Frito-Lay introduces low-carb chips

Reuters, 01.14.04, 11:45 AM ET

link to article

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Snack foods company Frito-Lay said Wednesday it is introducing two new types of chips to capitalize on the popularity of low-carbohydrate diets.

The two new products, called Doritos Edge and Tostitos Edge, will cut out 60 percent of the carbohydrates that are in regular Doritos and Tostitos.

Frito-Lay, a unit of PepsiCo Inc. (nyse: PEP - news - people), has already eliminated trans fats from its brands. Trans fats, which give products a longer shelf life, have been linked to heart disease.

The new chips will use soy proteins and fiber as substitute ingredients, the company said in a statement. Both Tostitos Edge and Doritos Edge will have six net carbohydrates, 10 grams of protein, and three grams of fiber.

The low-carb craze, popularized by the high-protein Atkins diet, has food companies rolling out new products to jump on the bandwagon.

Fast food chains McDonald's Corp. (nyse: MCD - news - people) and Burger King revamped their menus to cater to customers counting their carbs.

The alcohol industry is also taking notice. Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.'s (nyse: BUD - news - people) low-carb Michelob Ultra beer has been a big profit driver for the past year and Adolph Coors Co. (nyse: BUD - news - people) is rolling out Aspen Edge beer to take a part of the health-conscious market.

Spirits companies such as Diageo Plc. <DGE.L> are using their advertising to point out that many of their drinks have always been low carbohydrate offerings.

Doritos Edge is currently being tested in Phoenix, and both products will be available across the United States in May.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

Ok, ok, I know it's junk food, but yippie! Hopefully these will taste better than most of the other chips out in the market.

Related article:

Low carb Doritos on the way

Frito-Lay says it will debut lower carb version of Doritos and Tostitos nationwide in May.

January 14, 2004: 8:35 AM EST

link to article

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Snack maker Frito-Lay is the latest company to try to reach consumers on low-carbohydrate diets by offering a lower carb version of its Doritos and Tostitos chips.

The company, a unit of PepsiCo (PEP: Research, Estimates), said the new chips will have half the carbohydrates of its traditional chips. They will go under the names Doritos Edge and Tostitos Edge and are now being test marketed in the Phoenix market. They are expected to be in stores nationwide by May.

The company says it is using soy proteins and fiber to reduce the carbohydrates 60 percent. The new chips will have 6 net grams of carbohydrates, 10 grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber in a 1-ounce single-serving packet. That compares to 17 grams of carbohydrates and only 1 gram of fiber in the standard Doritos and Tositos 1-ounce package.

Frito-Lay spokesman Charles Nicolas would not speculate on if or when the company would have lower carb versions of other chips.

"These corn chips are two of our leading brands. Our unique cooking process allows us to introduce the soy protein and fiber to the chip," he said.

Frito-Lay's statement said it expects the new version of the chips to generate additional incremental sales. The two chips have annual U.S. sales of $3 billion.

well at least I get a chance to get somewhat close to my goal (hopefully) by may before the low carb doritos hit the stores lol

When Frito-Lay pays attention to it, you know it's huge.

This is the beginning of the end if you ask me

It'll be really nice to see all these companies coming out with LC foods, but only if they're truly LC. A regular slice of white bread is not necessarily high in carbs, but is also not necessarily made of *good* carbs. I truly am hopeful all these food giants that are jumping onto the LC bandwagon are adhering to certain guidelines and not cheating by throwing in refined and uberprocessed flours, etc, even in small amounts.

It is very significant that this article says nothing about the increased fat content of these chips.

There are only two ways to decrease carbs in a food product. Replace it with fat, of some kind, or replace it with sugar alcohols.

In the case of chips, it has to be fat that is increased, as there is little room for sweetners. The carbs are reported to go from 17 to 6, right? Plus 2 or 3 grams of fiber?

So, that leaves room for roughly 8 or 9 grams of fat, and therefore the caloric density of this chip is going to be much higher than the regular chips. Maybe they will be more satisfying, but given the nature of chip eating, I suspect lots of folks will pile on more fat when eating these chips, and it is this kind of product that will kill the effectiveness of the low carb WOL, at least in the mass marketing sense.

I hope that the Atkins Revolution can weather this development, but I have serious fears.

Best thing we could do is boycott these frankenfood products which claim to be low carb, but which actually undermine the success of LC WOL. Just my opinion, of course.

That has never been a concern for them in the past, why should it be one now ?

You can bet your bag of pork rinds that a majority of the stuff coming out right now will be mostly overprocessed and while it might adhere to the rule of low-carb, it will break the spirit of the rule.

Also remember there are currently no governement guidelines defining what low-carb is, so anything goes and anything will

Although I'm glad that food companies are coming to terms with this because it shows that this is a way of life. I agree, eating stuff like this is what made me overweight in the first place. If I start adding junk food into my diet I guarantee you I would not lose any weight. I really feel that we need to stick to the basics. I think that if I had a party I might put a bowl of these out in case I really, really, really need a dorito and to keep me from eating the regular ones. But other than that I don't think I will buy them. Not to mention I bet there is Partially Hydrogenated Oils in these products, which I try to steer clear of, it's also all over in the candies.

What I am afraid of is new people will get on the lc bandwagon, not read any of the books and think that if they eat 20 carbs a day they will lose weight and not at all think about how much they are eating.
The same thing happened when all the fat free products came out. People thought if they ate the entire box of Snackwells they would lose weight because they were fat free. Well look at society now, obviously that didn't work.

Wee