Letter: Profit-driven diets are dubious

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 | 9:25 a.m.

Old Abe was right: "You can't fool all the people all the time." The company founded by diet guru Robert Atkins, after subverting America's best nutritional consensus, has wound up in bankruptcy court.

The Atkins high-protein diet craze peaked in early 2004, when more than 9 percent of U.S. adults subscribed to such diet, according to market research firm NPD Group. That figure declined gradually to 2.2 percent last month after a consumer advocacy group released a medical examiner's report showing that Atkins was overweight and suffered of heart disease.

Over the past three decades, a dozen expert panels reviewing thousands of diet and health studies concluded that Americans should replace meat and dairy products in their diet with vegetables, fresh fruits and whole grains. None reached the opposite conclusion.

We must be vigilant for entrepreneurs who exploit our obsession with physical appearance to promote profit-driven agendas. The price we pay, beyond an inflated food bill, is lifelong chronic afflictions and a curtailed life span. Let's hope this lesson isn't too late for victims of the Atkins diet.

CALVIN SOUTHERTON