Dieter Sues Atkins Estate and Company [View All]

[PfcHammer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/national/27atkins.html?ex=1086235200&en=8399bbe637d87537&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

Dieter Sues Atkins Estate and Company
By MARIAN BURROS

Published: May 27, 2004

A 53-year-old man sued the estate of Dr. Robert C. Atkins and the company that promotes his diet yesterday. The suit says following the Atkins diet for two years raised the man's cholesterol so much that his arteries became clogged and required a medical procedure to open them.

The suit is apparently the first to involve the diet, the most prominent and controversial low-carbohydrate regimen and the one most associated with assertions that followers could eat all the red meat and saturated fat they wanted and still lose weight.

The plaintiff, Jody Gorran, who is being assisted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an advocacy group that supports a vegan diet, is seeking $28,000 in damages. Mr. Gorran said he was using the suit to tell other people about the dangers of the diet and to have its promoters include warnings in books, other products and Web sites.

Mr. Gorran, of Delray Beach, Fla., said that in 2001, when his weight crept up to 148 from 140 he turned to the diet, specifically, the 1999 edition of "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution." After two months he said, his cholesterol shot from 146, well within the normal range, to 230, considered in the hazardous range.


bacon & eggs ain't for everyone