Low-carbohydrate diets have made a substantial comeback

Jan 20 2005

New research conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corporation this month has determined that low-carbohydrate diets have made a substantial comeback in the first weeks of 2005. This finding of a "New Year's bounce" refutes news reports published in the final months of 2004 declaring the end of the low-carb phenomenon.

"Back in December, we noted the possibility of the low-carb diet making a comeback in January. As the holidays approach, people often discontinue diets in the final months of the year, and then start them again as part of a New Year's resolution," explained Larry Shiman, vice-president of research at Opinion Dynamics.

Over the past 15 months, ODC has tracked low-carb dieting behavior, with periodic random telephone surveys of 1000 or more American consumers. In December of 2004 Opinion Dynamics released research that showed that the percentage of consumers who said they were on a low-carbohydrate diet had declined from 11% in August to 6% in December. However, in the most recent survey, conducted the week of January 10, 15% of the public claimed to be on a low-carb diet, a substantial increase from 6% of the public who claimed to be on a low-carb diet in December before the holidays. The current figure is higher than at any point since ODC began tracking low-carb dieting behavior in December 2003.

"While it is likely that some of these consumers will discontinue the diet as the year progresses," added Shiman. "it is clear that there is still strong consumer interest in low-carb diets. If the low-carb phenomenon was truly a thing of the past, New Year's resolutions would have focused more on other diets, and we would not have seen a substantial "New Year's bounce."

Prior ODC research showed that former low-carb dieters tend to be very loyal to the diets, and that many who had discontinued low-carb dieting as of December 2004 had intentions to restart the diet in the future. The New Year would be a likely time for this to occur.

Given that the bounce does appear to be related to the time of year, it is important to continue tracking diet behavior over the next few months, in order to understand the degree to which people stay with the diet.

The findings are consistent with past results that report the low- carbohydrate diet is most popular among those between the ages of 30 and 55. There were no other significant demographic differences.

Other findings from the January survey showed carbs to be one of a number of health-related factors of concern to American consumers, with the greatest interest in total fat content (22% cited total fat as the most important factor, followed by protein content (13%). When asked to rate the importance of several different factors on a ten-point scale, fiber (7.32) and protein (7.31) received the highest overall ratings.