Carbs recharge

Freshman Courtney Carnevale finished eating a balanced lunch of sushi, pita and humus in the Indiana Memorial Union's cafeteria around 1 p.m. one afternoon.\nOne year ago though, her meal wouldn't have featured pyramid-like foods and it definitely wouldn't have included pitas -- an item containing carbohydrates. \nIn April 2004, Carnevale had not eaten carbohydrates for about one year. The low-carb diet had been successful as she had lost 20 pounds. \nBut last year, Carnevale's low-carb dieting habits abruptly stopped when her body came to rest at the bottom of the stairs in her home in Livingston, N.J. Carnevale said her blood sugar dipped too low and caused her to collapse. \nAlthough she was OK, it was a scary moment for the then-senior in high school.\n"My parents told me I couldn't be on (a low-carb diet) anymore," Carnevale said. "I spoke to my doctor about it afterwards and she said it wasn't healthy to be on it."\nMany Americans are following Carnevale's lead. Although they likely haven't experienced the extreme incident Carnevale faced, many are becoming disinterested and quitting the diet -- finding the low-carb, high-protein craze too strict in limiting healthy foods groups. \nOthers think it is unhealthy in the long-term with the possibility of the heavy-load of calories and saturated fats eventually causing heart disease.\n"I don't even see people really starting it anymore," Carnevale said. "Once you go off of it you gain all of your weight back. It's not even worth it."\nIn the last few years, many food manufacturing companies thought it was worth riding the low-carb craze to meet consumers' demands. \nBut after the recent fall out, private companies, such as Atkins Nutritionals and Keto Foods, have seen losses in revenue because of an overextended dive into the low-carb food market that has resulted in excess inventories. Atkins experienced a 32 percent revenue drop in a six-month stretch during 2004, according to Dec. 5, 2004 article in The New York Times.\nThe low-carb diet's decline is the latest in woebegone food trends. IU Kelley School of Business Marketing Professor Ann Bastianelli said consumers, like Carnevale, who started on a low-carb diet before eventually quitting are the norm in a quick-fix dieting culture. \nIn the 1980s, the food trend turned the table toward oat bran. In the 1990s, low-fat foods were the trend. In the 2000s, low-carbs have ruled plates.\nUnfortunately for American consumers, Bastianelli said, showing moderation by watching calories and exercising regularly is the best answer for losing weight.\n"No one wants to hear that answer," Bastianelli said. "If manufacturers have permission to believe there's consumer demand for an easy answer and they can make that product, they will."\nManufacturers did make low-carb products -- and they made them in mass. From 2002 to 2004, manufacturers introduced about 3,737 products which had been created or re-engineered to market toward the low-carb craze, according to a ProductScan Online study noted in the Times article.\nRecently, however, supply has outpaced demand, according to an NDI Group study cited within the article. In January 2004, 9 percent of Americans were on low-carb diets. That number fell to 4.6 percent just eight months later in September. \nYet in that eight-month span, the low-carb product category doubled.\n"I think the bloom is definitely off the rose," said Assistant Professor of Marketing Adam L. Duhachek.\nSue Aquila, owner of Bloomington Bagel Company, said she sees the decline as well.\n"Businesses specifically catering to low-carbs have had an incredible decline in sales, especially companies that ramped up specifically for low-carb products," Aquila said.\nBloomington Bagel didn't jump onto the low-carb train. While the whimsical food market fluctuated, Aquila and Bloomington Bagel stayed committed to what low-carb dieters saw as the forbidden fruit -- bread. \nHer commitment has been rewarded. Aquila thought Bloomington Bagel would be negatively affected by the diet. It hasn't, however, and actually grew in the past several years.\nAquila said part of the reason for Bloomington Bagel's expansion is its young target market. Aquila thinks they're less concerned with "radical" regimens, like the low-carb Atkins diet, because they're difficult to maintain for young college students' lifestyles.\nAnother reason, Aquila said, has been her commitment to quality and bagels.\n"Our philosophy is we don't cater to the fad of the times," Aquila said.\nCompanies such as Atkins and Keto Foods have tried to cater to trends by selling low-carb food products, and they've suffered revenue loss. Dieting stalwart Weight Watchers, however, has a different business model. Although Weight Watchers sells food products, the publicly-traded company focuses more on education through its weight-loss meetings compared to trying to sell its products.\nAfter being hurt by the low-carb trend, Weight Watchers recovered as net income grew 32 percent in the first nine months of 2004 compared to the same period in 2003, according to The New York Times.\nBastianelli feels Weight Watchers has a longer staying power because of its use of moderation. \n"It's a simple enough formula that works pretty well," Bastianelli said. "People can understand that one. The carb stuff is hard to live by." \nWith low-carbs declining to a remaining faithful contingent, food manufacturers are left waiting to see what the next craze will be.\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.