CarboStar

Clay food scientist invents additive to slow the rate carbohydrates burn

Sunday, December 09, 2007
By Charley Hannagan
Staff writer, Syracuse Post Standard

In an old potato chip television commercial, the pitchman winked at the camera and said, "Bet you can't eat just one."

But what if the chips tasted great, yet were made in such a way that fewer of them filled you up, and gave you energy for a long period of time?

That's the concept behind CarboStar, a food processing method developed by Dhyaneshwar Chawan, 67, of Clay.

CarboStar is the main product of Saatwic Foods, a company started by Chawan and his son, Ajay Chawan.

"The overall goal of the company is to provide people with better health through nutrition," said Ajay Chawan, the company's president. "We wanted to find ways to make foods that people already enjoy eating better for them without sacrificing taste."

CarboStar is a blend of plant extracts that - when mixed with any product made from corn, potatoes, rice or wheat flour- slows the rate at which carbohydrates burn.

"What it does is it basically encases the carbohydrate in a layer of armor, turning a fast-burning carbohydrate into a slow-burning carbohydrate," Ajay Chawan said. "It will make you feel fuller. You'll be energetic for a longer period of time, as well."

Dhyaneshwar Chawan, 67, is the company's chief scientist. He spent more than 30 years in food research and development for Borden Foods before the company moved its research center from Syracuse to Columbus, Ohio. He also is the founder of Srim Enterprises LLC, which develops and ensures the quality of food.

He developed CarboStar in Clay.

Ajay Chawan, 33, has an engineering background and built trucks at Ford Motor Co. When he learned about his father's invention, he decided to go to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University to get a master's degree and to develop a company around the product.

After graduating from business school in 2003, Chawan found an angel investor who contributed $600,000 to start up the company. He moved Saatwic to Nashville, Tenn., to be closer to the investors, Chawan said.

The company expects to have sales of $896,000 in 2008.

Saatwic is a Sanskrit word that "encompasses the elements of food, health, and life," according to the company's Web site, www.saatwic.com. It describes food "that increases life, purity, strength, joy, cheerfulness, and well-being," the site said.

This year, Saatwic Foods came in second in the Fortune Small Business magazine business plan competition. Its CarboStar product has been a part of pilot studies with General Mills, Heinz and Kellogg's. The product is still in evaluations, Chawan said.

"Anything made from CarboStar you simply add a dash of our ingredient, along with the other stuff and the rest of the manufacturing process is the same," he said.

It also doesn't change the taste of the food's ingredients, Chawan said.

Studies of the product show that foods with CarboStar contain 56 percent more fiber, 50 percent fewer calories from carbohydrates, and a glycemic impact that is 35 percent lower than conventional products, the company's Web site said. CarboStar does not require FDA approval for use in food because the ingredients are already used in the food industry.

"Glycemic impact" is a hot topic in nutrition these days. A system called the glycemic index categorizes carbohydrates based on how quickly and how high they boost blood sugar compared to pure glucose, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Studies have linked diets rich in high-glycemic index foods to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

CarboStar is designed to help athletes who need energy for long periods of time, people to feel more full in order to eat less and lose weight, and diabetics who want to eat foods that won't spike their blood sugar levels.

The product could go into cakes, pies, rolls, pasta, pizza crust, pretty much any food that uses a flour.

"Another benefit of this is all of the ingredients we use are listed in the Natural Organic Program list by the FDA. So at the end of the day you could make organic food using CarboStar and you could sell them in stores such as Whole Foods," Chawan said.

"It's like what Splenda did for sweetener, is what we want to do for carbohydrates," Ajay Chawan said.

You can contact Charley Hannagan at 470-2161 or channagan@syracuse.com.


© 2003 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.