WHAT'S NEW ON THE GROCERS' SHELVES

Benecol Spread. Regular, and Light. $4.99 per 5.9-ounce box containing 21 pats.

Bonnie: You must have heard about Benecol by now. It's the pharmaceutical-like bread spread that contains a plant component (stanol ester) that's been shown to reduce "bad" cholesterol by up to 14 percent when eaten regularly. Benecol was recently approved by the FDA along with a similar product, Take Control from Unilever. You'll find them side by side in the dairy case of your supermarket.

Benecol, for one, is more drug than food. To get the full cholesterol-lowering effect, you need to take it like a drug: consuming a pat three times a day, with results seen in about two weeks. Its price structure is also quite druglike. Would you believe $13.50 per pound, or $5 for seven days' worth of individual pats?

Benecol is also no caloric bargain. One serving of the regular contains 45 calories, or only about 10 calories less than regular butter or margarine; the light has 30 calories, or about the same as in light butter. If you need to reduce your cholesterol, talk to your physician or dietitian about Benecol. Even if it's recommended, remember that Benecol is not the be all, end all. It should be "taken" only as part of an overall program that includes eating right, exercising, maintaining a healthy weight and reducing stress.

Carolyn: I don't need any medical justification to eat margarine other than the promotion of my mental health and well-being. On the other hand, since Benecol tastes as good as most other vegetable-oil spreads, why not use it? Plant stanol esters and other functional ingredients might be just the ticket to keeping people off my back about the "bad" foods I eat.

The problem is Benecol's price -- prescription heights with no insurance company reimbursement. Based on the amount of margarine and butter I usually use, a steady diet of Benecol would probably cause me to file for bankruptcy.

Haagen-Dazs Ice Creams and Sorbets. Chocolate Chocolate Fudge, Pistachio, Pineapple Coconut, and Cookie Dough Chip Ice Creams, Cookies & Fudge Low Fat Ice Cream, and Orange Sorbet. $3.09 per pint container.

Bonnie: One of the perks of this job is testing Haagen-Dazs' new flavors. Sure, we all know they're high in fat, but they're also all natural and delicious. For instance, I can't think of another company that produces a pistachio ice cream that's not an unnatural green color.

The Cookie Dough Chip is the fattiest of these new ice creams, with 20 grams of fat in 310 calories. But I thought the fat-free, mandarin orange-studded Orange Sorbet was just as delicious.

Although I'm a confirmed chocoholic, the Chocolate Chocolate Fudge wasn't my favorite; the Pineapple Coconut was. It's also the best nutritionally of the new full-fat selections.

Carolyn: My husband could have been the star of a TV commercial for Haagen-Dazs' new Cookies & Fudge Low Fat Ice Cream. "This is low-fat?" he asked incredulously, after a few bites filled with fudge sauce and cookie crumbs. This flavor contained more fudge sauce than even the nonhealthy Chocolate Chocolate Fudge.

A friend was even more enthusiastic about the Pineapple Coconut. I prefer a more contrasting pina presence in my colada, though I'm sure this will end up being many people's favorite new Haagen-Dazs flavor.

All I can say about the Cookie Dough Chip is: It's about time.

The only real disappointment was the Pistachio. It had lots of pistachio nuts but still didn't taste or look like pistachio. Some artificial flavoring and coloring would have probably helped. Ditto for the too-subtle, too-natural Orange Sorbet (although its mandarin orange pieces are a nice touch).

Jell-O Pudding Sundaes. Chocolate Fudge, and Fat Free Variety Pack of Chocolate Fudge & Caramel. $2.69 per package of six 4-ounce cups.

Bonnie: I thought, rather hoped, that these Jell-O pudding snacks would be a really good source of calcium. Those thoughts were prompted by the pitcher of milk on the label and the banner saying "made with wholesome skim milk."

Unfortunately, each of these pudding sundaes contains only about as much calcium as a quarter-cup of milk.

I'd suggest giving these to your children in place of a candy bar or sugary granola bar, but not in lieu of a cookie and a full glass of milk or a cup of naturally calcium-rich yogurt (even a 4-ounce cup of Yoplait has almost twice the calcium of a Jell-O Pudding Sundae).

Carolyn: Pudding sundae is a fanciful name for layered, dual-flavored pudding. Although not bad, there's no mistaking it for Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream with Dove dark chocolate sauce.

Predictably, the regular is a lot better than the fat-free. If fat is your obsession, you'd be better off buying one of those chocolate-flavored dessert-style yogurts than a fat-free Jell-O Pudding Sundae.

(Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and creator of Express Lane Cooking: A Simple Solution to What's for Dinner (Universal Press Syndicate). Carolyn Wyman is a junk food fanatic and author of "Spam: A Biography" (Harvest/Harcourt Brace). Each week they critique three new food items.)