By Joe Palazzolo
A battle of the anti-bulge is underway in Texas, where U.K. weight loss company Slimming World is suing rival Weight Watchers to protect itsmarketingclaims that its diet is better.
Slimming World, which has been around from more than 40 years, bills itself as the U.K.s top weight loss organization and its largest. The company first entered the U.S. in 2010, marketing itselfasan easier-to-follow, more scientifically advancedservice than New York-based Weight Watchers.
Weight Watchers sent an April 11 letter to Slimming World accusing the company of making false representations about its services and threatening to sue if it didnt retract them, according toSlimming World, which responded to the threat by filing a lawsuitFriday in federal district court in Sherman, Texas. (Slimming Worlds U.S. unit is based in nearbyLewisville.)
The lawsuit seeks to block legal action by Weight Watchers by having a federal judge declare its marketing statements true.
Rather than requiring members to count points or calories, Slimming World allows members to eat all they want of certain categories of healthy foods. The diet steers members tofoods low in energy density, which provide fewer calories per gram than foods with higher energy density, meaning you can eat a larger portion for the same amount of calories.The complaint describes Weight Watcherss point-controlled dieting as old fashioned.
A spokeswoman for Slimming World declined to comment, saying the company would let the complaint speak for itself. Weight Watchers didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Weight Watchers spokeswoman said that lawsuit waswithout merit and that the company intends to vigorously contest it.
Slimming World Complaint
Go here to see the original:
Weight-Loss Company Runs to Court over Marketing Claims
