By Miranda Wood, health reporter
October 10, 2004
The Sun-Herald, Australia
US diet giant Atkins will launch an assault on the Australian market this Christmas.
As more Australians switch to low-carbohydrate diets, Atkins is preparing to introduce products into supermarkets. The company has created an advertising campaign and opened an office in Sydney.
Atkins national managing director Andrew Le Lievre said more Australian health food stores were stocking Atkins foods.
"It is changing the way the world eats," he said. "There is a great awareness of Atkins."
The protein-rich Atkins diet has taken huge bites out of the earnings of food and weight-loss companies across the world.
One of the world's biggest food companies, Unilever, launched 23 low-carbohydrate products in Australia last month after the company revealed sales had slumped because of Atkins.
Krispy Kreme, the doughnut maker, announced it was cutting profit forecasts by 10 per cent after four years of growth while Weight Watchers International said membership numbers were down last year.
But Sarah Verne, Australian marketing manager for Weight Watchers, said it was business as usual.
"We're not worried about Atkins," she said. "We have seen so many of these diets come and go."
Dietitian Karen Inge, a member of Jenny Craig's medical advisory board, said the popularity of low-carbohydrate foods had peaked in the US but the diet was still "in vogue" in Australia.
"Obviously there are people who are going to jump on the bandwagon," she said.
"Once they follow these sorts of diets, they find they are not that easy to sustain."
Ms Inge said the Canadian Government had taken a strong stance against low-carbohydrate foods, banning any use of "low or reduced-carb" claims on labels.
GNC stores stock Atkins products in Australia and the health food chain's managing director Steven Hines said sales had doubled in the past six months.
"It's going through a huge boom," he said.
Mr Hines said the Atkins products had been the chain's biggest growth area and they were most popular in Sydney.
"It seems that people in Sydney are at the forefront of lifestyle and getting into shape," he said.
A new survey, commissioned by Go Grains, found nearly one in five Australians had tried or intended to try a low-carbohydrate diet.
Also, in the past two years, more people believed carbohydrates were fattening and were more careful about the amount of bread they ate.
Go Grains dietitian Trish Griffiths said Atkins was pushing very hard in Australia to take advantage of the low-carbohydrate food craze.
"There will be a level of interest in Australia but it's hard to predict how much," she said.
"I would hope that we don't become as obsessed as the United States."
Ms Griffiths said Atkins was not a sensible diet and people needed a better understanding of what a healthy diet was.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004...l?oneclick=true
Atkins takes the low carb war to the supermarket (in Australia)
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