Diet trends may have broadened demographics of fiber market

Published February 26. 2004 3:15PM

By CHARLES SHEEHAN, AP Business Writer

http://www.starbanner.com/apps/pbcs...6/APF/402260915

The mass of dieters doing away with carbohydrates may be changing the demographics and broadening the target audience for companies that traditionally have marketed fiber laxatives to the silver-haired crowd.

In an advertising campaign now appearing at newsstands, GlaxoSmithKline is offering a "zero-carb solution to a low-carb problem," referring to the irregularity suffered by some people on the Atkins and South Beach diets.

GlaxoSmithKline, which has U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia and Research Triangle Park, N.C., said it is responding to a bump in sales and a surge in calls over the past year to consumer lines regarding Citrucel, its fiber laxative.

The curiosity is being attributed to low-carbohydrate diets. Labels on Citrucel caplets now let the low-carb crowd know the fiber laxative won't set them back. The caplet form has no carbohydrates and can "help you get back on track," according to magazine ads appearing in March editions.

Patrick Seiffert, brand manager for Citrucel, said GlaxoSmithKline is targeting consumers who follow a particular lifestyle and not an age group, but acknowledges that demographics for the product may now include people who in the past may have been more familiar with ads for hair gel than fiber laxatives.

"About 20 percent of the population is now on a low-carb diet and about a third experience changes in regularity," Seiffert said. "That's about 13 million people. That's significant for us."

The estimated number of people on low-carbohydrate diets varies widely, as does the number of people who suffer adverse affects from eating more meats and cheeses, hallmarks of the diet.

Yet Internet forums dedicated to Atkins and South Beach are clogged with the woes of people who have not replaced the fiber that was once part of their diet.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, a division based just outside Pittsburgh, is grabbing for a larger market share from industry leader Proctor & Gamble, which makes Metamucil.

Proctor & Gamble controls about 40 percent of the market and GlaxoSmithKline about 20 percent.

The two products are just a portion of the $350 million laxatives market, but marketing experts said companies can win customers for life if they get them first.

"That category tends to skew older and it's intuitive that if you can broaden what is a pretty narrow demographic market, that would increase sales and presumably profits," said Lawrence Feick, a professor of marketing at Katz Business School at the University of Pittsburgh.

Proctor & Gamble is not currently targeting low-carbohydrate dieters, but points out that Metamucil is mentioned in "The South Beach Diet," by author Dr. Arthur Agatston.

"I can't say that we have the market data yet that would show a market shift in our primary market consumers, but we are looking at that readily," said Dr. Kurt Weingand, associate director of the P&G Health Sciences Institute.

Metamucil has three grams of carbohydrates, but they are all nondigestable dietary fiber, meaning zero net carbs for consumers, he said.

"We haven't really pursued this, but people are just coming to Metamucil with South Beach being No. 1 on The New York Times' best seller list," he said. "We've gotten a lot of play out of that."

The marketing power of carb-centered products remains a big seller, and GlaxoSmithKline says they're the market leader as far as carbs go.

"We have zero, zero, zero (carbs)," said company spokeswoman Lori Lukus. "We don't have any."

Yuck.

Good veggies and salad, wheat bran, and oat bran, plus berries seem to work just fine, IMO.

No need for any artifical help while on this WOE, provided you choose wisely in your normal ingestion of fiber rich foods, that are fully low carb, almost no carb.

YMMV

The myth that fiber is required in the diet is so widespread and universally accepted that even many low-carbohydrate proponents believe the lie without hesitation. The fiber theory was generated by the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet supporters to combat the symptoms of constipation and diarrhea caused by eating carbohydrates. They recommend a high-fiber diet as the solution for both constipation and diarrhea, but these symptoms are the result of an excessive amount of carbohydrate in the diet. They claim fiber increases mobility of the material in the intestines as a positive; however, much of the bulk in the stool is live and dead bacteria which are produced in mass by the carbohydrate and fiber. The high-carbohydrate diet promotes the overgrowth of bacteria and yeasts which becomes a serious problem as mobility slows. Many of these are unhealthy pathogenic bacteria. The pathogenic bacteria cause irritation of the gut and eventually leads to "leaky gut syndrome," bowel diseases and other autoimmune diseases. Fiber is a cellulose that cannot be digested as a human food because we lack the cellulace enzyme; however, bacteria feast on fiber, especially in the colon where they reek havoc.

Fiber is not required in a low-carbohydrate diet because gut bacteria are restricted by the lack of a food source - carbohydrates. High-fiber foods like grains, seeds and fruit are also very high in carbohydrates. Grains are the product most used as the raw material for the manufacture of high-carbohydrate foods. The grain lobby is very powerful in promoting their products and their resources to do so are almost limitless. They claim fiber reduces diabetes, cancer, heart disease and intestinal diseases, but it is a well-proven fact that high-carbohydrate diets cause these diseases as explained in the book, Syndrome X.

A study of ancient societies who lived on a high-fiber, high-carbohydrate diet easily proves the unhealthy effects. Ancient Egyptians are a perfect example. Their diet was based on a high percentage of whole grains, fruit and vegetables. The fiber content was very high. The diet was low-fat. They did not eat refined sugars. These Egyptians of the times of the Pharaohs ate a highly vegetarian diet. The results were disastrous. Their writings and the study of mummies shows they had a high incidence of diabetes, heart disease, intestinal diseases, arthritis, osteoporosis and poor dental health. Their high-fiber diet which had no refined carbohydrates did not produce the good health as promised by all of our modern dietary references and professional medical and nutritional associations. The tens of thousands of well-preserved Egyptian mummies give us the absolutely solid scientific proof the high-fiber, vegetarian diet is very unhealthy.

The common advice that one should have several bowel movements each day is a myth. The low-fat, low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet usually produces several bowel movements per day but also causes diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Chronic constipation and chronic diarrhea are common body reactions to the constant bombardment to the digestive system with fiber and carbohydrates. Sufferers attempt to correct the condition by added fiber supplements as recommended by their doctor only to discover it is not effective. The low-carbohydrate, low-fiber diet will produce normal stools with bowel movements that sometimes skip two days and frequently skip one day. The intestinal tract becomes calm and bowel movements are natural. One should not expect several bowel movements each day which is typical of the disease causing high-fiber, high-carbohydrate diet.

Fiber absorbs vitamins and minerals and discharges them from the body. Fiber leaches calcium from the digestive tract and discharges it in the stool when it is desperately needed to prevent osteoporosis, bone loss, hip fractures and degenerative disk disease.

Do not take fiber supplements. Do not take psyllium seed husks which are very abrasive to the digestive system. Do not eat wheat bran or rice bran. Fiber is a bad dude. Dietary fiber may not be digestible by the healthy individual, but it certainly is digestible by pathogenic gut bacteria and yeasts. Fiber is the perfect time-release food for bad gut bugs and one of the worst thing a person can eat for good health. These bacteria and yeasts ferment the fiber to produce alcohol, acetaldehyde, lactic acid, acetic acid and a host of other toxic chemicals when they break down the fiber. Intestinal gas is a sure sign fiber and/or sugars are being fermented. The vegetarian concept of turning the gut into a fermentation tube is ridiculous. Avoid all whole grains, brown rice, fruit and dried beans as they are high in both fiber and complex carbohydrates, a double blow to the digestive system. The reason many gastroenterologists recommend a high fiber diet is based on the faulty logic of Dr. Dennis Burkitt, a British surgeon working in Africa more than half a century ago. Dr. Burkitt's theory that barley bread prevented irritable bowel disorders was seriously flawed. The Africans were simply showing the benefits of not eating fruit and refined carbohydrates like sugar and flour. Their barley grain was probably not ground very well and thus the fiber was difficult for the gut bacteria to attack, saving them from the health hazards of eating fiber. Our finely ground grains of today do not produce the same result. Fiber not only does not prevent or cure irritable bowel diseases but actually makes them worse. Studies of many other primitive or remote societies have proven a very low-fiber diet prevents intestinal diseases and cancer as proven by Weston A. Price, DDS in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and arctic explorers Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Karsten Anderson during many years of living with the Eskimos. Most current doctors and nutritionists simply ignore their more extensive studies proving a zero-fiber diet produces excellent health and prevents colon cancer. New scientific studies are also ignored that prove fiber may raise the risk of colon cancer, not prevent cancer as erroneous claimed by most current-day professionals.

Do not fall for the "colon cleanse and detoxification" scam. The colon does not contain a lining of putrid material that looks like "chunks of debris that resembled cooked liver, long black twisted rope-like pieces." A colon cleanse and/or a detox program of harsh herbs and fiber products only serves to create more problems that may lead to leaky gut syndrome.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established a Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of 25 grams of fiber per day. Yet, there is no scientific basis for this value and research studies on fiber are scant. No studies support the requirement for fiber but many expose health hazards associated to fiber. The low-carbohydrate diet contains about three grams of fiber from non starchy vegetables.

The Eskimos observed by Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson clearly proved that eating a diet totally devoid of fiber is perfectly healthy. In fact, it is more healthy than eating a diet with fiber.

Fiber is strongly advocated by vegetarians because of its high content in grains, legumes and fruits and its low content in meat. The Bran Wagon article by Barry Groves, PhD, exposes many of the common myths about high-fiber foods. Dietary fiber actually causes or increases the severity of many diseases.


A healthy balance of beneficial bacteria (called probiotics) must be restored in the intestines during the low-carbohydrate, anti-yeast diet. The most common approach is to supplement the diet with a probiotic containing live lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus bulgaricus and bifidobacterium bifidum as the better choices. Lactobacillus bulgaricus is intended to help the GI tract be more suitable for the survival and growth of lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium bifidum. Acidophilus is the primary bacteria of the small intestine while bifidum is the major bacteria of the large intestine. Others beneficial bacteria include bifidobacterium lactis, bifidobacterium longum, and/or others. New evidence points to lactobacillus sporogenes as being particularly effective against intestinal and vaginal infections and should also be taken. Most should be refrigerated. Capsules and liquids are available, but care should be taken in the selection because many brands contain dead spores. Quality products are usually kept in a cooler at the health food or vitamin store. Expect some or all products to contain rice flour, potato starch, maltodextrin and other fillers which are needed to keep the bacteria alive. Take only one tablet or one teaspoon with each meal or with water. Do not take high quantities as may be suggested on some bottles. Sporogenes is highly recommended for everyone, even healthy individuals. It does not require refrigeration.

Kent

Kent.....glad to finally see an article that says this. Personally, fat is what I need. Low fat caused all kinds of issues.

And, it's also well known that H. Pylori, the bacteria that can cause ulcers, intestinal and GERD symptoms, loves carbs! The more refined, the better! Usually one of the first things docs tell patients (or should tell them) with GERD and unlcers is to avoid "concentrated sweets".