Low Carbs, What are You Missing?

“I’ll
have a Diet Coke with my hamburger and French fries.”
“I’ll have an Atkins-friendly steak with crispy onion rings
and cream of spinach as my vegetable.”
“It’s a fat-free cookie, so I can eat the whole box.”

These
are just some of the traps that many Americans have fallen
into in the past decade. Are any of these diet fads really
valid? How do they work and, if they do, then why is over
60% of the population overweight?

Diet and food crazes are
all very pressing issues which I deal with as a
nutritionist. So now I am being asked about low-carb
alcoholic beverages. Low-carb wines, beers and spirits are
the new contestants to the low-carb craze. Or, is it not a
craze and should it be a way of life? Why exactly is the
alcohol industry changing the composition of the beverage?
Is it worth it to alter the composition and flavor of
something for a couple grams of carbs?

WHAT’S
in the BOTTLE All
alcohol products are fermented, meaning the yeast eats the
sugar up, only leaving the residual sugars, which is what
the carbohydrates are. All spirits are naturally low in
carbohydrates to begin with. They are composed of wheat,
grains, rice, and barley, yet they are not only fermented,
they are distilled. This in turn increases the alcohol
content per ounce and decreases the sugar (carbohydrate)
content. Beer and wine are different in this sense. They are
typically higher in carbs and lower in alcohol content per
ounce. Therefore, manufacturers are going an extra step to
decrease the sugar content, hoping in the process to save
the quality and flavor.

IT’S ALL
ABOUT the FLAVOR
Let’s talk about flavor. The average consumer cannot tell
the difference between a low carb wine and a regular wine.
If told though, the immediate assumption is that it wouldn’t
be good. Typically, the low carb wines are a bit dryer in
taste, as they have more sugars fermented out. Consumers
haven’t jumped on it right away, because generally low-carb
products do not taste great. For example, when people think
low carb, they think about the low carb chocolate or energy
bars, which in comparison to the original, do not taste
great and have a very specific aftertaste. Doug Epstein,
Executive Vice President at Horizon Beverages believes that
consumers are in need of education. Epstein feels that the
low-carb craze is, “good for the industry and should be
promoted, especially the fact that it is arguably
healthy.”

Because carb awareness is
so hot right now, it is up to the beverage industry to
attract new users and create long-term growth &endash; so
that it is not a trend. As a sales person in the beverage
industry, Epstein is aware of how carb conscious people are.
“You are out to dinner meetings all the time and
entertaining in this business; therefore, as a sales person,
I’ve noticed that people watch their bread and pasta
intake,” says Epstein. So why not add another dimension to
the mix and watch carbs with alcohol as well?

WINES
for WEIGHT WATCHERS
Most wines contain 5 to 7 carbs per serving. The new wines
that have come out have between 1.6 and 1.9 carbs per
serving. Alcohol tends to be viewed by many as an indulgence
or as a way to celebrate. The question is, do people want to
be “healthy” when they are celebrating, or having their
downtime? Will they feel cheated? This is where education
and national taste campaigns come in. If these products are
high quality and are promoted properly, they can sell
themselves. Consumers will realize that they can “party
healthy” instead of having an all or nothing attitude. This
is the challenge.

The key is to change the
mind set that low-carb tastes bad. If this can be done, then
it won’t be a fad.

PASSING
FAD? On an opposing
note, many people in the alcohol beverage industry do not
feel this is a good craze – that it is instead a
flash-in-the-pan trend. Josh Pierry, President of Beer
Summit, feels that “people should not worry about carbs in
beer, because it is not really too high in carbs, compared
to a dessert wine, for example.” From his experience, the
low carb craze has not affected attendance in any way at
beer shows, and he estimates that this low-carb philosophy
will become similar to “low-fat”. In addition, he is wary
that low-carb beers will promote over-consumption, similar
to fat-free foods. If someone orders a low-carb beer, will
that innately make him or her drink more, in the same manner
that boxes of fat-free, but calorie-laden cookies were
consumed in the late 1990s? It’s not carbs that increase
weight, it’s excess consumption.

In addition to this, many
restaurant owners do not want to get on this low-carb
bandwagon. They pride themselves on their standards and
concepts, and feel that they may lose credibility and
consistency by offering the newest trend in alcoholic
beverages. “When customers come back year after year, it’s
because they appreciate our standards and consistent
quality. It makes them feel special,” states one local
Boston restaurant owner. Restaurants are able to create more
of a home-like environment, where people do not have to
worry about what they should decide between, in terms of
ordering. If someone is going to go out to eat, many times
they do not want to be bombarded with the idea of having to
chose between “diet and health conscious” alternatives and
they just want to relax and order what they really came
there to order and enjoy. Therefore, these new choices on a
menu could create discomfort and anger in a customer who
wants to splurge and feel decadent, and leave their diet
woes at home.

Also, similar to some
restaurants, craft beer drinkers are still loyal to that
product and will not stray from quality and flavor in order
to lessen their load of carbs. “There are a lot of really
interesting micro-brewed beers,” states Pierry. In fact, in
Pierry’s opinion, craft beer drinkers are increasing more
than low-carb drinkers are increasing. In addition, craft
beers which are really exceptional have the ability to
create a higher profit per bottle for that particular niche.
Therefore, if the low-carb craze is a fad, something will
replace it soon and the original leaders will remain ahead
without having to change a thing.

THE
SKINNY on BEER The
interesting fact is that low-carb beer isn’t even that
different in carb content from a regular beer. For instance,
Budweiser has 2.7 carbs per serving versus the 1 to 2 carbs
per serving in a low-carb beer. If you have 3 Budweisers at
2.7 carbs or 5 low-carb beers, then you would actually be
having either the same amount, if not more carbs in one
sitting. Depending on the kind of beer you drink, you could
end up with 600 more calories, not to mention the alcohol
content in the end. Is this really worth it? Also, low-carb
beers actually have a higher alcohol content per serving, as
the manufacturers need to use adjuncts, like corn, instead
of barley or malt to decrease the sugar levels. They use
these adjuncts, which in turn pulls out a lot of the
original flavor of the beer, and inject it with carbon
dioxide. What you have in the end is bubbly water with
alcohol, not such a strong flavor, but less
carbs.

Even though there are
worries and fears of over-consumption, Epstein feels that,
“if this low-carb craze increases responsible consumption,
then it is a good thing for the entire industry.” In terms
of straight profit, it does make sense for a store to sell
low-carb beers, wines and spirits. Brown-Forman wines sold
5000 cases of their new 1.X wines in the first 3 weeks. Even
if a storeowner is against the idea of the low-carb
lifestyle, realistically they should know that this is what
the people want.

People want a quick fix, or
at least they want to feel like they can still have their
drink or two with dinner and not feel so guilty about it.
While in a bar recently, I surveyed seven people on this
subject and asked what they thought of the idea and option.
Five out of the seven said that they would absolutely order
a low-carb option of their drink. One woman said that
low-carb is a lifestyle change for her and that she couldn’t
imagine eating and drinking any other way. Of course on the
flip side, one man said, “Why would I order a low-carb beer?
If I am going to drink a beer, I’ll have the exact one I
want.” He said he would rather not drink beer if it were
low-carb.

This brings us back to
marketing and education. If you want this to sell, you have
to have tasting campaigns, education materials about the
principles of low-carb, and emphasize that it is a
lifestyle, not a gimmick. This can work; it just has to be
done properly.

SPIRIT
LABELS DEFINED It’s
funny how a label can change the whole concept of a product.
Marketing campaigns have gotten so strong for these low-carb
alcohols because it is what consumers want to see. Spirits
have always been low in carbohydrates. They are now just
being labeled as low-carb for marketing purposes. For
example, Bacardi Superior Rum is now using total carb count
certification seal. In addition, beginning in the fall, the
use of bottle labeling has been approved by the FDA. This is
a great plus for Bacardi during this low-carb craze, because
people who assume a light beer is a better choice, will see
that there is actually less sugar (carbohydrates) in the
rum. A Bacardi and Diet Coke cocktail is 66 calories, 0
carbs, 0 fat, based on a 1 ounce serving of Bacardi Superior
Rum and 6 ounces of diet soda. More than 66 calories can be
burned running a 10-minute mile or walking slowly for 28
minutes.

It’s not spirits that add
the carbs and calories – it’s the mixers. A 12-ounce can of
cola has 150 calories and 37.5 grams of carbohydrates.
Orange juice contains 108 calories for an 8-ounce serving
and 25.2 grams of carbohydrates. And lastly, a very common
mixer, tonic contains 135 calories for a 12-ounce serving
and 34 grams of carbohydrates. So what is this saying?
Alcohol is getting blamed for the carb content when it has
absolutely nothing to do with it. But marketers are smart
and are using this as a great angle to sell more hard
alcohol to consumers.

So, where will this take
us? As a nutritionist, I feel that moderation is the key
with most everything. It’s worth pointing out that alcohol,
in moderation, does provide some health benefits as well. I
feel that if low-carb is good for an industry and is
executed well, with proper marketing and education, then why
not? It is really the responsibility of the user to make the
decision of how he or she chooses to consume these
beverages. In terms of being a sales person, restaurant and
bar owner or liquor store owner, and as long as the smaller
niche companies are not put out of business, then you should
give the public what they want. And the current consensus is
saying that low-carb is what people want. Cheers to
that!