Coming to a market near you, low-carb food products

[Guest guest]

Coming to a market near you, low-carb food products

By BEV BENNETT

This first of two columns on low-carbohydrate diets takes a look at the

new low-carbohydrate food products introduced at the recent Chicago FMI

Show, sponsored by the Food Marketing Institute. The next column will

discuss the pros and cons of processed low-carbohydrate foods.)

If you haven't seen a low-carbohydrate formulation of your favorite

processed food, just wait. Manufacturers are producing low-carbohydrate

versions of everything from yogurt to pretzels. And no wonder. This is a

multibillion-dollar business, with 75 percent of Americans aware of

low-carbohydrate diets and between 15 to 45 million consumers (depending

on the statistics you read) following a low-carbohydrate regimen.

Whether a low-carbohydrate diet, especially one based on processed

foods, can be effective in weight control is debatable, and no one knows

whether consumers will sustain their interest in low-carbohydrate diets.

People adopt a particular diet because it's easy and they can eat the

foods they like and talk to their friends about their eating habits,

according to Harry Balzer, a vice president of the NPD Group, a market

information provider, based in Port Washington, N.Y.

Low-carbohydrate diets certainly have a buzz. And the routine will

become easier as more foods tailored to the diet become available.

Here are some of the more interesting low-carbohydrate foods that are

coming to your supermarket.

Guiltless Gourmet, makers of baked low-fat tortilla chips, now has

Guiltless Gourmet Baked Guiltless Carbs snack chips. The chips boast a

6-gram " effective carb count, " which is determined by subtracting

dietary fiber from total carbohydrates. The chips are also high in

protein, with 16 grams of protein per serving. Salsa Verde, Southwestern

Ranch and Three Pepper chips come in 1-ounce or 3.5-ounce bags.

Yoplait Ultra yogurt from General Mills has only 5 grams of sugar, 8

grams of carbohydrates and 90 calories per 6-ounce container. The yogurt

comes in Strawberry Creme, Peach Creme, Blueberry Creme and Raspberry

Creme flavors.

Coca-Cola C2, from the Coca-Cola Co., has half the sugar, carbohydrates

and calories - 45 per serving - of regular colas.

Snyder's of Hanover remakes the traditionally high-carbohydrate pretzel

into Carb-Fix Pretzel Nibblers with 50 percent fewer net carbohydrates.

Each serving of Pretzel Nibblers or Pretzels sticks has 9 grams of fiber

and 5 grams of protein.

General Mills, makers of such foods as packaged mashed potatoes,

refrigerated rolls, canned soups and ground-beef kits, introduces its

Carb Monitor line. The products, which are higher in dietary fiber than

the conventional line, include Betty Crocker Carb Monitor Roasted Garlic

Mashed Potatoes with 27 percent fewer net carbohydrates. There's also

Hamburger Helper Carb Monitor Cheeseburger Macaroni.

Progresso Carb Monitor Soups include Chicken Vegetable, Beef Vegetable,

Tuscan-Style Meatball, Chicken Cheese Enchilada Style and Roasted Turkey

Vegetable. Carb Monitor frozen dinner rolls contain flax seed and millet

that provide texture and dietary fiber for 50 percent fewer net

carbohydrates.

Kraft Foods also has a variety of new low-carbohydrate foods under the

CarbWell label. Condiments include CarbWell BBQ Sauce, A.1 CarbWell

Steak Sauce and Kraft CarbWell Salad Dressings in Ranch, Italian, Blue

Cheese and Classic Caesar flavors. Post CarbWell Cinnamon Crunch and

Golden Crunch breakfast cereals claim to have 50 percent of the net

carbohydrates of leading cereals.

Snackwell's cookies, an icon of the low-fat diets of the '90s, are

available as a low-carbohydrate product under Kraft's CarbWell line. The

cookies in Fudge Brownie, Fudge Striped and Fudge Graham varieties have

9 or less net carbohydrates and 120 calories or less per serving.

The American Italian Pasta Co. offers reduced-carbohydrate pastas under

the Mueller's, Golden Grain, R&F, Ronco, Martha Gooch, Luxury and

brands. The brands have been reformulated to contain 19 net

grams of carbohydrates per serving, about half the usual.

The low-carbohydrate pasta products are higher in protein and dietary

fiber than the typical pastas as well.

Atkins Endulge Super Premium Ice Cream keeps its net carbohydrate count

to a low 3 grams per 1/2-cup serving. However, the ice cream isn't low

in fat.

Each serving provides about 6 grams of saturated fat, a third of what

you should limit yourself to in a day. The ice cream flavors include

Vanilla Fudge Swirl, Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl, Chocolate, Butter

Pecan, Vanilla, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Mint Chocolate Chip and Vanilla

Swiss Almond.

Sara Lee Delightful White Bakery Bread has 25 percent fewer

carbohydrates and 25 percent fewer calories than its Classic White

Bakery Bread. Each slice of bread has 45 calories and 9 grams of

carbohydrates.