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New Fat Replacer Promises to Cut Calories, Preserve Taste

A new product may also help you shed some pounds and still eat the foods you love. It's a fat substitute that cuts the calories without losing the flavor you crave.

Grocery stores are stocked full of low-fat, low-calorie versions of our favorite foods. But the flavor often disappoints. Now, there's a new fat substitute that claims it can save the flavor, but cut calories without adding sugar or starch. Z-Trim was created by the US Department of Agriculture. "There are a number of fat replacing materials on the market. But many of those are just adding calories. But with Z-Trim, it has no calories," said Dr. George Inglett.

Inglett says Z-Trim also has no side effects because it's a natural fiber made from corn.

Greg Halpern is working to get Z-Trim on store shelves by this spring. He says several major food makers have tested it and are excited about the results. "Z-Trim can replace up to half of the bad fats in foods," Halpern said.

For instance, a serving of a regular salad dressing has 170 calories and 18 grams of fat. The Z-Trim version has 138 calories and 14.4 grams of fat. Z-Trim cookies have 25 percent less fat and 15 percent fewer calories than the regular recipe. Z-Trim cuts the fat in a lasagna recipe by a fourth.

But how about the flavors? Here's what taste-testers found: "It did not taste like diet lasagna at all. I was very surprised," one person said.

"It was moist. It was everything a cookie should be and it didn't lose the flavor," said another taster.

The government says Z-Trim does not need FDA approval because the ingredients are "generally recognized as safe." So, you can expect baked goods and cheese made with Z-Trim on grocery store shelves as soon as May.

Online producer: Shaun Chavis Benchi






 Monday, March 22, 2004
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