Snacks Go Low Carb

Chemists believe they have solved the laxative problem with a new sugar alcohol called erythritol. It's already in use in the Z-Carb bar as well as in Carbolite's new At Last! bars. But obstacles to further industry growth remain. For one thing, there's uncertainty about which products can legitimately be labeled as "low" or "lite" in carbohydrate content. The industry claims fiber and sugar alcohols that don't affect insulin levels shouldn't be counted as regular carbohydrates. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says a carb is a carb and has sent letters chastising companies, including Carbolite, for misbranding their products. After spending $500,000 last year trying to persuade the agency to change its regulations, Carbolite gave up this past winter and started renaming its products under the label Carborite.

Meanwhile, the Atkins diet still has its detractors; long-term studies of its overall health effects are just beginning. Despite the static, the low-carb phenomenon is starting to pinch the rest of the diet industry, which for decades has focused on lowering fat and calorie consumption. Weight Watchers International last month blamed the Atkins craze for declining attendance at its consumer meetings in North America. And Unilever, the world's third largest food company, attributed disappointing sales of its low-fat Slim-Fast line to the low-carb boom. Some foodmakers are adapting — last month the American Italian Pasta Co. announced it would produce low-carb pasta dishes for Atkins Nutritionals — while others are trying to mobilize. In May tortilla manufacturers gathered at a seminar called "An Industry in Crisis: The High-Protein, Low-Carb Diet and Its Effects on the Tortilla Industry."

Atkins Nutritionals president Scott Kabak says his company is just beginning to swipe market share. "We don't really see a ceiling for the business," he says. But fads have been known to come and go in the diet industry. "Based on prior quick-fix diets, few people will be able to maintain such abnormal eating patterns," says Irma Zandl, president of the Zandl Group, a trend consultancy in New York City. "We give low-carb mania another 12 to 18 months to peak." Then again, people have been underestimating the staying power of the Atkins diet for decades.