NutraIngredients NutraCast

Bioriginal director of sales for North America, Michael Chubb, speaks to Shane Starling about the effect the entry of major suppliers like DSM and Cognis are having on the omega-3 segment.

The Obama administration is pushing through health care reform that promises greater access to health insurance for tens of millions of Americans. Will the reforms bring benefits to the dietary supplements industry?

As the world population increases, so does the shadow of malnutrition. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children, yet continues to cause blindness in up to 500,000 children each year. Vitamin Angels is making a difference, but so much more still needs to be done.

Biomarkers to measure the state of our health may hold the key to establishing the benefits of a dietary compound or ingredient, but more efforts are needed to produce a list of biomarkers with a validated end point, says a key industry figure.

As swine flu continues to grab headlines around the world, interest in immune health has never been healthier. Stephen Daniells talks to Jay Udani from UCLA and CEO of Medicus Research about the science behind the growing immune health market.

The adverse event reporting system for dietary supplements is an association system, not a cause and effect system, says trade group AHPA, stressing that high numbers of AERs linked to multivitamins does not mean the products are dangerous.

The implied health benefits of antioxidants are strong in the minds of consumers. Stephen Daniells talked to Covance’s Darryl Sullivan, associate director, scientific affairs on what tests are available, where we stand on cell-based tests, and what industry needs to do to ensure the antioxidant integrity of its products.

The International Probiotics Association (IPA) hopes that a new probiotics monograph issued by Health Canada will encourage other governments to provide clear positions on the ingredients.

Innovation in the functional food and beverage industry is currently passing the eye before the storm, and manufacturers must not hesitate to act or they will be “lost”, market analyst James Tonkin tells Lorraine Heller.

Vitamin Angels – often referred to as the humanitarian arm of the natural products industry – provides the framework for companies to donate nutritional supplements or fortified foods to children who urgently need them.

The recent recall of the top-selling weight loss supplement brand Hydroxycut will further erode consumer confidence in the category, but the market will ultimately rebound, says an ingredients player.

Euromonitor analyst Daniel Latev tells NutraIngredients-USA.com which categories in the functional foods and supplements sector have driven growth in recent years, and what industry should expect moving forward.

How will the new health claims system in Europe impact the state of play in the North American market? Lorraine Heller speaks to a leading international ingredients supplier about the potential marketing and regulatory implications.

Immunity is likely to be the next major focus for the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as it closes its fist over fraudulent dietary supplement products, suggests a food and drug lawyer.

Marc Ullman, partner at Ullman, Shapiro & Ullman tells NutraIngredients-USA.com what is in store for companies falsely marketing dietary supplements as preventions for swine flu.

Although all medium-sized dietary supplement manufacturers in the US will be required to meet new GMP regulations as of June this year, FDA has said it is unlikely to start inspections until fall. The agency’s manager of the Division of Dietary Supplements Brad Williams talks to Lorraine Heller.

Supplements and healthy foods are proving to be more resilient than other sectors in the midst of the current economic freeze. Investment banker David Thibodeau tells Lorraine Heller why this sector will continue to perform.

Lorraine Heller met with Randy Dennin, chairman of the Chinese branch of US trade group Natural Products Association (NPA), at Supply Side East and asked him about regulatory and other challenges on the Sino peninsula.

Today is the first day of Supply Side East, one of the major east coast trade shows for the functional foods and supplements industries. Lorraine Heller takes a peek at the program and shares some thoughts about what to expect from the show.

A proposed ruling to prohibit the use of omega-3 nutrient content claims would generate consumer confusion by limiting the ways in which manufacturers can communicate meaningful omega-3 references on their products, says the Global Organization for EPA and DHA (GOED).

Shane Starling takes Michael Chubb, the sales director at Canadian fatty acid specialist, Bioriginal, into the organic and natural product extravaganza that is Expo West for a real-time spec of end-product omega-3 ingredient innovation and application.

The staggered implementation of America’s controversial GMP rules is underway and due for completion in June, 2010. For the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s VP of regulatory and scientific affairs, Andrew Shao, PhD, the bill may be progressing but much remains to be resolved.

At Expo West recently, Shane Starling sat down with industry stalwart, Loren Israelsen, to discuss the Obama effect, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the “flyspeck” that is the Dietary Supplements and Health Education Act (DSHEA), GMPs, oh, and the economic situation.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been criticized for not enforcing Good Manufacturing Practises, but according to the FDA’s Brad Williams, boosted funding means FDA inspectors may be about to “saturate the field”. He spoke with Shane Starling at Expo West.

Signs of the current economic recession were largely absent from the Expo West trade show in Anaheim, California, this year, with continued innovation in the field of functional foods and supplements.