Low-carb on downslide

From USAToday:

Cutting carbohydrates has been the hottest diet craze of the decade, but there are signs the trend is cooling. The percentage of people who are following low-carb diets has dropped dramatically since January, according to new data from two market research firms.

Among the possible reasons: Overall dieting usually is down at this time of year, and interest in the Atkins' meat-lovers plan simply might be waning.

The latest data:

• Low-carb dieting peaked the last week of January, when 9.1% of people said they were on the program. By Nov. 17, only 3.6% were following the plan, according to the NPD Group, one of the country's leading market research firms. NPD interviews 1,000 people twice a month about dieting.

• Another monthly poll of 1,100 people from Opinion Dynamics Corp. shows that 11% to 12% of people from December 2003 through August said they were on a low-carb program such as the Atkins or South Beach diet. (The latter starts out low in carbs and then becomes moderate.) In October, the percentage dropped to 8%.

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