In low-carb diet craze, bakeries feel the burn

Even bakers will accept that man doesn't live by bread alone. But living without bread altogether is quite a different thing.

The increasing popularity of the Atkins diet and similar regimens that sharply cut the consumption of carbohydrates is giving the baking industry heartburn as more and more Americans order sandwiches with instructions to hold the bread.

With the number of American Atkins dieters estimated at 14 million -- and expected to double -- anxieties are rising along with the dough in US bakeries. Bakers are anxious enough that an industry group, the National Bread Leadership Council, has called a "bread summit" for Nov. 21 in Providence to tackle what organizers say is no less than a "crisis of consumer misinformation."

Atkins and other low-carb diets, bakers say, are giving a bad rap to the staple that sustained humankind since God kicked Adam and Eve out of Eden with the admonition, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."

But weight-conscious Americans -- sweating or not -- instead seem to be obeying the "thou shalt not" of Atkins. According to a recent survey conducted for the Bread Leadership Council, 40 percent of US consumers say they are eating less bread than a year ago, and 21 percent are following Atkins or another low-carb diet.

The North American Millers' Association, which represents 46 companies with 95 percent of the nation's milling capacity, estimates that annual flour consumption dipped last year to 137 pounds per person after peaking in 1997 at 147 pounds.

Curiously, this carbo-cutting has yet to affect overall bread sales much: Unit sales of fresh bread in supermarkets are down less than 1 percent from a year ago. Still, says Mark Dirkes, spokesman for Interstate Bakeries Inc., the Kansas City-based maker of Wonder, J. J. Nissen, and other brands of bread, "Having people talk about not eating bread is clearly not good for business."

Massachusetts bakers say they, too, are hearing a lot more about low-carb diets without seeing much impact on their bottom lines. Stuart Weissman, an owner of Gus & Paul's Bakery and Deli in Springfield, which offers Jewish specialties such as rye bread, challah, and bagels, said even though some of his customers have adopted Atkins, sales remain steady.

"When they cheat," he said, "they cheat here."

The Atkins diet, which emphasizes the reduction of carbohydrates as opposed to fat, has been controversial since it was first published in 1972. But it has gained in popularity in recent years, bolstered by endorsements by celebrities such as Renee Zellweger and Brad Pitt, and by recent studies that suggest eating lots of meat, salad, and green vegetables and hardly any bread, pasta, or potatoes, may not be as batty as nutritionists once thought.

Matthew Wiant, chief marketing officer for Atkins Nutritionals Inc. of New York, which sells the diet and low-carbohydrate foods that go along with it, said Atkins has been widely mischaracterized as outlawing all carbohydrates. At the outset, dieters are restricted to tiny amounts of carbohydrates, but as they shift to maintaining weights, they incorporate more carbohydrates -- although still only one-third of what an average American consumes. Atkins emphasizes so-called "good carbohydrates" found in whole grains, as opposed to refined flour.

"It's not going to mean the end of things like bread, but it certainly is going to mean different types of bread," said Wiant, noting the company offers a low-carb, soy-based bread.

In the long run, Atkins may end up just another diet fad. But fad or not, it is unsettling the market for traditional products and, in some cases, the businesses that make them. In the United Kingdom, for example, a potato chip maker reportedly commissioned a study that concluded that a sharp reduction in carbohydrates makes people sad, while the National Fish Fryers Association implored the nation not to give up the carbo-loaded British staple fish and chips.

At the Hilltop Steak House in Saugus, more customers are replacing steak and potatoes with steak and green vegetables, said Steve Godzyk, the restaurant's portion control manager. Last year, when selling marinated steak and turkey tips sandwiches at Fenway Park, Godzyk added, he took orders from 5 percent of the customers for meat only.

While Hilltop hasn't cut its bread order, some local bakeries say commercial sales are down, which they attribute primarily to a weak economy that has kept people eating at home. Still, they add, Atkins always seems to pop up, if not from customers, then from vendors pitching low-carbohydrate ingredients.

But what makes a product "low carbohydrate" is still open to interpretation, since the Food and Drug Administration has yet to develop labeling standards for such a claim.

Abe Faber, co-owner of Clear Flour Bread Bakery in Brookline, noted that under some definitions the bakery's sticky buns are low-carb.

The carbo-cutting secret? Butter, which accounts for about 25 percent of the bun's ingredients.

Still, customers are asking about carbohydrate content, and when they do, said Faber, he seizes the opportunity to explain the nutritional value of his whole grain bread, including vitamins and fiber. For some reason, he added, many of these customers "don't ask about carbohydrates when they're buying cookies."

At Flour Bakery + Cafe in Boston's South End, owner Joanne Chang said she is getting more requests for low-carb and low-fat breads and pastries. Chang, a pastry chef by profession, suggests a different strategy for the carbohydrate and calorie conscious: "If you're on a diet, you probably shouldn't come here in the first place."

Robert Gavin can be reached at rgavin@globe.com.