Investor site launches low-carb portal
transitory about the low carb trend sweeping the US and has
launched a research portal for investors aimed specifically at this
market - the site already offers a research portal targeted at the
nutraceuticals and health industries.
"Welcome to one of the greatest shifts in consumer eating habits in decades - the low carb diet is here to stay," is the confident opening gambit in one of the site's editorials by communications consultant Allen Gibson.
"Analysts predict that this year alone, low carb products and services sales will hit $25 billion, a $10 billion increase from a year ago," he continues.
Another of the site's articles by journalist Jennifer Lee draws attention to the fact that even the candy industry has jumped on the low-carb band-wagon and cites the example of Hershey's.
"Hershey's, who launched their one gram sugar carb bars in March, has decided to invest more in the product after seeing just how successful their line of sugar free Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate bars were after their first year on the market," she wrote.
Certainly, recent surveys seem to indicate that there is money, and lots of it, to be made in the low-carb industry.
According to Atkins Nutritionals an estimated 50 million Americans have either tried or are following a low-carbohydrate diet, while a survey by Reuters Business Insight shows that 3.4 percent of all new foods and beverages coming onto the US market in 2003 were designed to be marketed as low-carbohydrate products.
Perhaps most interestingly from an investor's point of view, Reuters found that the mass stocking of low-carb products was largely due to consumer demand rather than instigated by manufacturers.
After interviewing 513 food and drink professionals in the UK, Europe and the US, Reuters found that over a quarter of them viewed the development of low-carb foods as a priority and were actively investing in the research and development of new products.
However, Reuters' survey offers a word of caution that this growth should not be taken for granted as "consumers want assurances that the long-term effects of low-carb dieting are positive and they want to see the medical establishments and nutritionists advocating the diet."
In other words, the scientific community needs to come to some firm conclusions on the long-term effects of a low-carb diet to ensure those investments will be worth something in years to come.
