NEW YORK (AFP) - Atkins Nutritionals Inc.
(ANI), the company founded by
the late, low-carb diet pioneer Robert Atkins, said it had filed
for bankruptcy protection.
A company statement said Monday that the filing in US Bankruptcy
Court in New York marked the final step in efforts to reorganise
the business, which has been hit by waning interest in the once
phenomenally popular, meat lovers' diet.
The company listed assets of 301 million dollars and liabilities of
325 million dollars.
The company said it had secured 25 million dollars in financing
from creditors to operate during the bankruptcy proceedings, which
it insisted would not impact day-to-day operations.
"In the past year we have adjusted our organisation to accommodate
a smaller business and have begun to position the Atkins brand more
broadly for consumers who are concerned about health and wellness,"
said ANI president Mark Rodriguez.
ANI, which sells its low-carb products in more than 30,000 stores
across the United States and Canada, will focus its energy on its
"core nutrition bar and shake portfolio," Rodriguez said.
"I am confident in our future," he said. "We expect to proceed
quickly and will emerge from these proceedings with a significantly
improved balance sheet and greater operating flexibility."
Atkins, who founded ANI in 1989, died in April 2003 after slipping
on some ice on the way to work.
The New York medical examiner's report into Atkins's death said he
had a history of congestive heart failure and hypertension -- a
diagnosis that helped fuel criticism of his dietary theories.
First published in 1972, the Atkins diet advocated a
counter-intuitive approach to dieting that stressed consumption of
high-protein, fatty products, 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 was that if dieters stuck to certain types
of foods, principally meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, they
could theoretically eat as much as they want and yet still shed
weight.
Initially, the concept had few takers. But ringing endorsements
from high-profile Atkins adherents like Hollywood stars Rene
Zellweger, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston helped transform a
minority fad into am entrenched regimen.
Just a few years ago, ANI claimed that about 25 million Americans
were on the Atkins diet and nearly 100 million were adhering to
some sort of "controlled carbohydrate" diet.
While Atkins's detractors insisted those figure were inflated, the
economic impact was undeniable.
While demand for meat products surged, consumption of grain staples
slumped so badly that leaders of the US bread industry convened an
emergency in 2003 to discuss strategy for countering the "Atkins
effect."
In the past two years, however, the Atkins diet has begun to lose
its popularity, as other dietary regimens have come into favour and
concerns have grown over the long-term health impact of the Atkins
method.
According to a review of scientific data published in The Lancet a
year ago, the Atkins Diet lacked essential proof to show it is
effective for more than a year and safe in the long term.
"There is no clear evidence that Atkins-style diets are better than
any others for helping people to stay slim and despite the
popularity and apparent success of the Atkins diet, evidence in
support of its use lags behind," the report said.
