Unilever goes low-carb down-under

29/09/2004 - Unilever yesterday turned its nose up at any talk of a
decline in the low-carb market and introduced 23 lines - the biggest
launch in the company's history - into Australian supermarkets,
according to an article in The Australian.

The publication noted that Unilever believes the low-carb market
could be worth $50 million within two years, citing surveys that
suggested up to 4.4 million Australians were already trying to lower
their carbohydrate intake.
In order to give the brand instant credibility, Unilever has
appended the new Carb Options brand to some of it existing lines.

The company's Australasian chairman Peter Slator is quoted as
saying: "If our estimates are correct, we would hope to see the
[low-carb] market grow to the tune of $50 million in the next two
years."

The new product lines, which include soups, sauces, pastas and
cereals, have apparently been developed locally to suit Australian
tastes.

The low-carb movement seemed to suffer its biggest wobble yet
earlier this month when Atkins Nutritionals, the US-based company
behind the trend hired a turnaround specialist to shake up its
business in the wake of increasing competition and waning consumer
interest in low-carb diets.

The private company also announced it was to cut jobs and take other
measures to boost efficiency.

However, these difficulties appeared to be restricted to the US. The
firm's UK division, which launched its first products on the market
earlier this year, said it was seeing no such pressure and was
instead benefiting from "an exceptionally positive response" to its
products, available in Boots, Holland & Barrett and health food
stores.

It has also extended distribution of the products this month to the
leading supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Superdrug.

A statement from Atkins UK managing director Roger Spicer said:
"There are over three million people in the UK who are currently
following the Atkins low-carb lifestyle. I'm delighted to say that
our sales are buoyant and there are no signs of a downward trend."

He added that growing demand for low-carb products in the UK is
illustrated by the increasing number of companies entering the
market.

This appears to be supported by recent research carried out by
Reuters, which found that over a quarter of food and drink companies
in the UK, Europe and US view the development of low-carb foods as a
priority and are actively investing in research and development of
new products.

But the situation in the US suggests that there the low-carb market
could become quickly saturated, and may be susceptible to
competition from new diet regimes.

Meanwhile UK nutritionists and food makers are increasingly looking
at the low glycaemic index as a more 'sensible' way of measuring
healthy carb intake.

"Not many brands are well-placed enough to support a low-carb
range," Mintel analyst David Jago told NutraIngredients.com earlier
this year. "And this is not the first time that low-carbs have come
around. There was also a lot of noise about the diet in the 70s but
it never really took off."

He added: "The low-carb trend gives companies the perfect
opportunity to start talking about GI. It is in some ways a more
educated approach to carbohydrate control and we are expecting some
food industry players to jump on the low-carb bandwagon to promote
this new diet."

Many fibre suppliers are indeed starting to do so, including Dutch
firm Acatris promoting its Fenugreek extract and National Starch
with its resistant starch.