Low-carb--but highly processed: low-carb processed foods are no healthier than their conventional equivalents--but can cost a lot more.(REPORT: Low-carb foods)

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Australian Consumers' Association

A survey last year found that one in five adult Australians said they'd tried, or intended to try, a low-carbohydrate diet. Most of us have at least heard of the Atkins diet (or some other form of low-carb diet) and worldwide the Atkins diet books have sold more than 45 million copies.

Enthusiasm for low-carb diets has never been higher. These diets claim to offer a quick fix that's relatively painless and really works. You can start the day with bacon and eggs, enjoy juicy steaks with just a few green vegetables, and some say you can eat as much butter as you like, and lashings of cream--but you lose weight, and you never feel hungry.

So it's no surprise that plenty of people have been sucked into the low-carb craze--and the food industry hasn't been slow to cash in on the action.

PROCESSED AND PRICY

There's no shortage of processed foods with explicit low-carb claims or names such as 'Carb Options', 'Carb Smart' and 'CarboRite' (not to mention the Atkins brand name itself), which give the impression that they're suitable for people on low-carb diets.

In the table (page 23) we've listed some of the brands you're most likely to find in the big supermarkets and compared them with the nearest conventional equivalent we could find.

The low-carb brands all have less carbohydrate per serve than the conventional versions, but not necessarily so much less as to make a significant difference to your overall diet. For instance, unless you like it better, there's no point paying extra for ATKINS Quick Cuisine Creamy Ranch Dressing with 0.7 g of carbs per serve when a serve of PAUL NEWMAN's OWN Ranch Dressing gives you only about half a gram more carbs. And much the same applies to EMPOWER LOW CARB Chocolate, which has only marginally fewer carbs than the same amount of CADBURY Dairy Milk Chocolate, but packs in more kilo joules.

And these products aren't necessarily compatible with a genuinely low-carb diet (see What does low-carb really mean?, right). The initial induction phase of the Atkins diet, for example, restricts...

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