Dr. Robert Atkins didn’t invent low-carb dieting. William Banting (1797-1878) sparked a low-carb diet craze in London with his low-carb weight-loss diet, first published in 1863. Even that probaby wasn’t the first low-carb diet.
According to Wikipedia, Banting was a distant relative of Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin in 1921.
Mr. Banting attributes his successful program design to a “medical gentleman,” Mr. Harvey, of Soho Square, London.
Click to read Mr. Banting’s 1865 “Letter on Corpulence” at Internet Archive.
Diabetic Mediterranean Diet 