 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Founder | Robert Atkins |
| Owner | The Simply Good Foods Company |
| Website | www |
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. was founded by Robert Atkins in order to promote the low-carbohydrate packaged foods of the Atkins diet. As of 2017, it is part of The Simply Good Foods Company. The company sells low-carbohydrate bars, shakes, and snacks.
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. was originally founded as Complementary Formulations in 1989. [1] The company was renamed to Atkins Nutritionals in 1998. [2] It was founded to supplement the way of the Atkins diet. The diet was developed after Atkins read a research paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The paper, entitled "Weight Reduction," was published by Alfred W. Pennington in 1958. Atkins used information from the study to resolve his own overweight condition. [3]
In October 2003 Parthenon Capital LLC and Goldman Sachs both acquired stakes in the company. [4] Following the death of its founder in 2003, the popularity of the diet and demand for Atkins products waned, causing Atkins Nutritionals Inc. to file for bankruptcy in July 2005, citing losses of $340 million. [4]
The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2007 owned by North Castle Partners. [5]
Roark Capital Group bought the company in 2010. [6] In February 2015 it was reported that Roark was seeking to sell the company. [7] In April 2017, it was reported that Conyers Park Acquisition Corporation had acquired Atkins from Roark. Conyers Park and Atkins combined under a new company called The Simply Good Foods Company. [8]
A carbohydrate is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n (where m may or may not be different from n). However, not all carbohydrates conform to this precise stoichiometric definition (e.g., uronic acids, deoxy-sugars such as fucose), nor are all chemicals that do conform to this definition automatically classified as carbohydrates (e.g. formaldehyde and acetic acid).
Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated way to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight, or to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Dieting to lose weight is recommended for people with weight-related health problems, but not otherwise healthy people. As weight loss depends on calorie intake, different kinds of calorie-reduced diets, such as those emphasising particular macronutrients, have been shown to be no more effective than one another. As weight regain is common, diet success is best predicted by long-term adherence. Regardless, the outcome of a diet can vary widely depending on the individual.
The Atkins diet is a low-carbohydrate fad diet devised by Robert Atkins in the 1970s, marketed with claims that carbohydrate restriction is crucial to weight loss and that the diet offered "a high calorie way to stay thin forever".
Robert Coleman Atkins was an American physician and cardiologist, best known for the Atkins Diet, which requires close control of carbohydrate consumption and emphasizes protein and fat as the primary sources of dietary calories in addition to a controlled number of carbohydrates from vegetables.
The Scarsdale diet is a high-protein low-carbohydrate fad diet designed for weight loss created in the 1970s by Herman Tarnower, named for the town in New York where he practiced cardiology, described in the book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet plus Dr. Tarnower's Lifetime Keep-Slim Program, which Tarnower wrote with self-help author Samm Sinclair Baker.
A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single definition of what is a fad diet. The term fad diet encompasses a variety of diets with different approaches and evidence bases, and thus different outcomes, advantages, and disadvantages.
The Zone diet is a fad diet emphasizing low-carbohydrate consumption. It was created by Barry Sears, an American biochemist.
Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet. Foods high in carbohydrates are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein, as well as low carbohydrate foods.
A high-protein diet is a diet in which 20% or more of the total daily calories comes from protein. Most high protein diets are high in saturated fat and severely restrict intake of carbohydrates.
A healthy diet is a diet that helps maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients, micronutrients, and adequate food energy.
The China study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health is a book by T. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. The book argues for health benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. It was first published in the United States in January 2005 and had sold over one million copies as of October 2013, making it one of America's best-selling books about nutrition.
The Montignac diet is a high-protein low-carbohydrate fad diet that was popular in the 1990s, mainly in Europe. It was invented by Frenchman Michel Montignac (1944–2010), an international executive for the pharmaceutical industry, who, like his father, was overweight in his youth. His method is aimed at people wishing to lose weight efficiently and lastingly, reduce risks of heart failure, and prevent diabetes.
A diabetic diet is a diet that is used by people with diabetes mellitus or high blood sugar to minimize symptoms and dangerous complications of long term elevations in blood sugar.
Gary Taubes is an American journalist, writer, and low-carbohydrate / high-fat (LCHF) diet advocate. His central claim is that carbohydrates, especially sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, over-stimulate the secretion of insulin, causing the body to store fat in fat cells and the liver, and that it is primarily a high level of dietary carbohydrate consumption that accounts for obesity and other metabolic syndrome conditions. He is the author of Nobel Dreams (1987); Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion (1993); Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007), titled The Diet Delusion (2008) in the UK and Australia; Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (2010); The Case Against Sugar (2016); and The Case for Keto: Rethinking Weight Control and the Science and Practice of Low-Carb/High-Fat Eating (2020). Taubes's work often goes against accepted scientific, governmental, and popular tenets such as that obesity is caused by eating too much and exercising too little and that excessive consumption of fat, especially saturated fat in animal products, leads to cardiovascular disease.
The South Beach Diet is a popular fad diet developed by Arthur Agatston and promoted in a best-selling 2003 book. It emphasizes eating food with a low glycemic index, and categorizes carbohydrates and fats as "good" or "bad". Like other fad diets, it may have elements which are generally recognized as sensible, but it promises benefits not backed by supporting evidence or sound science.
William R. Davis is a Milwaukee-based American cardiologist, low-carbohydrate diet advocate and author of health books known for his stance against "modern wheat", which he labels a "perfect, chronic poison."
Fred Pescatore is a Manhattan-based author and internist who specializes in nutrition. He is best known as the author of the bestselling children’s health book Feed Your Kids Well (1998) and The Hamptons Diet (2004).
Dave Asprey is an American entrepreneur and author. He founded Bulletproof 360, Inc. in 2013, and in 2017, founded Bulletproof Nutrition Inc. He has written five books. Men's Health described Asprey as a "lifestyle guru."
Protein Power is a high-protein low-carbohydrate fad diet developed by physician Michael R. Eades and his wife Mary Dan Eades.
