Low-carb craze is just plain crazy, nutrition expert says

• Not sure what to make of all the low-carb diets and foods currently on the market?
• Hospital dietitian Michelle Maccarone gave a speech Wednesday titled "Carb Craze or Carb Crazy."
• She argued that America has become the latter, falling prey to misleading marketing by a low-carb industry now running into the billions of dollars.
• "The problem with low-carb diets is that we've become obsessed with weight loss instead of overall health," she said.
• Maccarone began her lecture by comparing the marketing of low-carb foods to the trend in the 1990s to market low-fat foods, even though those products often packed lots of calories.
• She pointed to research done by www.consumerlab.com, an independent testing organization, that found as many as 60 percent of low-carb nutrition bars give erroneous information on their packages.
• The "net carb" content listed on many of these bars is also misleading.
• According to manufacturers, net carbs consist of total carbohydrates minus fiber and sugar alcohols.
• It's OK to subtract fiber, Maccarone said, but sugar alcohols such as glycerol have little impact on overall carb content.
• Also, although sugar alcohols have been used in small amounts in items like chewing gum for years, researchers say little is known about the long-term effects of consuming large amounts of these substances.
• The FDA hasn't approved it, but the companies are still labeling that way."
• She also said many low-carb diets are nutritionally deficient.
• The Atkins diet, for example, advocates no more than 20-60 grams of carbohydrates per day during the diet's first few weeks.
• Cutting out fruits because they contain carbohydrates can also cause serious nutritional deficiencies.
• Maccarone spoke as part of the Aspen Valley Hospital and Aspen Given Foundation's "Brown Bag" lunchtime lecture series.