THE firm behind the controversial Atkins diet has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US amid claims the low-carbohydrate food trend is falling out of fashion.
The organisation, which owes around $300 million (£170 million), has blamed rival products which it says have hit sales. It says it will re-emerge as a smaller company with fewer products. However dieticians in this country say Atkins is a victim of
changing food fads which have left it behind.
It is a far cry from the late 1990s when the Atkins diet swept the developed world with the promise that you could lose weight while still enjoying foods traditionally thought to pile on the pounds.
Launched in 1989 by Dr Robert Atkins, who died two years ago, the diet told those wishing to lose weight they should replace carbohydrates such as bread and pasta with proteins like meat and dairy products.
The food fashion rapidly attracted a host of celebrity followers including Jennifer Aniston, Renee Zellweger and Geri Halliwell, who revelled in a diet that allowed them to eat cream, bacon and other foods normally banned for those wishing to lose weight.
The trend spawned an entire industry of low-carb products and by last year around three million people in the UK were estimated to have experimented with the system.
So great was the public appetite for this new "miracle" diet that producers of foods that were high in carbohydrate began to suffer economically.
In 2003, at the height of the Atkins craze, the amount of bread produced in Britain dropped by 200,000 tons in a year. The trend hit the US potato industry with 2003 prices 14 per cent lower than the previous year, while the nation's flour producers also saw demand drop.
But the high-fat content of the menus and the lack of fruit and vegetables led many health experts to express concerns about its long-term safety.
When the system's founder, Robert Atkins, died from a fall in 2003, rumours abounded his high-fat diet had played a part in his demise.
Now consumers appear to be turning their backs on low-carb eating. At the end of last month bakers reported a 10 per cent rise in the popularity of wholegrain breads. Food watchdogs have found that more people are accepting the importance of eating fruit and vegetables, the intake of which is severely restricted under Atkins.
It has also emerged that those who once declared the benefits of Atkins are finding the diet difficult to stick to. A report published by market analysts Mintel in October highlighted the high drop-out rate of low- carb diets.
Just 2.8 per cent of those questioned were on a low carb regime such as the Atkins diet. Another 10 per cent said they had followed one of the diets but had given up, with only 1 per cent willing to try again.
Jacqui Lowdon, spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, said Atkins was the victim of changing food fads.
"People get bored. I don't think there's anything you can do about that," she said. "People want a magic wand or pill to make them lose weight without any work, but that doesn't exist."
Nutritionists say the long-term practicality of the diet along with associated costs and changing health awareness have all played a part in the downfall of Atkins. The UK arm of the company went into administration in January.
Professor Annie Anderson, director of the Centre for Public Health Nutrition Research at Dundee University, said: "From a nutrition point of view, there is no good long-term data on the efficacy of the Atkins diet.
"It does help people lose weight in the short term and that's what most consumers are interested in. So although medical advice says to be cautious, I don't think that will have had much impact. My impression is that the whole Atkins business has gone too far and invested more into its products than people are prepared to buy into."
In June, the Advertising Standards Authority called for an advert for the Atkins diet to be pulled because its claim that followers could "enjoy a healthier lifestyle" could not be proved.
Prof Anderson said Atkins worked in the short term because cutting carbohydrates meant calorie intake was reduced. She added:
"One of the problems with Atkins is that it is so different from what we eat in our society's normal social contexts that people can't stick to it, so they will come off it, then go back on it in the short term."
Other food experts said there was some evidence that dieters were taking on board messages about a balanced diet, which could be impacting on systems such as Atkins, which promote one food type over another.
A spokeswoman for the Food Standards Agency Scotland said the organisation had noted increased public awareness of the harmful effects of fat and of the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables, which are largely excluded by the Atkins regime.
However, booksellers report sales of the Atkins diet book are still doing well and the British Dietetic Association warned that people were always going to look for a "quick fix" solution to obesity.
Atkins Nutritionals president and chief executive Mark Rodriguez said the company had in the past year "adjusted our organisation to accommodate a smaller business" and would promote its brands "more broadly for consumers who are concerned about health and wellness".
After it surfaces from bankruptcy, the company, based in Ronkonkoma, New York, will focus on its nutrition bars and shakes, he said.
New diet trendsAS THE Atkins diet looks set to end up on the compost heap of food fads, an abundance of new eating trends have sprung up to replace it.
One of the most popular at the moment is the "glycaemic index (GI) diet".
Followers choose foodstuffs according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating.
Originally developed for diabetics, the diet has benefits for weight control because foods with a low GI count raise sugar levels more slowly and help delay hunger.
Nutritionists say the diet is basically healthy, but have expressed concerns it can be too complicated for people to follow correctly.
The "raw food revolution" is one of the latest trends among celebrity dieters. Uma Thurman, Demi Moore and Natalie Portman have all been linked with the system which says ingredients such as beef, venison and fish should not be cooked.
In America, there are advocates who believe eating raw meat even has the potential to reverse heart disease and can cure diabetes, however health experts claim uncooked meat can carry diseases.
For those with willpower, the transformation of TV's Carol Vorderman has persuaded many to follow her detox diet plan - giving up carbohydrates, dairy products, meat, caffeine and alcohol for 28 days, which dieticians say should make anyone lose weight - if they can stick to it.
