Total Carbs

A CBS 2 Special Assignment

Feb 5, 2004 4:59 pm US/Pacific
LOS ANGELES (KCBS) Low carbs -- it's the rage in Hollywood and all over the country. And the food industry hasn't missed a beat, making a big business out of low-carb diets. But are all of those low-carb products and menu items as healthy as they claim?

CBS 2's Special Assignment decided to test some of the "low-carb" foods seen on restaurant menus and in grocery stores. And the results might explain why Americans aren't losing weight.

We'll get to the results in just a minute, but first meet dieter Brent Gustin.

"I've been on the diet before and now I'm trying what they're saying is low in carbs and nothings happening."

Brent watched his dollars wane while his weight stayed the same.

"It didn't benefit me at all to spend that much money and not have the results for it."

But Brent isn't the only frustrated dieter looking for an easy answer.

"When you have an obesity epidemic, anything that promises a quick fix is going to be a huge business," says Dr. Dean Ornish, who heads up a nutritional clinic. He says there are big bucks to be made with low-carb products.

"It's always easy to prey on weaknesses by telling people what they want to hear."

So are the manufacturers of the foods we tested just telling people what they want to hear, or will their carb claims turn out to be the truth when we put them to the test?

CBS 2 went to Associated Labs to test food from Subway, TGIF, Carl's Jr. and Burger King, and other foods you would buy in a grocery store. All of these foods are suppose to be low in carbohydrates.

At Subway we tested the Turkey Bacon Melt Wrap. Subway claims that it has 22 grams of carbs, while our lab results showed it at 28 grams.

They sent us a statement saying "they continually test products and are currently in the process of having our suppliers confirm that the items they produce adhere to specifications."

At Carl's Jr., we tested the low-carb Six Dollar Burger, which the company claims has six grams of carbohydrates. Our lab results: 9 grams.

Carl's Jr. says that they tested the burgers by testing 12 burgers, and that we only randomly tested one burger.

We tested the Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar. Atkins claims it has 17 grams of carbs. Our lab found the same.

We tested TGIF's Sizzling New York Strip with Blue Cheese. TGIF claims 6 net carbs and 11 total carbs. Our lab found 20 total carbs.

In their response, TGIF said, "It appears that human error occurred in this one restaurant, however, telling us it appeared without access to the test we can only speculate."

So what are net carbs? Even the FDA says the term is confusing. Net carbs are the total carbs minus the indigestible carbs. But experts say if you're counting carbs, even the good carbs count. So you see, even labels can be confusing. And not only to consumers.

"Net carbs, that's really interesting, because there are a lot of people, even trained nutritionists who don't know what net carbs are," says trainer Chris Patterson.

Patterson trains Brent and others trying to get into shape. He says his clients' morale is destroyed after what he calls being mislead by food manufacturers.

"They're being lied to, they're just flat out being lied to."

Meanwhile, back at the checkout counter, we tested the Odyssey Protein Bar. They claim 29 carbs; our lab found 31, which falls within the margin of error allowed by the FDA.

Darielle Low-Carb Pasta claims their product has 18 grams of carbs. Our lab came very close, also within the margin of error.

Low-Carb Emporium claims 15 grams of carbs per bagel. Our lab found triple the carbs -- 55. Low-carb Emporium says they just re-did the formulas and will be getting lab reports on new formulas soon.

Fans of Burger King's low-carb burger will be happy to hear that the carb count on the label was actually higher than what appeared in the burger, according to our lab results.

The FDA says they are looking at the issue of net carbs very carefully and are in the process of determining whether it is a fraudulent term.


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