins had heard I would be on the program and he wanted to appear. The producers wanted to know if I was alright with that and I said it's your program, you have the right to have whoever you want on the program and I didn't want to put them in an awkward position with Atkins.

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Secondly, I was not introduced to him in the Green Room. Instead I saw a nutritionist introduce herself to him. She held out a green apple to which he responded as if someone had put a cobra in his face. A little dramatic I thought, but, alright.

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Third, I was told they would not put Atkins and me in the same room. He was put in another room with a monitor. Katie Couric was to my right and his monitor was to my left. An interesting interview indeed.

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Atkins had his nutritionist with him - I was told he went everywhere with her - and following the interview posted below, the producers asked me if I had time to do another interview with Atkins at MSNBC.

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I agreed to the second interview, which was done after The Today Show program and immediately before heading to the airport to return home.

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The reason for giving these last few facts before showing you the Katie Couric interview, was to make the following point.

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Katie Couric asked about the increased homocysteine - and other changes - in an effort to determine if the difference was the result of the diet differences or something else.

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Homocysteine, which is a marker of a failing immune system, an early marker of cancer, and a marker of an InflammoThrombotic Immunologic Response (ITIR), increases when one or more of the following three following vitamins is depleted:

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Pyridoxine; aka Vitamin B6

Folate; aka folacine or Vitamin B9, and/or

Cobalamin; aka Vitamin B12

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During the second interview at MSNBC, after traveling with his nutritionist, Dr. Atkins offered the following explanation for why people following his diet had increased homocysteine (Hcy) levels.

 

Dr. Atkins said the reason people on his diet had increased in their Hcy levels, was that they were not getting enough Vitamin B12.

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I want you to think about that for just a moment because people on a high-protein diet, might have too little B6 and they might have too little Folate; but they would never be deficient of Vitamin B12. Meat is loaded with B12.

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After more than an hour following our Today Show interview, with his nutritionist at his side, Dr. Atkins picked the only wrong answer out of three choices.

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He had a 66-2/3rds chance of getting the right answer just by guessing - and he picked the only wrong answer.​

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​Unfortunately, like The Today Show program, Atkins and I were kept in separate rooms at MSNBC. To add to the day, our monitors did not work. We could not see each other even though the audience could see both of us.

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I would have loved to have seen the interview and if anyone has a copy, please let me know - I really would like to see it because my nuclear tech (Larry) told me Atkins face was red and his neck veins were standing out. I understand it was quite the site to see. A prelude perhaps to what happened.