Alleged Atkins Diet Victim Files Suit

Jody Gorran, a 53-year-old businessman is suing Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. and the estate of Robert C.

Atkins, M.D., for negligent misrepresentation, product liability, and deceptive and unfair trade practices. The suit charges that Gorran's total and LDL-cholesterol levels shot up from very low to abnormally high within two months he began following the Atkins diet, but he continued using it because passages in Atkins's book and Web site reassured him that it was safe to do so. About two years later, Gorran developed angina and required angioplasty to unblock a coronary artery that had nearly closed. His suit seeks damages plus a court order to force Atkins's books, Web sites, and product promotions to warn that low-carbohydrate diets can be hazardous to health and increase the blood level of LDL-cholesterol.

ATKINS NUTRITIONALS, INC. and PAUL D. WOLFF, Solely in his Representative Capacity as Co-Executor of the Estate of Robert C. Atkins, M.D.,

Plaintiff, Jody Gorran, hereby sues defendants Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. and Paul D. Wolff, solely in Mr. Wolff's representative capacity as co-executor of the Estate of Robert C. Atkins, M.D., and alleges as follows:

2. Defendant, Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.

("Atkins, Inc."), is, upon information and belief, a New York corporation with a principal place of business in Ronkonkoma, NY.

3. Defendant, Paul D. Wolff, having a principal place of business in Ronkonkoma, NY, is sued solely in his representative capacity as co-executor of the Estate of Robert C. Atkins, M.D. ("Atkins Estate").

4. Atkins, Inc., the Atkins Estate, and, prior to Dr. Atkins' death, Dr. Atkins personally, conducted a nationwide coordinated business enterprise throughout all 50 states, including Florida, and in each and every county of Florida, including Palm Beach County (the "Atkins Business").

5. The purpose, intent and plan of the Atkins Business was to profit through the sale of various diet-related products to Florida customers and others worldwide. The diet is called The Atkins Nutritional Approach™ (the "Atkins diet"), trademarked by Atkins, Inc.

6. The diet was conceived by Dr. Atkins in the 1970s and was originally marketed in the form of various products including books, nutritional supplements, herbs and minerals.

The diet was also used to promote Dr. Atkins' medical clinic in New York City.

7. By 1998, the Atkins Business had become far more sophisticated. By that point, Dr. Atkins and Atkins, Inc., through their Web site (www.atkins.com). were running a coordinated advertising and marketing campaign in Florida and nationwide to convince the public to follow the Atkins diet and buy a series of products, including Atkins' books and other products sold by Atkins, Inc.

8. As set forth on the Atkins, Inc. Web site:

was established to provide controlled carbohydrate foods and natural supplements, herbs and minerals to a growing population of people who do and to support the practice of complementary medicine in the United States.

See, http://atkins.com/Archive/200l/12/21-267286.html (accessed on April 26, 2004) (Exhibit A).

9. Since that time Atkins, Inc. has licensed the Atkins Business name and diet to other business organizations in exchange for licensing fees and the financial benefits of cross-promotion by sellers of various products, including food.

10. The Atkins diet is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. The promise of the Atkins diet is that you can eat all you want, lose weight and stay healthy, so long as you restrict carbohydrates. As Atkins, Inc. states on its Web site:

Deprivation is no fun. Once the biological gap between hunger and fulfillment grows too large, the rebound can be rapid, as well as heartbreaking and humiliating. But that's the problem with diets that restrict quantities. The Atkins program refuses to accept hunger as a way of life.

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The AMA Council on Foods and Nutrition , Consumer Reports , and many individual experts have warned that the unlimited intake of saturated fats under Atkins' food plan can increase the dieter's risk of heart disease. In 2000, experts at the University of Kentucky did a computer analysis of a week's worth of sample menus and reported that the diet contained 59% fat and provided fewer servings of grains, vegetables, and fruits than recommended by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Noting that the diet could produce short-term weight loss, they thought that long-term use would probably increase the risk of both cardiovascular disease and cancer . However, clinical trials have not upheld this prediction.

Another study was done by researchers at the Bassett Research Institute in Cooperstown, New York, who followed 18 Atkins dieters for a month. During the 2-week induction period, the dieters consumed 1,419 calories a day, compared with 2,481 calories a day before starting the diet, and lost an average of about 8 pounds. In the next phase, dieters averaged 1,500 calories a day and lost an additional 3 pounds in two weeks. Dieters in both phases cut back on carbohydrates by more than 90%, but the actual amounts of fat and protein they ate changed little. Some patients felt tired, and some were nauseated on the plan. Most indicated that they were eager to go back to their regular diet .

Another study found that (a) 41 overweight people who followed the Atkins diet for six months lost an average of 10% of their initial body weight; (b) most lowered their blood cholesterol level by 5%; (c) some increased their cholesterol level; and (d) 20 subjects who continued the program had maintained their weight loss at the end of a year .

In yet another study, researchers who compile the National Weight Control Registry analyzed the diets of 2,681 members who had maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for a year or more. Because the Atkins diet had been used for more than 30 years, the researchers reasoned that, if it worked, its followers would be well represented. However, they found that only 25 (1%) of these successful people had followed a diet with less than 24% of their daily calories in the form of carbohydrates. The mean duration of successful weight maintenance in this low-carbohydrate group was 19 months, whereas the mean duration of dieters who consumed more than 24% of their daily calories as carbohydrates was 36 months. Because so few Atkins dieters were found in the Registry, the researchers concluded that the Atkins diet may not create the favorable "metabolic advantage" claimed for it .

The nutrition committee of the American Heart Association has issued a science advisory warning that high-protein diets have not been proven effective and pose health risks. The report covered the Atkins, Zone, Protein Power, Sugar Busters, and Stillman diets.

In 1999. Atkins set up a foundation

In 2002, a 6-month study funded found that followers of the Atkins diet lost more weight than comparable people on a high-carbohydrate diet and improved their blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels . However, the dropout rate was much higher in the low-carbohydrate group and the improved lipid levels did not necessarily mean that the diet would have a cardioprotective effect in the long run . In response to publicity about the study, the American Heart Association cautioned:

The study did not actually compare the Atkins diet with the current AHA dietary recommendations .

In July 2003, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania reported the results of a controlled study of 63 people who were randomly assigned to either the Atkins diet or a conventional diet. The low-carbohydrate (Atkins) group lost about 4% more weight for the first 6 months, but there was no significant difference between two groups at 1 year. The low-carbohydrate diet appeared to improve risk factors for heart disease, but the authors concluded that more research was needed on the safety and effectiveness of this regimen . In June 2004, Philippe O. Szapary, M.D., an assistant professor who was part of the University of Pennsylvania team, told me:

Two one-year clinical trials that compared the Atkins diet with several other popular diets have found that each could achieve modest weight loss and improvement in cardiac risk factors for participants who were relatively compliant . In the first study, the average loss ranged from 4.6 pounds for the Atkins dieters to 7.3 pounds for the Ornish dieters. In the second study, the average ranged from 10.3 pounds for the Atkins group to 4.8 pounds for the Ornish group . A meta-analysis that included the first of these studies plus four others concluded:

The importance of careful monitoring is illustrated by the case of Jody Gorran, a 53-year-old Florida business executive who sued Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. and Atkins's estate for negligent misrepresentation, product liability, and deceptive and unfair trade practices. The suit, filed in 2004, charges that Gorran's total and LDL-cholesterol levels shot up from very low to abnormally high within two months after he began following the Atkins diet, but he continued using it because passages in Atkins's book and Web site reassured him that it was safe to do so. About two years later, he developed angina and required angioplasty to unblock a coronary artery that had nearly closed. His suit sought damages plus a court order to force Atkins's books, Web sites, and product promotions to warn that low-carbohydrate diets can be hazardous to health and increase the blood level of LDL-cholesterol . The court ruled that the diet consists of "ideas and advice" that are protected by the First Amendment .

In July 2008, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of the first two-year study involving a low-carbohydrate diet. The study compared a low-carbohydrate diet, a 30%-fat diet recommended by the American Heart Association, and a 35%-fat "Mediterranean" diet that included portions of olive oil and nuts. Among the 272 participants who completed the study, the average weight loss was about 6.3 pounds for the low-fat group, 9.7 pounds for the Mediterranean-diet group, and 10.3 pounds for the low-carbohydrate group, and the low-fat group showed less improvement than the other groups in blood cholesterol levels . Many news reports have represented this study as showing that Atkins was right and that the low-carbohydate diet scored better than the others. However, such conclusions are simplistic. The actual average dietary fat content of the three groups turned out to be 30% for the "low-fat" group, 33% for the Mediterranean diet group and 40% for the low-carbohydrate group. The amount of weight lost was small, differences among the groups were not large, and the study was done with close monitoring and may not reflect what happens when people diet on their own. The study merely adds to the evidence that a 40%-fat, low-carbohydrate diet can be an alternative to a 30%-fat diet, which I would consider to be moderate rather than low in fat. Although the low-carbohydrate diet was said to be based on the Atkins diet, using Atkins's books to construct one's diet would probably result in a diet that is 45% to 60% fat.

Atkins advocated his diet for more than 30 years and stated that more than 60,000 patients treated at his center had used his diet as their primary protocol. However, he never published any study in which people who used his program were monitored over a period of several years. It would not have been difficult for him to compile simple data, but I have seen no evidence that did so. Recent studies of up to two years have found that low-carbohydrate diets can produce modest weight loss and reduction in cardiac risk factors, which means that they are safer than previously thought. However, it has not yet been determined whether such diets are safe for long-term use or can reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease.

atkinsfacts.org: Archive of documents about the Atkins diet

Four steps to a healthy new lifestyle. Atkins Center Web site, accessed April 2001 through February 2005.

White PL. A critique of low-carbohydrate ketogenic weight reduction regimens: A review of Dr. Atkins' diet revolution.

Hellmich N. Success of Atkins diet is in the calories. USA Today, Nov 8, 2000.

Robert C. Atkins, M.D., world-famous nutrition expert and best-selling author dies at 72. Atkins Center news release, April 17, 2003.

Fumento M. Hold the lard: The Atkins diet still doesn't work.

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Now, I've been on the Atkins program before, I've promoted the Atkins program, but I found it very difficult to stay on because I was craving the carbohydrates and the different types of food.

Trudeau: Now, you were just talking in the green room earlier about how this makes the Atkins program --

Trudeau: -- you said Dr. Atkins doesn't even know this -- work even faster and better.

Barefoot: I'm a diehard advocate of the Atkins program because you can explain scientifically it really works. The trouble is, is that when you back off on carbs, the carbs you're backing off of, fruits and vegetables, are so crucial to the human body and that's what you're going to be craving.

Barefoot: It's been my experience that when people get on the coral, they're 10 times as likely to succeed with the Atkins Diet as if they're not on the coral, because suddenly the cravings disappear, as you said, because you're getting supplemented by the coral.

A diet that just won't go away, though often disparaged by nutritionists, is Dr. Robert Atkins' low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet, first published in 1972, and recycled in recent years as "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution." Carbohydrates are Atkins' arch villian.

The diet's popularity stems from the rapid weight loss that comes from water depletion of the cells and a breakdown of lean body mass. The body produces ketones from fat in an effort to fuel activity and slow the breakdown of lean tissue. Since Atkins' diet is deficient in many nutrients, he recommends an extensive list of vitamin and mineral supplements ó which he just happens to sell. He admits his dieters may experience constipation, fatigue, and insomnia. Other complications associated with low carb diets are ketosis, dehydration, electrolyte loss, calcium depletion, weakness, nausea, and possibly kidney problems. Fortunately, most people will not stick with this diet for long.

Robert Atkins, MD

Barrett: As far as I know, Atkins has never done a systematic study of his diet and submitted the results to a recognized mainstream journal.

Robert C Atkins, MD

On July 27, 2002, I noticed that Trudeau hosted cable TV infomercials for an Atkins system and the Acceleron™/Carb Trapper Plus® Weight Loss System, both of which he said had helped him whereas others had not. From the front he he did not look overweight, but the side views shown during the Acceleron/Carb Trapper promotion suggested to me that he was about at least 20 pounds overweight.