Are you trying to market a new low carb product?

Then take the express train to bankruptcy court

Here’s an important question: What was Dr. Atkins biggest impact on America? Answer: He single-handedly boosted stock prices in the livestock industry. The Tyson family should have adopted him. How about the lesser known Dr. Agatston? He and the denizens of Miami’s South Beach killed the pasta business. In a quick and unhealthy arrhythmic heartbeat, red meat regained its status as a health food and carbs became the fastest route to obesity. The good doctors created the low carb diet, one of the hottest food fads since the low fat / no fat craze of a decade ago.

Watching the dramatic consumer-led charge from the bakery aisle to the meat case, the investment community reacted swiftly, rewarding Tyson handsomely and forcing Interstate Bakeries into chapter 11. Even offshore giant Barilla, one of the largest pasta makers in the world, is restructuring their operations due to sagging demand for their products. Tyson, bridging the meat and poultry industries, will continue to do well. IBC, caught with their corporate pants down due to a weak presence in the healthier market segment of the baking industry, will have to sell off some of their most well-known brands to survive.

What was the problem with the anti-fat movement? Removing fat also removed taste. Consumers were choking down high-priced cattle feed in the pursuit of thinner waist lines. Yeah, it was a tasteless fad that was doomed to failure. And the problem with the Atkins diet? It’s too constricting. We’re a nation of big eaters and we love all kinds of foods.

Ten years after the low fat craze, we’re an even fatter nation, scared half to death by government studies that show we’ve become a nation of wide-bodies. And, of course, we all want a magic pill that will make our daddy’s beer belly or our momma’s generous back side melt away in a few painless days. No real dieting needed. No sweaty exercise required.

So the good docs say we can eat all we want – good, red meat at that – and the public buys into it. It’s a message that sits well with the activity-challenged who view cardio enhancing workouts as something akin to kissing the devil. Cutting back on the volume of caloric intake is entirely out of the question.

The folks at South Beach ask if you’re tired of diet food and urge you to go on a smart carb diet. Atkins claims you can eat all you want and still lose weight. Let me throw a flag and declare a 15 yard penalty on that play. Ever been to one of those “all you can eat” cafeterias? It’s not likely that a man who tips the scale at well over 300 pounds and takes half a dozen trips to the hog trough is going to become svelte on 20,000 calories a day, even if most of it comes from red meat.

The Atkins and South Beach diets are half brothers sharing a common mother - the healthy menu suggested for diabetics. The DNA donating father of both is the glycemic index, a ranking of carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose. Carbohydrates that breakdown quickly during digestion have a high glycemic index. Carbohydrates that break down slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have a low glycemic index. Carbohydrates that break down slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have a low glycemic index.

Like all good fads, it’s coming to an end. Early next year, food processors will be doing post mortems on another idea that was supposed to be life altering but proved, like all the rest, to be just a blip on the radar screen. I can already vouch for the discussion points at the Annual Meat Conference March 6-8 in Orlando. The trade groups that put this event together and stand to gain the most from Dr. Atkins: American Meat Institute, Food Marketing Institute, American Lamb Board, America's Beef Producers, National Chicken Council, National Pork Board, and National Turkey Federation are already looking ahead to the next best thing.

Here is a strong suggestion that could save your job. If you’re planning on a low carb product introduction, kill it now before you spend another dime. You’ll be doomed to a single facing on the bottom shelf of second tier supermarkets, if you’re lucky. Your top shelf career will drop to the bottom shelf, too.

Like the trade associations that serve the protein industry, start looking for the next big thing. You’ve already missed this one.