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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Low-Carb Craze

Aired January 15, 2004 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Low-carb products in high demand. The advertisements do not shy away from making claims about the benefits. Question this morning, though, is how healthy are they? Sanjay's looking into it. Here to clear up some carb confusion this morning.
Nice to see you. Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, a lot of people look at these low-carb diets and say they probably can't be that healthy because of the high fat content. It doesn't stop them from becoming extremely popular now.

Sort of break it down, some of the ads you are going to expect to see over this next year. Low carbs are going to be about a $15 billion industry in 2004. That's with a 'b.'

Holiday Inn, for example -- Holiday Inn serves about 25 million breakfasts, and they now have something known as the low-carb inspiration, new low-carb inspiration. What is this? Basically eggs, sausage and bacon, hold the potatoes, about 8 grams of carbs, which is pretty good, 38 grams of protein. They don't even bother telling you about fat or calories anymore. You don't even get that information.

Burger King as well. Burger King is going to have something known as the bunless burger. Hold the pickle and hold the bun as well. It's just going to be burger wrapped in lettuce. Again, pretty low-carb there as well. You won't get ketchup with that either. Ketchup often has lots of carbs as well.

Subway, a lot of people have been talking about Subway lately. Certainly Subway gained a lot of fame with the low-carb, low-fat sort of diets. Now they are going to have something known as the turkey and bacon melt, and chicken and bacon ranch. We actually have a couple of the sandwiches here.

Let me tell you a couple of things about these sandwiches. They are going to be relatively low in carbs. They're going to be about 430 to 480 calories. So quite a few calories as well. Nine grams of saturated fat. These are wraps. These are sandwiches in wraps, about 10 grams to 11 grams of net carbs. So pretty good as far as carbs go. If that looks appetizing to you, if you are on the Atkin's Diet, that may be a good option.

A lot of restaurants out there are going to be following suit -- McDonald's, Denny's, 7-11. Many dietitians, though, maintaining still maintaining, though, that it's not so much the carbs as it is the calories. If you're just eating a lot more of it, that could still be a problem.

HEMMER: Some of these products you are talking about, are they new, or are they just giving some sort of low-carb spin?

GUPTA: Yes, you sort of figure that out, with Holiday Inn, they are serving bacon and eggs, big surprise there, right. They are just getting rid of one sort of high-carb food, which is the potatoes. But a lot of them are sort of just a new spin on an old food.

KFC, you remember those ads for KFC. That wasn't too long ago. They're talking about chicken, those KFC ads being a low-carb food, and that it was good for you. They subsequently went off the air, because a lot of consumer groups sort of angry about the fact that KFC was being targeted as sort of a health food, but that's obviously sort of a new spin on an old food. You're probably going to see a lot more on that as well -- Bill.

HEMMER: Ten years ago it was low fat. Low-fat products, that was the craze, that was the rage. It kind of died out a little bit, because the weight loss was not as dramatic as many people thought. Is there a trend right now that you see that may portend whether or not this goes that way.

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting, that's a very good point that you bring up, because low fat initially when it came out made a lot of sense. People started eating low-fat diets, they ended up losing weight. The problem was that you had all these low-fat foods that were also extremely high in calories. So you are snarfing down towns Snackwells. After a while, that starts to catch up with you, the same sort of problem could happen with low carbs as well. Remember, calories still being the key here.

We've also got these shots of this low-carb superstore here. I just want to point this out. These stores, just about any product you can think of, including chocolate, pancakes, syrup, muffins. All this stuff, all low-carb sort of food. But when you talk about these diets, no matter how many problems out there, there is some data out there now on how well people do on the diets. Does it really work in the long term? And that's what people really want to know, if I stay on a low-carb diet.

And the Atkins Diet, one of the most popular low-carb diets, was studied. They find that, like many other diets, they have a high dropout rate, they are low in fiber, which can be problematic, and after a year -- this is the important one -- similar weight loss to low-fat diets. A lot of people dropping out, probably no additional benefit in terms of weight loss. When people see things like that, that may cause the low-carb craze to fizzle just a little bit.

HEMMER: Let me try and squeeze something here quickly. A few months ago, we were talking here in New York about this very idea, and your theory at the time was possibly some day we will no longer look at the four main food groups, which would be truly revolutionary in terms of diet. Do you still believe that possibly?

GUPTA: I do. I do believe that. You know, I think the four food groups, the way it stands, the food pyramid, first of all, is probably impractical, and I think we've advanced scientifically since then. Low-carbs, if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense, because really, you are talking about the blood sugar levels in the body and your talking about the blood insulin levels in the body.

The body is very complicated. Every food that you eat has a certain amount of energy to it and calories to it. And if you can balance that out, that's probably going to be your best way to lose weight long term, but it's got to be a balancing sort of situation for the long term.

HEMMER: You're on record now. Thank you, Sanjay. Good to see you. Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 15, 2004 - 08:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Low-carb products in high demand. The advertisements do not shy away from making claims about the benefits. Question this morning, though, is how healthy are they? Sanjay's looking into it. Here to clear up some carb confusion this morning.
Nice to see you. Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, a lot of people look at these low-carb diets and say they probably can't be that healthy because of the high fat content. It doesn't stop them from becoming extremely popular now.

Sort of break it down, some of the ads you are going to expect to see over this next year. Low carbs are going to be about a $15 billion industry in 2004. That's with a 'b.'

Holiday Inn, for example -- Holiday Inn serves about 25 million breakfasts, and they now have something known as the low-carb inspiration, new low-carb inspiration. What is this? Basically eggs, sausage and bacon, hold the potatoes, about 8 grams of carbs, which is pretty good, 38 grams of protein. They don't even bother telling you about fat or calories anymore. You don't even get that information.

Burger King as well. Burger King is going to have something known as the bunless burger. Hold the pickle and hold the bun as well. It's just going to be burger wrapped in lettuce. Again, pretty low-carb there as well. You won't get ketchup with that either. Ketchup often has lots of carbs as well.

Subway, a lot of people have been talking about Subway lately. Certainly Subway gained a lot of fame with the low-carb, low-fat sort of diets. Now they are going to have something known as the turkey and bacon melt, and chicken and bacon ranch. We actually have a couple of the sandwiches here.

Let me tell you a couple of things about these sandwiches. They are going to be relatively low in carbs. They're going to be about 430 to 480 calories. So quite a few calories as well. Nine grams of saturated fat. These are wraps. These are sandwiches in wraps, about 10 grams to 11 grams of net carbs. So pretty good as far as carbs go. If that looks appetizing to you, if you are on the Atkin's Diet, that may be a good option.

A lot of restaurants out there are going to be following suit -- McDonald's, Denny's, 7-11. Many dietitians, though, maintaining still maintaining, though, that it's not so much the carbs as it is the calories. If you're just eating a lot more of it, that could still be a problem.

HEMMER: Some of these products you are talking about, are they new, or are they just giving some sort of low-carb spin?

GUPTA: Yes, you sort of figure that out, with Holiday Inn, they are serving bacon and eggs, big surprise there, right. They are just getting rid of one sort of high-carb food, which is the potatoes. But a lot of them are sort of just a new spin on an old food.

KFC, you remember those ads for KFC. That wasn't too long ago. They're talking about chicken, those KFC ads being a low-carb food, and that it was good for you. They subsequently went off the air, because a lot of consumer groups sort of angry about the fact that KFC was being targeted as sort of a health food, but that's obviously sort of a new spin on an old food. You're probably going to see a lot more on that as well -- Bill.

HEMMER: Ten years ago it was low fat. Low-fat products, that was the craze, that was the rage. It kind of died out a little bit, because the weight loss was not as dramatic as many people thought. Is there a trend right now that you see that may portend whether or not this goes that way.

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting, that's a very good point that you bring up, because low fat initially when it came out made a lot of sense. People started eating low-fat diets, they ended up losing weight. The problem was that you had all these low-fat foods that were also extremely high in calories. So you are snarfing down towns Snackwells. After a while, that starts to catch up with you, the same sort of problem could happen with low carbs as well. Remember, calories still being the key here.

We've also got these shots of this low-carb superstore here. I just want to point this out. These stores, just about any product you can think of, including chocolate, pancakes, syrup, muffins. All this stuff, all low-carb sort of food. But when you talk about these diets, no matter how many problems out there, there is some data out there now on how well people do on the diets. Does it really work in the long term? And that's what people really want to know, if I stay on a low-carb diet.

And the Atkins Diet, one of the most popular low-carb diets, was studied. They find that, like many other diets, they have a high dropout rate, they are low in fiber, which can be problematic, and after a year -- this is the important one -- similar weight loss to low-fat diets. A lot of people dropping out, probably no additional benefit in terms of weight loss. When people see things like that, that may cause the low-carb craze to fizzle just a little bit.

HEMMER: Let me try and squeeze something here quickly. A few months ago, we were talking here in New York about this very idea, and your theory at the time was possibly some day we will no longer look at the four main food groups, which would be truly revolutionary in terms of diet. Do you still believe that possibly?

GUPTA: I do. I do believe that. You know, I think the four food groups, the way it stands, the food pyramid, first of all, is probably impractical, and I think we've advanced scientifically since then. Low-carbs, if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense, because really, you are talking about the blood sugar levels in the body and your talking about the blood insulin levels in the body.

The body is very complicated. Every food that you eat has a certain amount of energy to it and calories to it. And if you can balance that out, that's probably going to be your best way to lose weight long term, but it's got to be a balancing sort of situation for the long term.

HEMMER: You're on record now. Thank you, Sanjay. Good to see you. Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com