Big, big, big addressable markets are always of interest. For our intro, here's a post from Dec. 28th:
"Economic impact of excess weight now exceeds $1.7 trillion, new Milken Institute report reveals"
Around ten years ago a sharp young analyst gave me his five-minute
kidneys and dialysis pitch. It made quite an impression on me, I
remember it to this day. Unfortunately for him and his firm we were just
coming off the Dotbomb crash and everything looked really cheap so I
filed the idea under "stuff I'll get to".
Davita is up seven-fold since that day, $103.44 at the close. Fresenius,
the largest in the industry is up ten-bagger in ten years, no lost
decade there..
And last year:
CDC Report: 100 Million Americans Either Diabetic or On Their Way
There's an opportunity in here, somewhere. The direct costs of
healthcare for diabetics has to be five grand a year per. That gives us a
half-trillion dollar market to address. Plus, who really wants a
countryside full of blind amputees on dialysis?
And the headline story from AgFunder, March 14:
In the face of obesity, diabetes, and
other health epidemics, food makers are looking for healthier
ingredients that won’t require consumers to compromise on taste.
Excessive sugar consumption is a
pervasive health problem throughout the world. It leads to many
life-threatening conditions including diabetes, obesity, and heart
disease, which has now reached epidemic levels in some parts of the
world.
Nearly 40%
of American adults are obese, according to CDC data, putting them at
risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of
cancer, while over 100 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes.
How did we get to this staggering, epidemic level of obesity and diabetes?
On average, Americans consume 126.4 grams
of sugar per day, out-consuming any other country in the world
according to The Diabetes Council. Germany and the Netherlands trail
behind at roughly 102 grams per person on average, followed by Ireland,
Australia, and Belgium and roughly 95 grams per person on average.
Despite these health risks and growing
public awareness about overconsumption, many consumers can’t seem to
swap out their favorite sugary snacks or drinks with healthier
alternatives, driving many food product companies to look for solutions
that cut caloric impact without sacrificing flavor.
Sugar is typically highly-refined and
stripped of beneficial antioxidants and minerals, leaving it with a high
glycemic index. Despite these downsides, food manufacturers have found
it difficult to replace refined sugar with alternatives that pose fewer
problems or that have lower caloric impacts. The natural sugar
alternatives and replacements that are available can be expensive and
may not mix well with existing product formulations.
Singapore’s Nutrition Innovation Raises $5m
Singapore startup Nutrition Innovation is hoping to tap what they estimate to be a $100 billion sugar market with a low-glycemic natural cane sugar product.
Nutrition Innovation’s patent-protected
process retains the antioxidants and minerals that are naturally
occurring in cane sugar, such as magnesium and calcium in a patented
process that the company says produces Nucane as a fraction of the cost
of refined sugar....MUCH MORE
...In 2016 the Financial Times had some of their writers and opinionators
weigh in, so to speak, on the Government's proposed sugar tax.
To my eternal shame I decided the FT needed a little graphical jazzing up and perhaps went too far:
Michelangelo's David Comes Out Against Taxing Sugary Drinks
Drink more sugar!
HT that the big guy was out there, Incidental Economist.
I was thinking of calling our tipster the Coincidental Economist because
the same day they posted (Mar. 19) the Financial Times' Comment
section was having some of their journos weigh in on:...
Last seen in September 2017's "
If You Want To Be Happy, Listen Up. Now! alternative title: The FT's Izabella Kaminska Is...":
...trying to destroy one of my upcoming "set it and forget it" trades.
