WSJ -- The Atkins Diet Boom May Have Hit Its Peak.
May 18, 2004
THE DAILY SCAN
By MARK INGEBRETSEN
The Atkins Diet Boom May Have Hit Its Peak
Two studies that seemed to corroborate the benefits of low-carb diets came out just as some are starting to question whether the weight-loss fad has peaked.
As a Wall Street Journal article explained, the studies, which appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest that the Atkins diet may prove "more effective than a low-fat regimen at producing weight loss over a six-month period. But over a year, the differences between the two approaches even out." However, the article added, "that a low-carb, high-fat diet is associated with lasting improvements in levels of certain blood fats linked to heart diseases."
News of studies came just as two newspaper articles questioned how much more the low-carb diet craze can grow. Some investors say that, "many stocks benefiting from changing eating habits already trade at hefty prices, and inflated earnings expectations. Any slips in earning will lead to losses," Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman wrote.
A Washington Post article said, "Sales of low-carb products have fallen sharply at independent and health-food stores, and some longtime industry insiders say a shakeout has begun." In the article, Michael E. Diegel, spokesperson for the Grocery Manufacturers of America Inc., said of the Atkins phenomenon: "It's kind of exploded, it's a trend, and then it becomes, really, a niche."
Meanwhile, other news reports put a less-positive spin on the study results. USA Today, for example, said that, "In the largest study of its kind, researchers have found that dieters on low-carbohydrate plans don't lose more weight over the long term than traditional dieters."
And NBC News quoted one authority who "predicts this longer-term research is the beginning of the end of the Atkins fad." Some years from now, Dr. Glenn Gasser of the University of Virginia said in the article, "People will look at themselves in the mirror and they won't see much difference in this low-carb diet they've been on for a number of years, and will go on to something else."
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