Atkins lawsuit raises First Amendment questions

The controversy in the case centers on Atkins' contention that high-fat diets are not problematic, and its presentation of scientific studies that it says bolsters that position. Gorran wants the company to have to include a warning label on all its products and web pages.

• At a hearing on Tuesday, a Florida judge ordered diet company Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. to hand over documents pertaining to the firm's marketing strategy.
• The order came as part of a lawsuit against the company, brought by a former dieter who claims the popular Atkins low-carbohydrate regimen caused him serious health problems.
• While the plaintiff is asking for a relative pittance in monetary damages, the image of the controversial diet program may ride on the matter.
• However, the case up to this point has little to do with the merits or dangers of the diet itself, as lawyers for Atkins Nutritionals are preemptively arguing that the First Amendment protects the company from litigation over the contents of its books and website.
• While Gorran knew that prominent health groups were critical of high fat diets, he maintains that he was swayed by segments of the company's literature dismissing such warnings.
• The company has meanwhile insisted its literature is protected speech, even if it were to advise dangerous health practices and in spite of the advertisements for other Atkins products.
• "One does not lose their first amendment protection just because you are trying to make a profit," Martin Reeder, an attorney for Atkins Nutritionals, told The NewStandard.
• Gorran's blood tests and a CT scan taken shortly before going on the diet showed that his cholesterol levels were normal and that he had a very low coronary vascular disease risk, according to the lawsuit.