Low-carb processed foods sabotaging diets

An explosion of low-carb foods designed especially for people on Atkins-type diets is contributing to diet failure.

Experts staffing the Atkins customer information service are getting calls and questions online from disappointed dieters who can't understand why they aren't losing weight. The problem, the experts say: Dieters are eating too many of these new low-carb protein bars, muffins and brownie mixes, which are low in carbohydrates but often high in calories.

It's a trend that's similar to problems dieters faced in the 1980s and 1990s with eating too much low-fat processed food.

The low-carb market is booming:

• Nearly 500 new low-carb products have been introduced since 2001, according to Global New Products Database in Chicago.

• There are more than 2,000 of these products on the market, says Dean Rotbart, editor of LowCarbiz, a trade newsletter.

• Sales of these products are expected to pass $15 billion this year, he says. And in 2004, that number may reach $30 billion, he says.

The popularity is largely due to the diets like Atkins, which slashes carbs (found in sweets, potatoes, pasta, some starchy vegetables and many fruits) and "The South Beach Diet," which trims them way back for the first two weeks of the plan. Millions of people have either tried or are following low-carb diets. Even more are watching their carbohydrates without following any particular diet.

Atkins' customer support team has received questions from dieters who were not losing weight on the diet, because they were eating too many low-carb products and not following the program, says Colette Heimowitz, a nutritionist for the Atkins companies. "They cannot sacrifice their vegetables for low-carb products. The products were formulated to make the lifestyle easier, not as a substitute for healthy eating habits."

Even patients in cardiologist Arthur Agatston's office in Miami Beach (author of "The South Beach Diet") have gotten tripped up by eating too many low-carb, high-calorie products, says Marie Almon, a registered dietitian who works in his practice.

The products can be "diet sabotages," Almon says. Some people think if the products are low in carbs, they don't have any calories. But they do, she says.