With millions of Americans counting and cutting carbohydrates, there's an enormous push to develop and market new, low-carb food products.

The demand for ingredients that increase fiber and lower carbohydrate levels is propelling an Atchison, Kan., company, MGP Ingredients Inc., to expand its production capacity for a specialty wheat-based resistant starch. The company recently added a new potato-based resistant starch to its product line, too.

Both specialty starches are based on a technology invented by Kansas State University grain science researchers and subsequently patented in 1999 by the Kansas State University Research Foundation. In March 2003, the Research Foundation licensed the technology exclusively to MGP Ingredients, Inc.

K-State grain science professor Paul Seib is the inventor of the resistant starch technology -- a way to modify plant-based starches to resist digestive juices.

Former K-State graduate student Kyungsoo Woo, who completed his doctoral research on starches under Seib's direction, is the co-inventor on U.S. Patent No. 5,855,946. After graduation from K-State in 1999, Woo was hired by MGP Ingredients Inc.

The patent covers a special modification of any starch derived from the cereal grains, roots, tubers and legumes; for example, from wheat, corn, oats, rice, potato, tapioca and mung beans.

Marcia Molina, K-State Research Foundation director of technology transfer, said, "Professor Seib discovered a way to make plant-based starches resistant to being broken down during digestion by the enzyme, amylase."

Any product that uses flour can be made with these resistant starches, including breads, buns, crackers, cookies, chips and pastas.

Seib said that when incorporated into food products, the new starches have two potential health benefits. "Some of the starch is slowly digested, which results in a sustained, low elevation of blood sugar."

That low glycemic load to the blood has been associated with delayed hunger and with a reduced incidence of type-II diabetes -- a condition affecting nearly 18 million Americans. Secondly, the portion of the starch that totally resists digestion is fermented in the large intestine and is thought to lower the incidence of colon cancer. In food products, the resistant starches contribute to a lower caloric intake and a higher fiber diet.

"We're seeing a lot of interest in this starch technology because of the enormous popularity of the Atkins and South Beach diets," Molina noted.

According to Kansas State University's Intellectual Property Policy pertaining to inventions, the K-State Research Foundation retains a negotiated percentage of royalties and an inventor or co-inventors share 25 percent of royalties.

MGP Ingredients Inc. introduced the new potato-based starch, MGPI FiberStar(TM) 80 ST, in late April. To meet the demand, the company has agreed to contract with Penford Corporation for a minimum of $6.2 million of the potato-based resistant starch.

The potato-based resistant starch delivers a minimum of 80 percent of total dietary fiber. In summer 2003, the company began producing and marketing a starch derived from wheat, FiberStar 70 (TM). The water-holding capacity of the two starches is much lower than other fiber sources like wheat bran, and the starches provide good color, texture and a neutral flavor.

Depending on the amount used in a product formulation, the starches can provide a finished food product with the right to claim the food as a "good source of fiber" or a "high source of fiber," according to the MGP Ingredients Inc. Web site.

Because of the strong demand for the ingredients, the company is expanding production at plants in Atchison, Kan., and in Pekin, Ill. NASDAQ lists both MGP Ingredients, Inc. (MGPI) and Penford (PENX).

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