With a primary emphasis on the low-carb product boom, this Packaged Facts report examines the important shifts occurring in the U.S. market for weight-loss foods and beverages, as product forms like food bars, shakes, and diet candy meld the promise of a smaller waistline and healthier heart with what Americans want most in their food products: convenience/portability and great taste. The report explores the principal hypothesis that America’s “overweight epidemic”—owing primarily by our excessive consumption of sugar and starch—has only just begun to come into the media spotlight, just as the opportunities this represents for food and beverage marketers (including those not traditionally associated with weight loss) are just beginning to be tapped. Sales of diet candy, for example, rose 51% for the 52-week period ending October 5, 2003, with market leader Russell Stover seeing sales rise by 70%. These assessments, as well as market size estimates and forecasts and new product trend analysis, are grounded in a thorough review of up-to-the-minute overweight/obesity, diet/weight-loss, foodservice, food ingredient/development trends, and retail trends—all with the aim of bringing today’s low-carb product explosion into perspective.

Springboarding from an examination of these underlying market drivers, the report quantifies weight-loss foods and beverages across key categories including Meal Replacement Powders & Liquids, Frozen Dinners & Entrees, Food Bars, and Diet Candy, while also reporting on low-carb and other key weight-loss product incursions into myriad other categories, including baked foods, beer, cereal, condiments, meat products, ice cream/frozen desserts, pasta, pizza and salty snacks. The report tracks mass-market sales to the rapidly shifting marketer/brand share level via the most current IRI data available (3rd Q 2003), and documents market size and composition by category and retail outlet; marketing, new product (focusing on the myriad low-carb entries through December 2003) and retail trends; and the role of the Internet. Also provided are competitive profiles of leading marketers like Atkins, Carblite, Carb Solutions (Rexall Sundown), Heinz (Weight Watchers Smart Ones), Kellogg (Special K, Kashi), Nestle (Stouffer's Lean Cuisine), Russell-Stover, and Slim-Fast; demographic profiles of key consumer groups (male vs. female) by product type, based on 2003 Simmons Market Research Bureau data; and “Looking Ahead” marketing trend forecasts and recommendations.

Report Methodology
The information in The U.S. Market for Weight Loss Eating and Product Trends: Putting The Low Carb Diet/Product Boom in Perspective is based on both primary and secondary research. Primary research involved on-site examination of the retail milieu, interviews with marketing, public relations and industry analysts within the weight loss market and consultants to the industry. Secondary research entailed data-gathering from relevant trade, business, and government sources, including company literature. Packaged Facts has derived mass merchandiser sales figures from Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) InfoScan sales-tracking data. Figures provided on national consumer advertising expenditures are based primarily on data (copyright 2002) compiled by CMR/TNS Media Intelligence U.S., the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing communications intelligence. The analysis of consumer demographics derives from Simmons Market Research Bureau survey data for spring 2003. New product information is gathered via literature research, personal interviews and data compiled by ProductScan, a service of Marketing Intelligence Service Ltd.

The report looks at every segment of the weight loss and low-carb food markets, examining trends for growth and projecting sales of products through 2008. It analyzes consumer demographics and their current and projected impact on sales of weight loss and low-carb foods. It provides up-to-date competitive profiles of marketers of weight loss and low-carb food products - including a look at smaller, up-and-coming companies - and discusses the influence of demographic trends as a driver of retail trends. The report also spotlights new products and current distribution trends, and offers readers trends and marketing opportunities within the food industry.

What You’ll Get in this Report
The U.S. Market for Weight Loss Eating and Product Trends: Putting The Low-Carb Diet/Product Boom in Perspective makes important predictions and recommendations regarding the future of this market, and pinpoints ways current and prospective marketers can capitalize on current trends and spearhead new ones. No other market research report provides both the comprehensive analysis and extensive data that The U.S. Market for Weight Loss Eating and Product Trends offers. The report addresses the following segments:

• The Market (including market size and composition, and projected market growth)
• The Marketers (including discussions of specific marketer brand and market shares)
• Competitive Profiles (of the mainstream food marketers, specialists and up-and-coming niche players, and analyses of the products they market)
• Retail Strategies
• The Consumer (who’s buying what, and where)
• The Products
• Trends and Opportunities

Plus, you’ll benefit from extensive data, presented in easy-to-read and practical charts, tables and graphs.

Scroll down to see a more detailed outline of the contents of this report.

How You Will Benefit from this Report
If your company is already competing in the weight loss and low-carb food markets, or is considering making the leap, you will find this report invaluable, as it provides a comprehensive package of information and insight not offered in any other single source. You will gain a thorough understanding of the current market for food bar products, as well as projected sales and trends through 2008. Contributing to that understanding will be a complete analysis of sales data from IRI and other published and trade sources, a detailed discussion of the consumer for food bars based on Simmons data.

This report will help:

• Marketing Managers identify market opportunities and develop targeted promotion plans for weight loss and low-carb foods
• Research and development professionals stay on top of competitor initiatives and explore demand for products in the weight loss and low-carb food arenas.
• Advertising agencies working with clients in the food and weight loss industries understand the product buyer to develop messages and images that compel consumers to purchase these products.
• Business development executives understand the dynamics of the market and identify possible partnerships.
• Information and research center librarians provide market researchers, brand and product managers and other colleagues with the vital information they need to do their jobs more effectively.

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