New rival for Atkins diet

1.00pm - By HARVEY McGAVIN

LONDON - Its creator made millions of dollars, and its followers - who have included Jennifer Aniston, Renee Zellwegger and Geri Halliwell - lost thousands of kilos.

But now the Atkins diet - the regime that took a revolutionary low carbohydrate, high fat approach to slimming - has a new rival for the hearts, minds and waistlines of the weight conscious.

British bakers have launched a counter-offensive in the battle for a slice of the multi million dollar diet industry. The Vitality eating system allows - even encourages - people to eat bread, potatoes and the other foods with a high carbohydrate content frowned upon by Atkins.

The "Vitality" is healthier than "faddy diets" like the Atkins because it promotes a more balanced intake of the main food groups, according to the Federation of Bakers, the Grain Information Service and the Flour Advisory Service, who have launched it.

"Atkins and other low-carb diets have succeeded while the more orthodox dieting message has failed to get through, and that is down simply to the marketing," Dr Tamara de Grassi, head of communications at the Flour Advisory Bureau.

"These diets are all image driven, helped by celebrity endorsements and a false promise of sustainable weight-loss. The diet industry has become big business and it has a lot to lose if consumers lose interest, so companies are investing in keeping their interest."

Under the slogan "Diets don't work" promoters of the Vitality regime, which comes with its own celebrity endorsement from television presenter Cat Deeley, are putting pizza, pitta and panini back on the menu - in moderation. Complex carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, cereals, rice and potatoes should make up 50 per cent of our daily intake, they say.

They scoff at claims that the Atkins is a healthy way to lose weight, pointing to a recent survey in which they found that 97 per cent of dieticians believed that low carb diets were based on "bad dietary advice".

Some nutritionists have questioned the emphasis of the Atkins on one food group at the expense of others, and have highlighted health risks associated with the diet such as osteoporosis and kidney problems.

The backers of the Vitality, which is based on research by the Medical Research Council, also dismiss other popular weight loss solutions such as the Blood Type diet, food combining and detox as unsustainable.

The Atkins diet, created by the late Dr Robert Atkins 10 years ago, has become a worldwide phenomenon, with some 3 million devotees in the UK alone. Its advocates say it works because by cutting out carbohydrates, the body's metabolism increases because it has to work harder to process proteins that make up more of the food intake, resulting in weight loss.

The promoters of the Vitality diet say that, despite its popularity, the Atkins diet has had a negligible effect on bread sales, which have gone down by just 1.5 per cent in the last three years while actually rising in value over the same period.

Instead, they say they have been prompted to act by concerns over the long term health effects of what they call "quick fix diets".

"Atkins has not had a big impact on bread sales," Dr de Grassi said. "But the effect of the low-carb message on which it is based could be dangerous in the long term, if nobody counters it."

The Vitality recommends proportionately higher consumption of wholegrain and high fibre carbohydrates and less fat. It also encourages followers to increase their level of exercise and sets a limit to daily calorie intake, neither of which are required under the Atkins regime.

The differences between the two diets could not be more marked. At breakfast, while acolytes of Atkins are tucking into as much bacon and eggs as they like (but no fried bread), it is suggested that Vitality dieters start the day with a bagel and cheese. Publicity for the Vitality will be distributed to doctors' surgeries and branches of Sainsbury's supermarkets later this month and the diets promoters are convinced of its benefits.

"There is no long-term research to back up the claims of low-carb diet," Dr de Grassi said.

"They are simply a way of making money - persuading consumers to buy into a very expensive range of products in order to lose weight. Quick-fix diets like this allow the consumer to see things in terms of black and white.

"But dieting is not that easy - it has to be slow and steady to lose weight and then keep it off. Simply cutting out one part of the diet is not only ineffective for weight loss in the long term, it is also highly dangerous, since our bodies need all of these food types in moderation."

- INDEPENDENT