Only 10 days to go - WeightManagement 2011
With the World Health Organization estimating that by 2015, there will be more than 1.5 billion overweight consumers, the opportunities for a scientifically-substantiated weight management product are impressive.
The market for food, beverage and supplement weight management products is already valued at $3.64bn (2009 figures) in the US, according to Euromonitor. In Western Europe, the market was worth $1.3bn in 2009.
Bit questions remain in this area, however: How is the market divided? How strong is the science? How do you grow the confidence of supplement consumers in an area with poor reputation? Does dairy work? What about botanicals – is there life after hoodia?
All of these will be answered during the free to attend, live one-day event called Weight Management 2011 Virtual Conference and Expo will be taking place on Thursday November 9. The conference will cover key topics from high-profile industry personalities from the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the American Botanical Council (ABC), the University of Tennessee, Datamonitor, Leatherhead and NIZO Food Research.
Organised in association with FoodNavigator-USA.com, the virtual event allows visitors to network, attend conferences, and visit suppliers online – without having to book flights or hotels.
Networking
Cost saving is not the only attraction of the virtual format. Visitors to Weight Management 2011 can easily navigate their way around the virtual floor and can network simply with both visitors and suppliers through forums at stands, and using a chat facility.
In addition to networking, attendees of the show can come to stands in the virtual exhibition hall to pick up product brochures, technical papers and case studies, and tune in to videos.
Conference line-up
The program will start with an overview of the weight management sector, from Tom Vierhile from Datamonitor and Roberta Re from Leatherhead Food Research, and asks the question: What does today’s data say about tomorrow’s weight management market?
Next we ask about satiety, and whether the industry is still pursuing it or shifting their focus elsewhere. Sandra ten Bruggencate from NIZO will present her opinion.
We then explore the potential, and often controversial, role of dairy in weight management, and Prof Michael Zemel from the University of Tennessee, a world renowned scientist in this field, will give his opinion on the state of the science and what the bioactives may be.
The weight management sector is not without its sceptics and critics, particularly when the weight management ingredients are delivered in supplement form. To address this issue, we are very pleased to have Dr Duffy MacKay, the VP of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition give a presentation entitled, “Losing the confidence of supplement consumers - The burden of poor reputation”.
Finally, we cover the crucial topic of botanicals, and who better to give us an independent, authoritative, and responsible overview that Mark Blumenthal, founder & executive director of the American Botanical Council.
Weight Management 2011 opens its virtual doors at 9am Eastern Time (New York).
For more information and to register for Weight Management 2011 Virtual Conference and Expo, please click here.
