PCRM 2005: The Year in Review: Atkins Goes Bust

When Atkins Nutritionals declared bankruptcy in August, trade publications credited PCRM’s outspoken public education efforts as a factor in its demise. PCRM has been among the leading critics of the dangerous meat-heavy, low-carb diet fad.

On PCRM’s AtkinsDietAlert.org website, PCRM experts have described the dangers of low-carb diets and offered a registry for dieters who felt the high-protein, low-carb diets had damaged their health. In 2005, PCRM collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute to revamp the registry, gaining approval to use it as an official research collection tool.

PCRM’s legal team also pursued a major lawsuit, filed on behalf of a man who developed heart disease after two years on the Atkins diet, pushing for warning labels on low-carb products.