ATKINS CO. NOW OFFICIALLY RUNNING SCARED

I've ignored a lot of the stories declaring the low-carb boom to have peaked, since they always seem to be attached to, or promoted by, bread, pasta or snack manufacturers. But a lot of cute little pieces piled up today. Contrary to a while ago when it looked like some reputable scientific studies might emerge confirming some health advantage to the high-protein lifestyle, those never materialized (as of yet!) while other studies continue to show that low-carb is a pointless fad. "Wisdom of low-carb, other fad programs questioned," proclaims this pairing of two studies, one which found that "men and women who ate three or more daily servings of whole grain foods were the least likely to be overweight or obese," and in the second, "people who ate a variety of foods were more likely to get the recommended levels of vitamins and other nutrients than people who stuck to a few favorite foods." In case that "variety of foods" is too ambiguous, they spell it out: "People who meet nutritional guidelines through food - mostly by eating plenty of fruit, vegetables and whole grains - have lower rates of cancer and heart disease."

More to the point for Atkinites, a report last Wednesday from Morgan Stanley said low-carb dieting has reached its peak and begun a slow decline, so the company is de-emphasizing the garbagy fare that attracted people to it in the first place - steaks, bacon, burgers. "They are pressed to reinvent the public perception that the Atkins Diet is not synonymous with bacon cheeseburgers," said Dean Rotbart, editor of the online industry newsletter LowCarbiz. Gosh, how would the public have arrived at that "perception?" Let's ask Gary Taubes, in the third paragraph of his "Big Fat Lie," still prominently displayed on Atkins' own site: 'Atkins allowed his readers to eat "truly luxurious foods without limit," as he put it, "lobster with butter sauce, steak with béarnaise sauce...bacon cheeseburgers"' [his ellipsis] I think it's safe to say that not a lot of low-carbers are subsiting on lobster with butter sauce, nor steak with béarnaise sauce, so what is it they're gonna think Atkins is synonymous with? It was true of the dieters, of Atkins himself, and soon, of the company: Live by the bacon cheeseburger, die by the bacon cheeseburger.