Go With the Low Hear everyone talking about the low-carb revolution, but think it's too late to get in the game? Don't worry--there's still plenty of opportunity to profit from America's newest obsession.

Fighting for headline space right along with the presidentialelection and celebrity woes, low-carb has become one of the mosttalked about topics at home, at work and with friends andacquaintances. The low-carb buzz, spearheaded by the Atkins dietand a handful of similar weight-loss plans, has boosted sales intraditional food industries such as meats, eggs and nuts. And ithas turned a once-quiet specialty market into a burgeoning empireof low-carb products and services that has businesses cashing in oncarb-conscious dieters.

The timing is still ripe for entrepreneurial newcomers--asThe ValenGroup, a strategy consulting firm for Fortune 500 companies,discovered in a recent study. According to the survey, 59 millionU.S. adults are controlling their intake of carbohydrates, and morethan 40 million others said they were considering a low-carb dietin the next 12 months. Collectively, those figures are fastapproaching half of all U.S. adults.

While competition in the low-carb industry has indeed increasedin the past year, especially with major companies jumping on thebandwagon, there are plenty of opportunities to get in and start abusiness catering to the picky palettes and pocketbooks of thesewatchful consumers. Carbolite Foods Inc., for one, is a once-smalloperation that has rocketed to a projected $150 million in 2004sales, thanks to its Carborite line of low-carb candy and assortedgoodies. (For more on Carbolite, see last month's"Carb YourEnthusiasm.") Clearly, low-carb dieters are gobbling upproducts that allow them to taste low-carb versions of what wouldotherwise be off-limits, and Gus Valen, CEO of The Valen Group inCincinnati, says demand is outstripping supply.