FDA to regulate what is considered "low-carb" or low-carbohydrate

Well you have seen it. It appears as if you can get everything "low-carb" now. Hotels are putting "low-carb" mints on pillows. There are "low-carb" breads, pastas, chips, hamburgers, sandwiches.. this list goes on and on. The problem is that they are still high in calories.

Remember the last great trend in dieting - low-fat. Soon people were believing they could eat anything if it was low-fat. Most who did this without realizing that they had to watch calories as well did not do well. But a whole industry of diets and foods was built and could not be torn down easily. So the country got fatter. I knew that this was doomed when in going to a grocery store I saw a bag of jelly beans and in bold letters were "low-fat".

Now the world has decided the "low-carb" is the only way to go. Those who make money from selling food have seen the writing on the wall and are going to cash in on it. And who can blame them. But we are now flooded with "low-carb" everything and not one mention of calories. This will ultimately mark the decline of "low-carb" diets. This is not because they are wrong but because we will all feel we are helping ourselves as we eat our third low carb breaded sandwich each day followed by low-carb chips and dessert - and gain weight.

As a personal note: I believe in a low-carbohydrate (especially for compulsive eaters), limited fat diet that does not require counting. Any diet that makes you count will be short lived for the vast majority of people.

Ok, so now we have people consuming all they want that is labeled "low-carb" - is it? Some companies will claim that it is if they cut the carbs by one, others do not count all of the carbs in the food etc. To protect the public and people who need the correct information for their health the FDA had no choice but to get involved.

What's next? I am sure that 5 to 10 years from now a book will be written that says that all of this "low-carb" stuff is wrong and we should be doing low-fat. And the wheel will spin again.

All views expressed here are mine and mine alone,

John Tennis, MD