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Posted on Tue, Jul. 27, 2004
Atkins Nutritional clashes with Atkins philosophy
By Sarah Ellison
WALL STREET JOURNAL
When a slew of new, reduced-carbohydrate products hit store shelves this spring, Atkins Nutritionals Inc. sounded an alarm. The company, founded by the late low-carb diet guru Robert C. Atkins, warned consumers that many of the new products either were mislabeled or contained too many carbohydrates to qualify as truly "low-carb."
"Atkins continues to educate consumers that the best food choices are nutrient-dense whole foods," such as chicken, eggs and vegetables, the Ronkonkoma, N.Y., company said in a statement in April.
The warning struck some food-industry experts as odd: Just like its new low-carb rivals, Atkins Nutritionals doesn't sell whole foods. The company has emerged as one of the nation's largest sellers of reduced-carb packaged foods with more than 200 products ranging from Atkins Endulge Super Premium Ice Cream to Atkins Ready-to-Eat Bagels. Yet even as the company continues to sell millions of dollars a year in packaged food, its information division is advising dieters that whole foods are better for weight loss.
The paradox highlights a growing identity crisis at Atkins Nutritionals as it evolves from a medical practice based on Dr. Atkins's best-selling "Diet Revolution" books into a prominent packaged-food marketer. Since ramping up its food business in 2000, Atkins has posted phenomenal growth, with revenue last year doubling to exceed $200 million. Its new products position it to compete with food industry giants, including Unilever and Kraft Foods Inc., which recently jumped on the low-carb bandwagon, too. In this year's first half, food companies introduced 1,865 reduced-carb foods and beverages, according to Marketing Intelligence Service -- up from just 339 in all of 2002.
What's made the avalanche of new products possible is the concept of "net carbs" -- the controversial notion that some carbohydrates don't raise blood sugar as much as others do, and thus don't need to be eliminated in low-carb regimes. By substituting fiber and sugar alcohols for sugar, food makers have come out with a vast array of cookies, candies, breadstuffs and pastries -- just the kind of sweet, starchy goodies typically banned on low-carb diets -- and are marketing them to eager dieters as low "net carb."
The diet that made Atkins famous, selling 18 million books in the U.S. since 1972, highlights the notion that by severely restricting carbohydrate intake, the body enters into a state called ketosis, in which it burns stored fat for energy instead. In the strict two-week induction phase, dieters are supposed to consume fewer than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day, about as much as in a cup of salad greens, while they are allowed to eat liberal amounts of meat, cheese and other protein.
But is ketosis possible on net carbs -- say, when those 20 daily carbohydrates come from 10 candy bars with 2 net carbs each?
Executives at Atkins Nutritionals say some of the company's products should not be used in the strictest phase of the diet. Its Advantage line of products are allowed, they say, because those have more nutrients than the sweeter-tasting Endulge line, even thought both have comparable net-carb counts. (On its Web site, the company says of Advantage bars: "Feel free to eat them during Induction as long as you continue to lose weight.")
In general, Atkins officials defend its use of the term. "We are absolutely behind net carbs, and there is proof that it is a valid concept," says Matthew Wiant, the company's chief marketing officer, citing tests Atkins has done on the blood sugar level of dieters after consuming its products.
Wiant says the packaged snacks enhance the Atkins approach. "By offering products like sweet snacks and ice cream and breads, it actually facilitates staying on the (diet)." But he adds, "You can't go out and eat the whole box of candy. You will slow down your weight loss efforts if you do that."
Some dieters hail the packaged products as a convenient way to follow the diet. "You can't walk around with a cheese omelet in your hand," says Ken Bloom, 48, who has lost 35 pounds since March, frequently eating an Atkins Advantage shake for breakfast, an Advantage or Endulge bar for lunch and a dinner with little or no carbs.
But others think the bevy of net-carb products may be undermining their weight-loss efforts. After consistently losing weight for about a year, 46-year-old Gilda Libero started adding low-carb ice cream, snack chips and cereals into her diet.
She continued to count carbs and says she didn't increase her portion sizes. But she says she's stopped losing weight for this first time this month. Since then she's cut down on packaged low-carb products. "I'm back to freezing grapes for a snack," she says.
