US businessman files suit against Atkins diet program
Thu May 27, 2:23 PM ETAdd U.S. National - AFP to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Florida businessman has filed suit
against Atkins Nutritionals, charging that the company's high-
protein, low-carbohydrate diet regimen caused his severe
heart disease, which nearly killed him.
Jody Gorran filed the lawsuit against Atkins Nutritionals
and the estate of the late doctor Robert Atkins in a Palm
Beach County, Florida court after undergoing heart surgery
that he claims was necessary to save his life from the bad
effects of the diet.
"I'm suing the Atkins empire because I want the public to
know that the Atkins diet may be killing people. I believe
that the diet almost killed me, by giving me heart disease,"
Gorran told reporters in Washington.
The Delray Beach, Florida businessman is seeking 15,000
dollars in compensation, which he says will be given to
charity, and is demanding that health warnings be placed on
all Atkins products.
Six months before starting the program, Gorran, now 53,
underwent a heart test which found him to be in excellent
health, with no trace of plaque or occlusion, according to
cardiologist David Nash, head of the Syracuse Preventive
Cardiology Center in New York State.
Gorran followed the diet for two and a half years before
being stricken with angina. Tests revealed that one of his
coronary arteries was 99 percent blocked.
He underwent surgery to open the blocked artery, and a stent
was inserted to keep the artery open. He stopped following
the diet on the advice of his doctors, and claims his
unhealthy cholesterol levels dropped immediately.
Gorran is receiving legal counsel from the Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a pro-vegetarian
group, which raised the ire of Atkins representatives.
Gina Mangiaracina, an Atkins spokeswoman, charged that the
lawsuit "is just for publicity.
"We should not let the real issue, providing people with a
scientifically validated nutritional choice in the face of a
worldwide obesity and Type 2 diabetes epidemic, be
manipulated by this extremist animal rights vegan group,"
she said, referring to PCRM. The Atkins program advocates a
diet high in protein at the expense of carbohydrates.
According to Atkins's theories, eating virtually no
carbohydrates causes the body to enter a state known as
ketosis, in which it uses stored body fat as fuel.
The unique selling point is that if dieters stick to certain
types of foods, principally meat, fish, eggs and dairy
products, they can theoretically eat as much as they want
and yet still shed weight.
~JR