I Just Don't Get It

OK.  I confess, I just don’t get it.  Admittedly, I am not a fan of low-carb diets, but I’ll leave the debate to the doctors and nutritionists.   Personally, I lean towards "Your lips are the gatekeepers of your hips", also known as "If you don’t eat it, you won’t wear it."

But what has me scratching my head today is low-carb peanut butter.  I was just in the grocery store and saw this product.  Just down the aisle was regular peanut butter made by the same manufacturer.  Here’s the side-by-side comparison of their nutrition labels:

	Low-Carb				Regular
2 tbsp
Calories	190				190
Fat	17		g		17		g
Saturated Fat		3.5	g			3.5	g
Trans Fat		0	g
Cholesterol		0	mg			0	mg
Sodium	150		mg		150		mg
Carbohydrates	5		g		7		g
Dietary Fiber		2	g			2	g
Sugars	<1		g			3	g
Sucralose	2.0		mg
Protein	7		g		7		g

The ingredients?  The low-carb peanut butter contains roasted peanuts, peanut oil, soy protein concentrate, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, salt, various minerals and vitamins, and sucralose (Splenda).  The regular peanut butter contains roasted peanuts, sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, and salt.  The low-carb variety costs $0.21 per ounce whereas the regular version costs $0.15 per ounce.

Assuming that you aren’t eating peanut butter for its vitamin content, the major difference between the low-carb and regular peanut butters appears to be that you're paying nearly a 50% price premium to have the maker put in sucralose instead of sugar!!!

Like I said, I just don’t get it!  Comments?

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Comments

[Pamela]

I had to laugh when I first saw that low-carb peanut butter. I have been following Atkins for a year now, and have a pretty good understanding of how and why the diet works. But now we have all the food manufacturers on the low-carb rather than the low-fat bandwagon. Eating a ton of "low-carb" products can be just as fattening as eating too many "low-fat" products. Splenda is the non-sugar sweetener of choice for the followers of Atkins, and it is very expensive. I use it sparingly, for coffee, and apart from that I simply avoid sugar. So all the new "low-carb products" have substituted Splenda for sugar, and jacked the price accordingly. People should pass over both the peanut butters in your example, and buy the natural variety. Ingredients: peanuts. Period. It's a better choice whether you are a gourmet, a dieter, a whole foods proponent, or someone who wants to save money.