First Amendment Protects the Atkins Diet

Caveat emptor (or calorie emptor?): You can't sue your diet book just because the diet you followed caused you various heart troubles. NYC-based U.S. District Judge Denny Chin threw out a lawsuit where a man sued the Atkins estate and tried to get warning labels put on Atkins merchandise. The plaintiff, Florida resident Jody Gorran, claimed that the Atkins diet caused his cholesterol to go from 146 to 230 in six months and prompted him to have heart troubles and require an angioplasty. Per the AP, Judge Chin, though, said that the book was not an ad but a guide for a healthy lifestyle. Plus, Gorran admitted to consuming "large amounts of pastrami and cheesecake, foods the average consumer expects may increase cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease." Ooh, "cheese" is in the word "cheesecake," it might be totally within Atkins parameters! Chin even put a footnote about his own "much simpler diet, which can be described in four words: Run more, eat less."

Gorran will be appealing the case. The Mets fired "superscout" Bill Singer for a racist rant against the LA Dodgers' Asian assistant general manager a few years ago; Singer blamed his behavior on his low-carbohydrate diet.