If you’ve ever opened a bottle or box of supplements, chances are you’ve touched a packaging film. Over the past few decades, packaging-material suppliers have come up with a dizzying array of options for blister packaging and shrink labeling, including polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinylidene chloride (PVdC), polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE, also known as Aclar), cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), any many others.
When members of Congress hold a hearing, it’s usually not a sign of good news. However, when the House Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture convened on April 18 to discuss the status of USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP), it heard some very good news: organic products accounted for nearly 3% of all retail sales in 2005, pulling in just under $15 billion for the year.
Sometimes, less is more-especially when it comes to food. So-called food-minus items, products that contain less fat, sugar, or calories than conventional foods, made a strong showing in 2006. So did foods with organic or fair trade ingredients that are less destructive to the environment. To meet surging demand, manufacturers have been getting creative with recipes, making the most of flavors and other related ingredients to add sensory magic to their products.
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but sometimes being the mother of a small child is enough to inspire a great product. Several years ago, Roberta Greenspan noticed that her daughter loved juice boxes. Greenspan didn’t want her to load up on sweet drinks, however, and wondered if there were a way to create a similar product without the sugar and calories. Soon after, Maddie’s Beverage Co. (San Francisco) and the Wateroos drink box were born.
First, the good news: Herbs are back. Frost & Sullivan’s (San Antonio, TX) latest research indicates that plant-based extracts and ingredients are generating strong interest around the globe. From North America and Europe to the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania, manufacturers are integrating botanicals into a multitude of supplements and functional foods.
Food manufacturers that are looking for new opportunities might want to consider gluten-free products. On January 23, 2006, FDA proposed allowing voluntary labeling for the products, which lack proteins in wheat that can harm people with celiac disease-a chronic inflammatory disorder of the small intestine that affects up to 1% of the general population.
How will superstores affect the organic products marketplace? According to a 2006 survey by the Hartman Group Inc. (Bellevue, WA) that compares the 2001 and 2006 organics markets, two of the strongest barriers to consumer purchases of organic products are price and accessibility.
Women buy nutrition bars for many reasons. To some, they are a convenient source of energy. To others, they make good meal replacements. Still others eat them to supplement the missing nutrients in their diets. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that natural-products companies are taking notice.
Manufacturers have responded to the growing demand for gelatin-free supplements by offering capsules made from plant-derived materials. While consumers who prefer vegetarian, kosher, or halal supplements still have limited choices, their options are expanding.
Government officials, consumer advocates, and industry representatives debated how FDA should regulate functional foods at a public hearing held December 5.
Two recent studies from the Archives of Neurology suggest that omega-3 fatty acids may be helpful for people suffering from cognitive decline. The studies, while not definitive, add more support to the theory that the omega-3s docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are important elements of cognitive health and well-being.
As the dietary supplement industry matures and companies become more successful, many businesses find themselves at a crossroads. Should they invest in new equipment and personnel to meet growing demand, or should they hire a contract manufacturer?
More than two decades of contract manufacturing experience have taught Access Business Group (Ada, MI) to be two things: ready and flexible.
At the World Health Organization’s (WHO; Geneva) upcoming European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity, which will be held in November in Istanbul, Turkey, many of the world’s leading health experts will convene to develop new plans for dealing with the obesity epidemic. With any luck, functional foods will be one of the strategies that helps makes a difference.
Since the passage of DSHEA in 1994, the industry has waited patiently for the advent of official good manufacturing practices (GMPs) for dietary supplements. The arrival of the GMPs, like the much-anticipated emergence of the groundhog, could herald either a long “winter” clouded with new regulatory burdens, or an early “summer” that levels the corporate playing field.
Fortunately, new technology is helping manufacturers make tablets, capsules, and liquids that offer nutritional benefits without sacrificing taste and quality.
Is the media accurately reporting the results of the latest dietary supplement research? If not, what should the industry do? If so, what can the industry do? Manufacturers have been grappling with these questions for the past several years and may be closer to finding some answers.
Riding high on a 19% increase in dollar-volume sales over last year, antioxidants are poised to enter the mainstream. AC Nielsen (Schaumburg, IL) predicts that antioxidants will be one of the fastest-growing consumer health segments in 2006, with so-called “health activists” spending more on the category than any other market segment. In 2005, products that contained antioxidants saw a 31% gain in dollar sales among health activists and a 52% increase among “health neglectors” who aren’t overly concerned about nutrition.
Cosmeceutical users are diverse. But despite their differences, they are united in one goal: to slow the signs of aging. “Everyone is looking for a good formula that works in real life,” says Ohad Cohen, CEO of herbal extract supplier Vitiva (Markovci, Slovenia). “If the formula is all natural, that’s the best scenario.”
Until recently, the federal government had said very little about what constitutes a whole-grain food. That changed on February 17, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA; Rockville, MD) issued a draft guidance document clarifying its views.
One of the most important studies on natural ingredients of the past decade will soon have a postscript. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), published in the October 2001 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, was the first large-scale clinical trial to confirm that antioxidant supplementation may help slow down the progression of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Chances are increasingly slim that the country will escape the twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity if present trends continue. More than 20 million Americans already have diabetes, and more than 60 million Americans are obese. The two conditions have become so intertwined that experts recently coined a term to describe their relationship: diabesity.
In their quest to create tasty foods and beverages enriched with omega-3s, food technologists, like salmon, have had to swim against the current. The taste of omega-3 fatty acids has been a key stumbling block. Recently, however, manufacturers have been employing several strategies to develop new products.
Two new studies presented at this year’s meeting of the American College of Rheumatology (Atlanta) have raised hope that dietary supplements can play a greater role in helping people with osteoarthritis (OA) manage their pain. The studies, both of which were six-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, examined the effects of the supplement ingredients glucosamine and chondroitin. The results, while not conclusive, were promising enough to prompt both research teams to recommend that physicians discuss the supplements with their patients.
Two years ago, nutrition bar manufacturers launched a record number of low-carbohydrate products. The low-carb era was glorious-but brief-imploding shortly after it began. Now, some nutrition bar companies are pinning their hopes on a different concept: the glycemic index.
Making quality nutritional supplements that appeal to kids isn’t exactly child’s play. Although the need for healthy nutritional options has never been higher-almost 80% of young people don’t eat the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta)-there are a couple of reasons why dietary supplement manufacturers find children’s multivitamins especially challenging to formulate.
