Health News

Dukan diet founder losel libel case over rival's "unhealthy" claim

Jul 5, 2011, 17:01 GMT

Paris - Pierre Dukan, the French doctor behind the popular Dukan diet on Tuesday lost a libel case against a rival French nutritionist, who said the regimen could cause heart disease and breast cancer.

A criminal court in Paris cleared Dr Jean-Michel Cohen and Meilleure Sante (Better Health) magazine of libel and ordered Dukan to pay the defendants 3,000 euros (4,300 dollars) in damages.

In an interview with the magazine last year, Cohen said the Dukan diet 'led to serious health problems in some patients, including a strong increase in cholesterol, cardio-vascular problems, breast cancers.'

The Dukan diet is a high-protein diet that starts out with an 'attack phase' of pure protein and gradually incorporates other nutritional groups.

Immensely popular in France, the diet also has international devotees, including Carole Middleton, mother of the Duchess of Cambridge, and US singer Jennifer Lopez.

Cohen has himself published a number of diet books. His weight-loss methods stress the importance of a balanced diet.