This article had a table that doesn't fit well into our format, but I did my best to show it...gotbeer.
Low-carb gimmicks leave you fatter and poorer
Retailers everywhere want to fatten their wallets on your hopes for a slimmer waist. Here’s how half-truths and myths can pad both your hips and your grocery bill.
By Jennifer Mulrean, MSN Money
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content...Debt/P75551.asp
Whether you’re Atkins agnostic or a true disciple, you probably can’t help but notice the smorgasbord of new products claiming to be low on carbohydrates.
National restaurant chains such as Subway and TGI Friday's are adding "low carb" options to their menus. Giant grocery chains like Safeway are adding “carb-friendly” food sections. And specialty stores such as LoCarb Outlet and Castus Low Carb Superstore are popping up faster than dieters can drop pounds.
The low-carbohydrate diet is one of the biggest marketing trends in years, affecting consumers and producers alike. Beef and egg prices are up, sales of frozen bagels and hard candies are down, and pundits on CNBC TV are pondering whether the potato can make a comeback.
It’s no surprise, then, that manufacturers and marketers are tripping over their product pipelines to get a piece of the action. But some of their tactics are rankling nutrition experts and consumer watchdogs -- with good reason. They're simply preying on dieters’ desperation, says the Federal Trade Commission’s Richard Cleland.Your money, fast.
“There are people who will try anything out of desperation because they’ve already tried nearly everything out there to lose weight,” he says. “My suspicion is there’s a lot of confusion right now on the consumer’s part.”
Here are some gimmicks and come-ons you'll want to watch out for.
New packaging, same old products
Take a stroll through any supermarket and you'll see that some of your favorite products are suddenly sporting carb-conscious claims. Some of the products getting low-carb "makeovers:"
Oscar Meyer cold cuts
Lean Cuisine frozen dinners
Russell Stover sugar-free candy
Often, the ingredients haven’t changed at all. “Things like pickles, mayonnaise and peanut butter have always been low-carb, but now you’re starting to see them labeled that way,” says Laurie Kuntz, CEO of LowCarbiz, a weekly online newsletter and quarterly print publication.
Other new packages sporting such "health" claims just make you want to laugh. Many hard alcohol brands, Kuntz says are now sporting “0 carb” labels. True, rum, vodka, gin, whisky and tequila have no carbohydrates, but are they ideal foods for the dieter?
Just as goofy are the Kentucky Fried Chicken television ads that touted fried chicken as a great choice for low-carb, high-protein dieters. In one of the ads, a man is asked why he looks so good. His response? Eating fried chicken. A voiceover then lists the carbs and protein in its Original Recipe chicken. KFC was roundly criticized for the "good-for-you" connotation in the ad, and the FTC requested that the company support the health claims in the commercials. The ads haven't aired since late November.
Don’t be fooled by food labels
Remember the proliferation of low-fat products in the 1990s? FDA labeling guidelines allowed manufacturers to market their foods to fat-conscious dieters by deeming as “low fat” those foods with 3 grams of fat or less per serving.
Right now, the use of the term "low carb" violates FDA food labeling regulations. But many marketers have gotten around that by substituting phrases like “carb friendly,” and “carb smart” and "carb aware." Just about anyone can slap a “carb-smart” label on a product . . . say, on candy, ice cream or pasta.
“Everyone agrees that (the label) ‘low carb’ is illegal, though I’ve seen a few foods with that,” says Bonnie Liebman, nutrition director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). "If carb claims are left unregulated by the FDA, we’d really go back to the days when the consumer can’t trust what’s on the label."
The center currently is drafting a formal petition to the FDA to regulate low-carb claims on food labels, including the use of terms such as “carb smart,” “carb friendly” and “carb aware.”
As of this writing, the FDA said it is actively studying carbohydrate labeling, and it is expected to comment on the issue shortly.
Just say no to 'net carbs'
And here's another confusing term: “net carbs” listed on food content labels. That might sound like something with a precise measurement. Not so. Kuntz, of LowCarbiz, says that food companies calculate it in different ways.
Net-carb figures are generally arrived at by subtracting elements like fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrate content of a food serving. The idea is that the carbs from fiber, for example, have little to no effect on your blood sugar and can therefore be ignored by the carb-conscious. But not all products subtract sugar alcohols, for example. So the experts say "net carbs" are difficult, if not impossible, to compare from product to product.
Liebman of CSPI likens ignoring some carbohydrates to arbitrarily dismissing some sodium or fat from food labels. "Are we going to start allowing companies to subtract fats that don't raise cholesterol levels? Or sodium that doesn't raise blood pressure?" The bottom line, Liebman says, is that "net carbs" on food labels is pure marketing gimmick.
Beware low-carb foods that really aren't
Worst of all, many products simply don't live up to their carbohydrate labels.
Last year, for example, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services cracked down on companies peddling products with carbohydrate claims that violated labeling laws. It had first tested a range of products in 2001 and found that 85% of the 67 products tested exceeded the carbohydrates claimed on packaging. Seven companies that were found still in violation of the law last year were fined between $500 and $10,000 for repeat violations of labeling laws.
“No. 1, this represents a health issue to citizens who are overweight or diabetic who shouldn’t be eating lots of carbohydrates or sugars,” says Terence McElroy, spokesman for the department. “Second, it’s a financial rip-off if you’re not getting what you think you’re getting.”
Florida plans to test products routinely, though its primary focus is on companies that manufacture and sell products within that state. Any national brands that violate their labels will be reported to the FDA, McElroy says.
The problem isn't isolated to Florida, of course. The findings have been echoed in investigative news reports around the country. Some foods have been found to contain from two to seven times the declared carbohydrate content.
Beware the magic pills
Don't think pills can solve the problem. The makers of dietary supplements have jumped into the fray with products claiming to block the absorption of carbs into your body altogether.
You'd think this company's name, for example, would be a tip-off to fraud-conscious consumers: The Fountain of Youth Group. This Florida diet supplement maker was the target of FTC action this year for misleading consumers with carb-blocking claims. The maker of “Skinny Pills” products made “false and unsubstantiated” claims for their dietary supplements, including the “Skinny Carbs” pills, the FTC said. The commission barred the company from making any carb-blocking or weight-loss claims unless it can support them scientifically.
And the chances of that? Slim to nil, says Richard Cleland, the FTC’s assistant director of the Division of Advertising Practices.
“I haven’t seen anything that would support the carb-blocking claims,” Cleland says. “A lot of people see these products and think the FDA and FTC wouldn’t allow them to sell these products if they hadn’t been checked out, but that’s not how regulation works.”
Instead, the FTC must monitor the product claims after the products hit the market. That's why you'll still see items with names like Atkins Accel, Carbs Away, Carb Block and Carb Eliminator on store shelves.
“Quite simply, there are more of them than there are of us,” says the FTC's Cleland.
Don’t pay up to be misled
On top of all that, low-carb foods are overpriced. “If you’ve ever seen some of these products -- let’s say it’s a brownie selling for $1.99 -- if you buy the low-carb alternative, it’s twice the price,” McElroy says.
In fact, it’s often more than that, per serving.
Check out the prices in your local stores. We did our own unscientific inventory of local grocers. A loaf of bread cost $3.89 at a local low-carb market, compared with $2.69 for a loaf of whole wheat bread at the Safeway less than a mile away. A 10-ounce box of Atkins almond crunch cereal cost $5.99, versus $3.19 for a 16-ounce box of Post’s Honey Bunches of Oats with almonds; a six-ounce bag of low-carb tortilla chips ran $4.35 versus $2.49 for a 16-ounce bag of Diane’s tortilla chips. And that muffin mix? Try $5.69 for the low-carb version versus the $2-$3 range for standard mix.
The table below is a sampling of the premium you’ll pay for low-carb foods (prices gathered at various Web sites):
Prices taken in an online sampling of national grocery chains; difference in sizes noted where applicable.
The cost of cutting carbs
Low-carb product / Price
Standard product / Price
Atkins Onion Bagels $4.99
Lender's Onion Bagels $2.19
Atkins Ketchup 10-oz $4.79
Heinz Ketchup 14-oz $1.49
Atkins Blueberry Muffin mix $6.79
Betty Crocker Muffin Mix Blueberry $3.08
Monterey Pasta Company Carb Smart Tortelloni Spinach Cheese $4.99
Contadina Buitoni Pasta Tortellini Three Cheese $3.69
Mission Low Carb Tortilla $2.99
El Ranchito Tortillas Flour for Fajitas $2.29
Low Carb Success Vanilla Almond Cereal $6.60
General Mills Cereal Total Whole Grain $4.39
Carb Options Ragu Garden Style Sauce $3.79
Ragu Pasta Sauce Garden Style Super Vegetable $2.00
Dannon Light N Fit Carb Control Peaches N Cream Yogurt $2.69
Dannon La Creme Vanilla Yogurt $2.29
Wishbone Carb Options Ranch Salad Dressing $4.29
Wishbone Ranch Salad Dressing $2.99
Oroweat Carb Counting 100 Percent Multi Grain Bread 16-oz $3.49
Oroweat Multi-Grain Bread 24-oz $3.29
Total 1 = $45.41
Total 2 = $27.70
We found the only items that weren't significantly more expensive at the low-carb market, though they still tended to cost more, were the low-carb nutrition bars, which hovered around $2 or less. Most of the nutrition bars at the local Safeway were in the $1.40-to-$1.60 range.
Even if all products did live up to their claims, buying them is simply a waste of money, according to Althea Zanecosky, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “People don’t need to pay extra money for those products,” she says. “They need to learn to eat real food and (to learn) how much is too much."
Don't be duped by a false sense of security
The whole point of the carb-related food claims, says Liebman, is to make you think you can lose weight simply by eating these foods.
“What do you think it means to the consumer when they see ‘carb smart’ or ‘carb aware’ on the label? We’re saying it’s an implied claim that if you eat those products, you’ll lose weight,” Liebman says.
Zanecosky agrees. “I think people are getting a false sense of security when they buy low-carb products.”
The problem, of course, is that like products labeled low-fat, many low-carb products are not low-calorie. Liebman notes one fajita meal offered on the low-carb menu at Ruby Tuesday, a casual dining chain, has more than 1,000 calories.
“We’re right back where we were with low-fat foods about 10 years ago,” Zanecosky says. “People would look for low-fat foods and think they could eat as much as they wanted without gaining weight. We called it the ‘Snackwell Syndrome’ (after Nabisco’s fat-free cookies).”
The bottom line: Approach marketing claims with skepticism and check with your doctor about the appropriate foods for any diet.
"Low-carb gimmicks leave you fatter and poorer"
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