http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/h...print&position=

Low-Carb Boom Isn't Just for Dieters Anymore
By KATE ZERNIKE and MARIAN BURROS

LOS ANGELES — Marc and Connie Foreman are not on the Atkins, South Beach, Zone, Lindora or any other low-carbohydrate diet.

Yet here they were, waiting for a table at T.G.I. Friday's, a restaurant they have only driven past for 25 years, because Mr. Foreman had seen a commercial earlier in the day advertising one of its Atkins-approved menu items, a New York strip steak with blue cheese (broccoli, no fries).

"I won't cut out carbs completely," said Ms. Foreman, a teacher, "but when you think about your diet — the bread, the potatoes, the pasta — it makes sense to cut out that stuff."

Low-carb mania has spread beyond the millions of low-carb dieters. Food industry analysts say a far greater number of people are now "carb aware," even carb-phobic, cutting out those foods not as a way to lose weight, but because of a general sense that they are unhealthy. That is prompting changes in the way food is made, packaged and sold like nothing since the early 1990's, when even nondieters began loading their carts with low-fat yogurts and snacks..

"A year ago, if you asked consumers what they watch, 11 percent would have said carbs," said Michael Polk, chief operating officer at Unilever-Best Foods, which recently introduced 18 low-carbohydrate versions of items like Skippy peanut butter and Ragu tomato sauce. "Today if you ask, 40 percent of consumers say they are watching carbs. In our opinion, this has evolved into a major shift in consumer behavior."

The growth has even outpaced the government's ability to regulate the products and their labeling. Since 1999, 728 products that claim to be low in carbohydrates have been introduced, according to the Global New Products Database of Mintel International Group, a market research company.

Last month, representatives of 450 companies, including Kraft, Con- Agra and Wal-Mart, gathered at a two day Low-Carb Summit in Denver to discuss how to take advantage of what some analysts predict will be a $25 billion market for low-carb products and services this year: everything from low-carb pasta to low-carb European barge cruises and hotel "get a-weighs."

In Southern California, two entrepreneurs (and Atkins dieters) last month opened the first two in a chain of low-carb supermarkets called Pure Foods, and individual low-carb markets are opening nationwide. In January, a new magazine called LowCarb Living hit newsstands.

The boom in low-fat products in the 1980's and 90's reflected the F.D.A.'s recommendations as well as years of studies showing that low-fat diets could reduce the risks of heart diseases and various cancers. But the surge in low-carb products primarily reflects the runaway success of books about the low-carb diets, which are being used by an estimated 10 million to 25 million people.

Doctors have warned that high levels of saturated fats in some low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets can lead to heart disease and kidney problems. And critics worry that just as some people took low-fat as a license to eat the whole carton of light ice cream, they will take low-carb as permission to eat the entire crustless cheesecake, fattening up on calories either way.

"As soon as you tell people to eat supplemental foods, people think there are free calories and there are not," said Frank Sacks, professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health.

This is a particularly American way of thinking about food, said Greg Critser, author of "Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World."

"The Europeans don't have this mentality," Mr. Critser said. "There's more a culture of the enjoyment of food, not just the amount of food. The problem is that behind whatever diet is in ascent in this country, the background noise is one and the same: a license to gluttony."

According to a survey of 1,182 people conducted in December for LowCarbiz, a new publication tracking the boom, 8.3 percent of respondents said they were on a low-carb diet and 20 percent said they were not on a diet but had been cutting back on high-carbohydrate foods.

Cathryn Kennedi, 42, had gone to Pure Foods in Santa Monica, Calif., to pick up low-carb bagels, pasta and cereal (made with soy protein instead of flour). Like others at the store, she said she did not think she needed to lose weight. Still, she said, "I think there's some truth to not grabbing carbs. I feel more energy when I eat low-carb.

"I've been eating healthy for a long time, but when you get home from work, the things you grab are all carbs," she said. "The easiest thing is to grab a bagel. If they can make it easy to grab one that's low-carb, it's more convenient."

What it means to be low-carb is not clear, though.

The only nutritional claims that the Food and Drug Administration allow on food labels are "low-fat," "low-calorie" and "low-cholesterol," each of which has a legal definition. Technically, any label that says "low-carb" on it is violating the law, but companies will receive little more than a warning letter.

The food and drug agency has postponed issuing regulations on most low-carbohydrate products.

Carbohydrates are reduced by substituting soy flour or other high-fiber flour for refined flour, and various artificial sweeteners for sugar and other sweeteners. If a product contains 15 grams of carbohydrates and 8 grams of fiber, which is not digested, the "net carbs" would be 7 grams.

While companies like Subway and T.G.I. Friday's have allied themselves with specific diets, Unilever and others have pitched their products more generically as low-carb to appeal to nondieters as well.

"We wouldn't be putting this kind of money into this if we thought it was just a trend," said Brad Saltzman, the co-founder of Pure Foods, the low-carb chain opening in California. "People know the number of carbs they're eating like they know their Social Security number or their home telephone number."

Some low-carb devotees say they wonder if there is a market for processed low-carb foods. Nina Reed, an elementary school teacher in Queens, said she preferred to get her carbs from foods like meat, poultry and vegetables. "Whether it's low-carb or low-fat or sugar-free, if you eat three pieces, cake is still cake," she said.

But all the new products seem to be making it easier to attract converts. Clair and Marty Lipson drove from Palm Springs to Pure Foods in Santa Monica after finding out about the market on the Web. The couple tried Atkins a few months ago, but fell off because of the restrictions on what they could eat.

"None of this was really available," Ms. Lipson said. "The amount of stuff that's available now, it's amazing," she said, poring over pancake mixes, pasta and chocolate bars. Asking for "something like rice," she was directed to a row of canned low-carb mashed potatoes in a variety of flavors. "Garlic parmesan?" she asked her husband. "You like garlic parmesan?"

The price: $6.99 for seven ounces.

No one is claiming that eating low-carb is cheap. Robert Hall, 30, was buying nacho cheese and cool ranch twists by CarbFit, some baked cheese, low-carb soft tacos made by a company called Adios Carbs, and, for his girlfriend, low-carb brownies. He left with $122.18 in low-carb food. "I spent 300 bucks last time," he said. "This was just a supplemental visit."

And then there's the question of how low the carbs are. The New York Times had a laboratory analyze seven products and found label information about their carbohydrate levels was accurate. But KCBS-TV in Los Angeles found carbohydrate levels higher than listed in meals at three chain restaurants, including T.G.I. Friday's New York strip with blue cheese. The strip steak had 20 grams of total carbohydrates according to KCBS and 11 according to Friday's. In a statement, Friday's stood by its figures and attributed the discrepancy to human error at the restaurant used by the television station.