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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bread, potato producers rejoice Atkins bankruptcy

Los Angeles Times

In Boise, staff members of the Idaho Potato Commission gave each other gleeful high-fives when they heard the news. In Houston, the folks at the U.S. Rice Producers’ Association declared “good riddance.” And fruit farmers in California’s Central Valley said they were “happy to see them go.”

Across the United States, producers of carbohydrate-laden food exulted at the decision by Atkins Nutritionals Inc., the Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based designer of the once popular low-carbohydrate weight-loss program, to file for bankruptcy protection.

The company said it planned to reorganize and focus mainly on selling nutrition bars and shakes. But analysts and nutritionists said Atkins’ bankruptcy filing effectively signaled the demise of the low-carb lifestyle and an era when tens of millions of Americans embraced high-protein diets rich in meat and cheese while eschewing carbohydrates and sugars in grains, fruits and vegetables.

“It just proves that what Atkins was trying to do was just too extreme,” said Jeff Yankellow, a South San Francisco baking instructor and winner of the World Cup of Baking in Paris in April. “Bread has survived as a nutritional food for thousands of years, and Atkins isn’t going to kill it.”

While the Atkins diet helped fuel demand for beef, chicken, cheese and other food rich in proteins, the producers of carbohydrate-laden foods, even those regarded as healthy by nutritionists, saw sales fall.

Hurt by plunging demand for French fries, hash browns and baked potatoes, Idaho farmers have slashed their production by about 13 percent since 2002, said Frank Muir, chief executive of the Idaho Potato Commission.

“We have been working for years to send the message that the Atkins diet is wrong,” Muir said, insisting that a medium-size potato has only 100 calories and is rich in vitamin C and potassium.

Many large companies complained that they were casualties of the low-carb diet craze.

Executives at Interstate Bakeries Corp., whose cream-filled Twinkies have found a spot in the lunch boxes of American schoolchildren since the 1930s, said the low-carb trend contributed to its bankruptcy filing in September. A few months earlier, New World Pasta Co. — the maker of the Ronzoni and Creamette brands — also filed for bankruptcy protection, saying it was hurt by the popularity of Atkins and similar diets.

Like other diet fads, Atkins and the low-carb craze could not be sustained. NPD said the fad peaked early last year, when about 9 percent of the population reported that they were adhering to a low-carb intake. By the end of last year, less than 4 percent claimed to follow the diet, the firm said.