Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you so much for all your feedback, and help so far. I am reposting the questions in case anyone missed it, did not have time the first time round, or is new to the forum. If it's at all possible please do let me know your feedback - I need as strong a case as possible to get folk motivated!! thank you again, Claire ...

... I am in the process of doing some market research and collating a low carbers "wants list" on behalf of a UK manufacturer (they wish to remain anonymous at the moment) so am posting to low carb lists to see if members would kindly provide feedback regarding what products they would most like to see developed by a UK Company and available on our supermarket shelves.

If you could give your preference to the following and number them 1 -10 (1 being most desirable, 10 being least desirable) in order of which you would like to see most it would be very helpful. Any other "wants" you feel have been missed off the list and would be useful please add to the bottom. Please just post to the forum so everyone can view the posts or email me direct.

There are also a few questions re: sweetener and product content.

1. Which is your preferred product sweetener?
2. Do you find sucralose acceptable as a sweetener?
3. Do you find polyols such as maltitol acceptable as sweeteners?
4. Do you find that polyols cause gastrointestinal discomfort or have a laxative effect?
5. Do you find soy an acceptable product ingredient?
6. Do you find whey protein an acceptable product ingredient?
7. Are you put off by the price of the Atkins products?
8. Would you like to see other branded low carb products available in your high street?
9. What is the maximum carb content you would consider for each product?
10. Do you think the current practice of subtracting carbohydrates from polyols / glycerine and labelling products as "net" carbs or "effective carb count" labelling is misleading?
11. Do you find that your weight loss stalls when consuming products containing polyols/glycerine?
12. Would you prefer products with "actual" carb counts?

Powdered shake mix
Ready made shake
Pizza bases
Pizza with toppings
Bread / tortilla 'wraps' etc
Chocolate bar
Meal replacement bar with vitamins and minerals
Sugar Free Baking Chocolate
Individual Soups
Chocolate and other flavoured muffins


Kind regards and thank you for your help - hopefully we can get some quality UK products which appeal to low carbers in the high street soon!!

1. Which is your preferred product sweetener? Sucralose
2. Do you find sucralose acceptable as a sweetener? Yes
3. Do you find polyols such as maltitol acceptable as sweeteners? Yes
4. Do you find that polyols cause gastrointestinal discomfort or have a laxative effect? Yes if I eat too much
5. Do you find soy an acceptable product ingredient? Yes
6. Do you find whey protein an acceptable product ingredient? Yes
7. Are you put off by the price of the Atkins products? A little.
8. Would you like to see other branded low carb products available in your high street? Yes!!
9. What is the maximum carb content you would consider for each product? 5
10. Do you think the current practice of subtracting carbohydrates from polyols / glycerine and labelling products as "net" carbs or "effective carb count" labelling is misleading? No
11. Do you find that your weight loss stalls when consuming products containing polyols/glycerine? No
12. Would you prefer products with "actual" carb counts? Yes

Powdered shake mix - 10
Ready made shake - 5
Pizza bases - 2
Pizza with toppings - 6
Bread / tortilla 'wraps' etc - 1
Chocolate bar - 3
Meal replacement bar with vitamins and minerals - 8
Sugar Free Baking Chocolate - 9
Individual Soups - 4
Chocolate and other flavoured muffins - 7

1. Sucralose
2. Yes
3. fairly
4. sometimes
5. yes
6. yes
7. yes
8. yes
9. depends what it is
10. no, as long as it lists polyols separately as well
11. if eat too much
12. yes

9 Powdered shake mix
10 Ready made shake
3 Pizza bases
6 Pizza with toppings
1 Bread / tortilla 'wraps' etc
7 Chocolate bar
8 Meal replacement bar with vitamins and minerals
5 Sugar Free Baking Chocolate
2 Individual Soups
4 Chocolate and other flavoured muffins

For me personally, I wouldn't buy the shakes. If I wanted meal replacements and milkshakes, I'd do slimfast not Atkins!!
What we really need over here are things like La Tortilla factory tortilla wraps, Keto spaghetti, Atkins bagels, and Atkins muffin mixes (banana nut is yummy), pizza bases, Ben and Jerry's Carb Karma ice cream (please!!!), Walden Farm BBQ sauce, and LC pasta sauces...
Is there any word on when a London shop will be opening up?

I would buy the shakes. I have to say it's very handy to have a shake when you're in a rush to go to work and you've forgotten to make breakfast. Many times I've just not had the time to make anything for brekkie and been able to go into Boots and nab a quick shake. NOT something to rely on but good in a pinch!

I do shakes & would like to do mealbars too when time is tight / me being lazy and when the dreaded 'working lunch' which invariably = sandwiches rears it's head. People do look at me like I'm mad when I produce a pot of 'salad' (low on veggie stuff, heavy on the kabanos and jarlsberg!), or worst case request a fork and eat the sandwich fillings. Unfortunately I find polyols just awful and can't eat either those or wheat without some very unpleasant gastrointestinal effects!

I have not heard of any specialised UK shops yet, just the usual about Atkins products in (or not in due to under supply!) Boots, etc. I guess we all got very inventive by default ... but it all takes so long to prepare when time is tight so personally I am GASPING for easy / convenient low carb product ... on with the fight!!

thanks again y'all. Claire

I agree with Avlev. I was trying to get low carb pancake syrup for Shrove Tuesday, but all the web sites had sold out. Seems to happen a lot with the popular products - the only ones you can get are the less popular products - Pain

On that note, I got some maple syrup with my last LC order..... when is pancake day???

Next Tuesday, 24 February

Thanks!