Calorie Control Council | Press Release: Fat Replacers: The Technology Behind America's Low-Fat Craze


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FAT REPLACERS:
THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND AMERICA’S LOW-FAT CRAZE

ATLANTA -- Cutting fat may be the most popular dietary goal in America. More than 180 million American adults now consume lighter versions of their favorite foods and beverages. Two-thirds (61 percent) say they always try to check the nutrition labels for the fat content of the foods they buy, according to a Calorie Control Council survey conducted earlier this year.

And with good reason. Dietary fat, though down to 34 percent of the average American’s diet -- from 36 percent in the 1970s -- is still well above the 30 percent guideline most nutrition experts recommend.

To help explain the technology making reduced-fat foods possible, the Calorie Control Council has revised and updated its brochure, Fat Replacers: Food Ingredients for Healthy Eating. The 16-page booklet provides the latest information on an ever-expanding array of fat replacing ingredients available to food manufacturers.

Included are descriptions of the three categories of fat replacers: carbohydrate-based, protein-based and fat-based. The more traditional fat replacers are explained alongside newer, innovative technologies such as olestra and Salatrim -- fats modified to reduce their calories.

The brochure shows which ingredients work best in various applications, and explains the many roles that fat, and therefore fat replacers, play in food -- everything from flavor to heat transfer to texture.

Food manufacturers are striving to meet consumer demand. In 1994, the food industry rolled out 1,439 new products with reduced- or low-fat claims -- 250 percent more than new products bearing any other claim that year, and up 70 percent from the number of reduced- or low-fat new product introductions the year before. In 1995, a record 1,914 fat-modified products were introduced.

Because the ideal fat replacer doesn’t exist, having a variety of ingredients available to manufacturers allows them to use the "systems approach" -- using a variety of synergistic fat replacers to achieve the functional and sensory characteristics of the full-fat product. The booklet also describes this approach, and the many roles fat replacers must play in food.

Single copies of the brochure are available for free on the Internet (www.caloriecontrol.org). Bulk quantities also are available at cost.

The Calorie Control Council is an international association of manufacturers of low-calorie, reduced-fat and light foods and beverages.

Contacts: Keith Keeney (keeneke@assnhq.com)

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