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It was, many agreed, the perfect diet. From the Hollywood film star who needed to squeeze into that Oscar-night dress to the truck driver who couldn't start the day without a plate of bacon and eggs, Atkins was for you.
Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell seemed to go from well-built to waif overnight, while Jennifer Aniston, Victoria Beckham, Renee Zellweger and even former US vice-president Al Gore were said to have used the diet to slim down.
For a while there seemed to be no stopping the low-carbohydrate lifestyle.
But if evidence were ever needed of the fickleness of the diet market and changing fashions in the fight against flab, it came on Monday.
The once mighty Atkins Nutritionals Inc, the multimillion-dollar company that produces the low-carb products that feed the diet craze, filed for bankruptcy protection in a Manhattan court after recording a loss of $US340 million ($A446 million) last year.
The company faltered as the diet fad it helped to create started to wane and sales of low-carb products slowed in the second half of last year.
Advertisement
AdvertisementThe decision to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection allows the company time to reorganise itself by giving it protection from its creditors.
It comes less than six months after administrators were appointed to the British arm of Atkins Nutritionals after the business was hit by poor sales and heavy debts.
About 30 million people in the US and 3 million in Britain are believed to have tried the Atkins diet. It advocates high meat, fish and egg consumption, and severely limits carbohydrates such as bread, rice, pasta and starchy vegetables.
The plan was the brainchild of Robert Atkins, an American cardiologist who, at the age of 33, looked in the mirror and decided he didn't like the portly, triple-chinned creature staring back.
He embarked on the revolutionary low-carb diet after reading a research paper in a medical journal and shed the pounds. His first book, Dr Atkins' Diet Revolution, published in 1972, became an instant bestseller.
But it was not until the late 1990s that the business really took off. In 1998 Dr Atkins formed Atkins Nutritionals to create food for those on his diet. Its revenues eventually reached a reported $100 million.
But while the medical profession has been consistently sceptical of the low-carb lifestyle, the company's current troubles can perhaps be traced back to April 18, 2002, when, after a breakfast of bacon, sausages and eggs, Dr Atkins' heart stopped and he collapsed in his Manhattan apartment.
He was rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed as having suffered a heart attack.
Worse was to come both for the doctor and for the diet. In April 2003, Dr Atkins slipped on an icy New York pavement, fell into a coma and died.
His medical records, released "in error" by the New York medical examiner's office, indicated that he weighed more than 115 kilograms and was suffering from heart disease.
- Guardian
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It was, many agreed, the perfect diet. From the Hollywood film star who needed to squeeze into that Oscar-night dress to the truck driver who couldn't start the day without a plate of bacon and eggs, Atkins was for you.
Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell seemed to go from well-built to waif overnight, while Jennifer Aniston, Victoria Beckham, Renee Zellweger and even former US vice-president Al Gore were said to have used the diet to slim down.
For a while there seemed to be no stopping the low-carbohydrate lifestyle.
But if evidence were ever needed of the fickleness of the diet market and changing fashions in the fight against flab, it came on Monday.
The once mighty Atkins Nutritionals Inc, the multimillion-dollar company that produces the low-carb products that feed the diet craze, filed for bankruptcy protection in a Manhattan court after recording a loss of $US340 million ($A446 million) last year.
The company faltered as the diet fad it helped to create started to wane and sales of low-carb products slowed in the second half of last year.
Advertisement
AdvertisementThe decision to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection allows the company time to reorganise itself by giving it protection from its creditors.
It comes less than six months after administrators were appointed to the British arm of Atkins Nutritionals after the business was hit by poor sales and heavy debts.
About 30 million people in the US and 3 million in Britain are believed to have tried the Atkins diet. It advocates high meat, fish and egg consumption, and severely limits carbohydrates such as bread, rice, pasta and starchy vegetables.
The plan was the brainchild of Robert Atkins, an American cardiologist who, at the age of 33, looked in the mirror and decided he didn't like the portly, triple-chinned creature staring back.
He embarked on the revolutionary low-carb diet after reading a research paper in a medical journal and shed the pounds. His first book, Dr Atkins' Diet Revolution, published in 1972, became an instant bestseller.
But it was not until the late 1990s that the business really took off. In 1998 Dr Atkins formed Atkins Nutritionals to create food for those on his diet. Its revenues eventually reached a reported $100 million.
But while the medical profession has been consistently sceptical of the low-carb lifestyle, the company's current troubles can perhaps be traced back to April 18, 2002, when, after a breakfast of bacon, sausages and eggs, Dr Atkins' heart stopped and he collapsed in his Manhattan apartment.
He was rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed as having suffered a heart attack.
Worse was to come both for the doctor and for the diet. In April 2003, Dr Atkins slipped on an icy New York pavement, fell into a coma and died.
His medical records, released "in error" by the New York medical examiner's office, indicated that he weighed more than 115 kilograms and was suffering from heart disease.
- Guardian
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