http://www.boston.com/dailynews/176/nation/Pass_the_pork_rinds_consumers_:.shtml

Pass the pork rinds, consumers want the fat

By Philip Brasher, Associated Press, 6/25/2001 00:57

NEW ORLEANS (AP) French fries might lower cholesterol if they are cooked in the right kind of shortening, but most consumers may never get a chance to eat them.

The shortening, known as Appetize, is one of a series of healthier food products that have struggled as public concern about fat has declined in recent years, even as obesity has reached epidemic proportions.

''Health is not a primary driver in our food selection. You must have taste first,'' said Robert Brown, who follows industry trends for snack-food giant Frito-Lay.

Food scientists gathered here for their annual convention this week haven't given up the search for their holy grail a healthy, tasty, affordable substitute for bad fats but they're scratching their heads over the declining consumer interest.

Among supermarket shoppers who said they are very concerned about nutrition, only 46 percent of consumers say they are worried about the fat content, down from 60 percent in 1996, according to a poll last year by the Food Marketing Institute.

Olestra, a fat substitute developed by Procter & Gamble Co., is one of the leading disappointments. Sales of Frito-Lay's Wow! potato chips, which are made with olestra, dropped 36 percent in 1999, a year after they were introduced.

Nabisco's low-fat Snackwell cookies also have been a disappointment, as was Benecol, a cholesterol-lowering margarine. Frito-Lay added fat to its baked potato chips to improve the taste, Brown said. Meanwhile, sales of meat snacks, pork rinds and fat-laden energy bars are soaring.

''In marketing, the bottom line is taste,'' said K.C. Hayes, a Brandeis University scientist and one of the inventors of Appetize.

Fat affects not only the flavor, but also the color and texture of foods.

Not all fat substitutes have flopped. Half-and-half has been made fat-free by substituting corn syrup and removing water from skim milk. In yogurt, tapioca starch is used as a fat substitute. Fat has also been removed from mayonnaise and salad dressing.

Appetize, which is marketed by a spinoff of General Mills, is a blend of corn oil and beef tallow that has been stripped of its natural cholesterol. Research suggests its unique chemistry may actually lower blood cholesterol in consumers because of its interaction in the body.

It's designed to replace the artery-clogging shortenings, or hydrogenated vegetable oils, that are now widely used in the restaurant and baking industries. The trans fatty acids may be worse for the heart than saturated fats, scientists say. The Food and Drug Administration is proposing to require trans fats to be listed on food labels.

The Mayo Clinic uses Appetize, which has been on the market for six years, in its employee cafeterias and it also is in a few university and department store restaurants. But so far, no fast major fast-food chains have bought it.

Bill Norton, executive vice president of Appetize-maker Source Food Technology Inc., says it will probably never be anything more than a niche product. The company is currently selling about 5 million pounds a year, a tiny fraction of the 6 billion pound a year market for cooking oils and shortening.

Part of the problem for products like Appetize is consumer confusion about shifting health claims and research findings, say food scientists. Consumers, for example, have been warned for years to stay away from saturated fats, such as the beef tallow used in Appetize, but now there are concerns that the trans fats are worse.

''The consumer is confused,'' said Connie Jones, a senior food technologist for spice maker McCormick and Co. ''We're confused. Everybody is confused.''

On the Net: Institute of Food Technologists: http://www.ift.org

Appetize: http://www.appetize.com

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2001

Answers

There is no doubt that fat makes most foods taste better. Given the state of my glucose levels after the infection/stress, I've decided to make a serious effort to drop 10-20lbs, which can be all I need to lose to see a drop in blood sugar which will stand me in good stead should I suffer a similar episode in the future.

At the supermarket today, I dolefully picked out the lower-fat alternatives, trying to move slowly down the chain rather than drastically. I got the 3% milk, for instance. I'll get the 2% next time. I definitely won't enjoy my meals as much but I can't afford sugar spikes like this--they make me sleep even more and also do damage to the squishy bits and nerves. Oh, I did get no-fat salad dressings, since I believe I'll be eating a lot of salads in the future. I also bought a lot of high-fiber stuff, which is good for lowering glucose too.

But I'm not ready to give up my lovely organic butter yet. Okay, okay, I'll scrape it on rather than being fairly generous with it.

Tell you what, before I die I want to taste just one more banana split, made with full-fat Bryers and real whipped cream, not that aerosol crap. And, if there's room, bananas Foster. I don't care for bananas that much, it's the other ingredients I crave.

BTW, ironic that this convention is being held in New Orleans--I would venture a guess that there are more overweight people there than in just about any other city on earth. I have no idea how a diabetic manages to stay on a diet in New Orleans; the temptations are overwhelming.

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2001

Git,

I signed up for WeightWatchers last winter. Part of the mindset for it to work for me had to be a willingness to pay more for certain foods. Fortunately I can afford to do that right now, although I can't help feeling I'm being terribly wasteful.

My standard breakfast is NON-NEGOTIABLE! 2 scrambled eggs, a cup of whole milk, an English muffin with margarine and jam. WeightWatchers is based on a "point" system, and this breakfast accounted for half my allowable points for the day. And, of course, by the time I get to work I'm pretty sure I'm hungry again!

I have found some very acceptable substitutions which have cut the point value fully in half. I'm on maintenance now, but I'm still doing the same substitutions (IOW, continuing to pay more) because it means I can usually get away with a greasy donut when I get to work. However, if I ate more sensibly I could go back to regular foods now that I have the weight off.

I don't know what is available in NC, but we have two milk substitutes that are quite different from the standard low fat and skim milks. They are fortified with extra calcium and protein. Garelick (which may be local to us) carries "FitMilk", and Hood (which I have assumed is national) carried "SmartMilk". Fitmilk is a bit chalky to me (it has more calcium), but SmartMilk (with some extra calcium but even more protein) tastes very much like whole milk. I'm a whole milk addict and don't like the regular 1 and 2 percent milks. You might try looking for something like that. Yes, they cost more, but maybe you can manage it for the interim. If you have more than one milk available, you might try them all. I found quite a difference in taste.

For eggs I'm using EggBeaters. It's one of the liquid No Fat, No Cholesterol liquid eggs, and perhaps a bit higher in protein. I cook them in the microwave, but I tend to do that anyway (easier on the cleanup and I happen to like scrambled). Last time I ran out of EggBeaters and had to use real eggs, I thought EggBeaters actually tasted a bit better.

My last substitution is Promise margarine which works fine for me, but I'm probably not as fussy about that.

Our team leaders like to grumble that when THEY started to lose weight there weren't all these lowfat options available. They do caution, and this would be important to you, to make sure that "low fat" doesn't mean higher in sugars.

From what I have been reading, losing weight is tremendously more difficult unless you have enough calcium (so you need to find a milk you're happy with) and unless you get enough sleep (even mild sleep deprivation really messes up normal hormone function).

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2001

Old Git. I had to lose a little weight a while back, so I bought a copy of "protein Power" it's out in paper back now. I followed instructions and lost my big belly so fast I couldn't believe it ! The beauty of the plan is that you don't have to stop eating the foods that you love. It also claims that if you are diabetic it greatly improve the condition, and or cure it. It can only cost you a little time to read it, and make up your own mind about it. It explains the reason why we are as we are, with scientific research.

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2001

Thanks, Brooks, I hadn't heard that about calcium. I know some people who go to the local Weightwatchers and, um, there's a cultural problem here :) I just can't relate to the provincial southern woman's world. I think I have a whole milk fixation too and maybe, like with the butter, I can trade off something else that's not so important. And one of my buys today was Eggbeaters.

Johnny, I'm vegetarian (except for some fish nowadays). My protein, obviously, is mostly vegetable-based. I'll look up that book on the web, see what it's all about.

For the last ten days or so I've cut back drastically on carbs and have already lost some weight. Can't tell you how much but my clothes are getting loose and rings are becoming loose. Many diabetic experts say a high carb diet is ideal for a diabetic, but I'm not convinced. I'm also revisiting the Glycemic Index and have already started adding beans of one sort or another on a daily basis--except fava beans, which are high on the index. (A can of any other type of beans, drained and rinsed, and then marinated in salad dressing makes it easy to get that serving of beans.)

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2001

Old Git, I'm not suggesting you trade off the milk. I'm suggesting you explore the zero fat options in your largest supermarket to see if there is one that is a very close substitute in taste. The point I may not have quite made in my breakfast discussion is that I have ended up with a breakfast that is every bit as satisfying as what I was doing before. It's the SAME breakfast to me.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2001

I've tried all kinds of milk subs over the years and I especially hate the soy and rice kind. So I may stick with the 3% milk, which seems okay (and it's an organic brand I like), and cut down somewhere else. I was pleased to find reduced-fat feta yesterday too. Iv'e already cut down drastically on my diabetic fudge bars (NOT low-calorie!), so maybe that's my trade-off right there.

As you can tell, this little episode scared the crap out of me and the doctor's dire warnings about cell damage, blindness, ulcers and amputations all came back, oo-errrrr!! Thank heavens things seem to be happening fast in treatment areas. If I had to get this damn disease, I couldn't have got it at a better time. The class of drugs in which my Glucophage is included only came on the US market five years ago.

I still want a banana split before I die. . .

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2001

Git, what I was describing is real milk, just tweaked a little bit.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001

Yeah, I know, and when I said "milk subs" I meant anything other than whole milk! I won't drink coffee at the Hungarian's because she uses either 1% or that bloody dreadful skimmed milk. Ach!

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001