gotbeer
Mon, Feb-09-04, 12:22
http://images.scotsman.com/2004/02/09/en0902dietb.jpg
CARB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Michelob Ultra is proving a huge hit with shoppers.
Picture: GARETH EASTON
We're all dieting of thirst
CHRIS MOONEY
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=158922004
BOTTLES of an innovative new low-carb beer are flying off supermarket shelves in Edinburgh thanks to the controversial Atkins diet.
Supermarkets in the Capital have seen sales of Michelob Ultra rocket by 400 per cent, where it is outperforming regular beers.
The booming fad for the Atkins diet - where slimmers have to cut out foods containing carbohydrates - is growing in popularity in the UK and has been followed by celebrities including Jennifer Aniston.
Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer and maker of Michelob Ultra and Budweiser, said the low-carbohydrate beer, which had helped it post a nine per cent increase in profits last week, was one of its most successful lines since it was launched last August. Safeway, Tesco and Asda said sales of the beer in their Edinburgh superstores were going through the roof and that the craze for Atkins-style diets was responsible for much of its popularity.
But critics have described Michelob Ultra as a cynical marketing ploy to cash in on the popularity of the potentially dangerous diet.
The new beer recently won the Tesco Innovation Award and has also received the store’s Beer of the Month title.
The beer is low in calories and has just three grammes of carbohydrates per bottle - two-thirds less than other beers and a tenth of the amount of carbohydrates in drinks such as Smirnoff Ice.
Safeway’s main city stores at the Gyle, Ferry Road, Portobello and Moredun have shown an increase of 400 per cent in sales in the past two weeks alone.
And Asda Walmart chiefs said sales of the beer at its store at the Jewel had remained strong since its launch last year and it was surprisingly outperforming other well-known beers.
Safeway spokeswoman Catherine MaGuire said: "We have seen a sharp rise in the trading of Michelob Ultra. In the last two weeks we have seen a 400 per cent increase in sales compared to eight weeks previous.
"It could be the Atkins diet which is making this beer so popular. It’s the time of year when a lot of people are thinking about going on a diet and are much more aware of their health."
An Asda spokeswoman added: "It’s a relatively new product for us but it’s selling very, very well and is certainly outperforming other beers.
"We would expect the same if it was an Atkins food product."
Tesco, one of the first stores in the city to stock the new drink, as the only available low carbohydrate and low calorie beer, said it was selling strongly amongst dieters.
More than three million Britons are believed to be on the Atkins diet, with thousands in the Lothians signed up to the slimming regime.
But dieticians, including the British Dietetic Association, have claimed that the high-fat diet is potentially dangerous and doubles the risk of painful kidney stones.
The latest findings contradict two studies from the United States published last year which said the Atkins diet was safe and effective.
Fiona Hinton, managing director of the Edinburgh Dietetic Centre, said slimmers should not be fooled into thinking the new drink was good for them.
She said: "I do think the introduction of this beer has been spurred on by the Atkins diet and is acting as a marketing tool for the diet itself.
"It is not low alcohol beer and alcohol is associated with other health, social and psychological problems. There are no long-term studies which show that Atkins is a safe diet and I’m always concerned by a diet which cuts out so many different food groups."
But Randall Blackford, marketing director for Anheuser-Busch in the UK, said the beer was not cashing in on the craze.
He said: "We don’t associate ourselves with any particular diet.
"We have done a lot of research on this and it just seemed to be the right time for us to launch this kind of product."
CARB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Michelob Ultra is proving a huge hit with shoppers.
Picture: GARETH EASTON
We're all dieting of thirst
CHRIS MOONEY
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=158922004
BOTTLES of an innovative new low-carb beer are flying off supermarket shelves in Edinburgh thanks to the controversial Atkins diet.
Supermarkets in the Capital have seen sales of Michelob Ultra rocket by 400 per cent, where it is outperforming regular beers.
The booming fad for the Atkins diet - where slimmers have to cut out foods containing carbohydrates - is growing in popularity in the UK and has been followed by celebrities including Jennifer Aniston.
Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer and maker of Michelob Ultra and Budweiser, said the low-carbohydrate beer, which had helped it post a nine per cent increase in profits last week, was one of its most successful lines since it was launched last August. Safeway, Tesco and Asda said sales of the beer in their Edinburgh superstores were going through the roof and that the craze for Atkins-style diets was responsible for much of its popularity.
But critics have described Michelob Ultra as a cynical marketing ploy to cash in on the popularity of the potentially dangerous diet.
The new beer recently won the Tesco Innovation Award and has also received the store’s Beer of the Month title.
The beer is low in calories and has just three grammes of carbohydrates per bottle - two-thirds less than other beers and a tenth of the amount of carbohydrates in drinks such as Smirnoff Ice.
Safeway’s main city stores at the Gyle, Ferry Road, Portobello and Moredun have shown an increase of 400 per cent in sales in the past two weeks alone.
And Asda Walmart chiefs said sales of the beer at its store at the Jewel had remained strong since its launch last year and it was surprisingly outperforming other well-known beers.
Safeway spokeswoman Catherine MaGuire said: "We have seen a sharp rise in the trading of Michelob Ultra. In the last two weeks we have seen a 400 per cent increase in sales compared to eight weeks previous.
"It could be the Atkins diet which is making this beer so popular. It’s the time of year when a lot of people are thinking about going on a diet and are much more aware of their health."
An Asda spokeswoman added: "It’s a relatively new product for us but it’s selling very, very well and is certainly outperforming other beers.
"We would expect the same if it was an Atkins food product."
Tesco, one of the first stores in the city to stock the new drink, as the only available low carbohydrate and low calorie beer, said it was selling strongly amongst dieters.
More than three million Britons are believed to be on the Atkins diet, with thousands in the Lothians signed up to the slimming regime.
But dieticians, including the British Dietetic Association, have claimed that the high-fat diet is potentially dangerous and doubles the risk of painful kidney stones.
The latest findings contradict two studies from the United States published last year which said the Atkins diet was safe and effective.
Fiona Hinton, managing director of the Edinburgh Dietetic Centre, said slimmers should not be fooled into thinking the new drink was good for them.
She said: "I do think the introduction of this beer has been spurred on by the Atkins diet and is acting as a marketing tool for the diet itself.
"It is not low alcohol beer and alcohol is associated with other health, social and psychological problems. There are no long-term studies which show that Atkins is a safe diet and I’m always concerned by a diet which cuts out so many different food groups."
But Randall Blackford, marketing director for Anheuser-Busch in the UK, said the beer was not cashing in on the craze.
He said: "We don’t associate ourselves with any particular diet.
"We have done a lot of research on this and it just seemed to be the right time for us to launch this kind of product."