Country Life Vitamins has joined the ranks of supplement companies that have achieved a non GMO Project Verifed certification. Getting there wasn’t easy, but the effort has become necessary because of the rising demands of consumers, the company said.
William Ackman, the activist investor who has been attacking Herbalife’s business model for several years, has claimed that Herbalife’s mode of doing business does not differ materially from that of Vemma Nutrition, the network marketing company that...
The trend toward high protein offerings shows no signs of losing steam. Innovation in protein sources and mixtures continues, but delivery mode innovation has not kept pace, at least not in the US market, said consultant Ralf Jaeger, PhD.
Her academic training in analytical chemistry, which required a lot of repetition, prepared Tara Crouch, PhD well for her new role at EAS Consulting Group. Crouch said said she has seen the same problems in industry over and over.
A new trade organization - the Coalition for Supplement Sustainability (CSS) - has formed primarily out of a need to identify a way for supplement manufacturers to deal with non-GMO certification.
Probiotic specialist Yakult USA has challenged allegations in a class action alleging it is misleading US shoppers about the digestive health benefits of its fermented drinks and says it is confident of "eventual and ultimate vindication at trial,...
Eight years after the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) came into force the question of how to win a health claim is still not satisfactorily answered in the eyes of many food operators.
A large consumer study* from market researcher Health Focus International spanning 16 major consumer markets includes this pretty jaw-dropping statistic: 87% of consumers globally think non-GMO foods are ‘somewhat’, or ‘a lot’ healthier.
University of Toronto start-up Nutrigenomix is a pioneer in the personalized nutrition space that is helping consumers understand how variations in their genes influence their bodies’ response to food, beverages and supplements, and in doing so is helping...
Phytopurh, a company seeking to bring a line of health products to market based on phytocannabinoids, is taking the food route to avoid regulatory uncertainty about CBDs.
An event in late September will bring natural and organic food brands and thought leaders together with hundreds of bloggers. It’s the first such event of its kind, organizers said.
The American Herbal Products Association has urged the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) to not the muddy the waters by using the term “dietary supplements” in an official document to refer to what are really misbranded or unapproved drugs.
Is it time to consider new legislation to alter the landscape that DSHEA created for the dietary supplements industry? The issue was raised in a recent public industry forum and met a generally positive reception.
Doing business in the practitioner channel puts an extra burden on a supplement company, said Thomas Guilliams, PhD, of Ortho Molecular Products Inc. The reputations of the healthcare practitioners are at stake, as well as the health and safety of the...
The Department of Justice at FDA’s behest has launched a criminal contempt action against a Montana dietary supplement marketer who continued selling misbranded supplements and unapproved drugs even after a civil contempt ruling. It’s an unusual step,...
Network marketing giant Herbalife has survived another lawsuit with the dismissal of a suit that hinged on whether the company was forthright enough to investors about its business practices.
Garden of Life, a manufacturer of organic dietary supplements, has bolstered it social responsibility message by transforming itself into a B Corp, the company announced this week.
A court action filed by network marketing giant Herbalife against the online messaging firm Twitter points out the risks posed to brands by social media, said an expert on the topic. The company is trying to force Twitter to divulge the identity of a...
The Council for Responsible Nutrition, today announced the addition of 13 new companies to CRN’s membership roster, among them sports nutrition sales growth leader MusclePharm and major Chinese excipient manufacturer Er-Kang Pharmaceuticals.
Arizona is emerging as a hotbed for sales of organic and natural foods and beverages, dietary supplements and other natural products, according to a new analysis by the United Natural Products Alliance. According to the report, the first of its kind focusing...
FoodState, the makers of the MegaFood line of dietary supplements, has entered into a new supply deal that will allow it to cobrand some of its supplements with the name of Lundberg Family Farms, the California rice grower.
Consumers who are seeking to limit their exposure to gluten have another line of defense in a new product released by DSM. Called Tolerase G, the enzyme can serve to break down residual gluten in a meal before it can cause a reaction, the company said.
A glitch in FDA labeling regulations has silently been biding its time to sow confusion among dietary supplement companies. The issue is how to identify a product as a dietary supplement. Or not.
A newly strident critic of the dietary supplement industry, Senator Claire McCaskill, D-MO, levied another attack on the way the business is regulated in the wake of a fine levied by the Federal Trade Commission against the marketers of a memory-support...
A California judge has refused to throw out a false advertising lawsuit accusing Coca-Cola of misleading shoppers by marketing a juice comprised almost entirely of apple and grape juice as a ‘Pomegranate Blueberry flavored blend of 5 juices’.
Non GMO product positioning continues to gain importance in the marketplace, but the search for compliant excipients still complicates the claim for supplements. A suite of ingredients that will be on display next week in Chicago can help.
Labdoor founder Neil Thanedar said he wanted to institute a different dynamic in his product testing and evaluation service. He wanted the benefits to accrue primarily to consumers, and he wanted them to pay for it, too.
In another example of what can happen when the FDA steps through the doors, dietary supplement manufacturer Country Doctor Herbals has received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration that is remarkable in its comprehensiveness.
The NY AG affair has “tenderized” the dietary supplements industry in ways that other issues have not, and made it more vulnerable to other legal and regulatory attacks, said Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition.
Johnson & Johnson’s Nectresse monk-fruit-based sweeteners were discontinued late last year owing to disappointing sales. However, a lawsuit challenging the products’ claims to be ‘100% natural’ is still very much alive.
The EU’s ban on prebiotics and probiotics as marketing tools has cost the market €500m and will cost a further €1bn by 2020 according to Euromonitor International data – and that’s just drinking yoghurt. Other formats have also been hit.
US Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has sent letters to the Food and Drug Administration and 15 major retailers after launching an inquiry into products, regulations, and retailers in the dietary supplement industry that specifically market to seniors...
Health Canada’s Natural and Non-prescription Health Product Directorate (NNHPD) has confirmed the clinical efficacy of Gelita’s Verisol collagen peptide for improving skin physiology.
In the wake of the New York Attorney General affair, one question that has been raised is whether barriers to entry in the US market are too low, and give bad actors too much room to maneuver. But an expert on the supplement trade in Europe says barriers...
How do probiotic researchers and suppliers best communicate with customers? And what should they be trying to tell them, anyway? Having a clear picture of what gut and blood parameters a dietary intervention is meant to affect and having a clear mechanism...
An article in late March in The New York Times called the efficacy of omega-3s into question, citing a number of older equivocal studies. Rather than get down into the trenches on this one, a leading spokesperson in the field said it’s time for the industry...
The question of the presence of gluten in probiotics made a splash recently with the release of a study that found some trace of the protein in a number of top-selling brands. It’s a question of process, not an issue with ‘contamination’ per se, said...
The firms that manufacture healthy food and supplement products do much more than just make products – they are integral partners in product development, regulatory compliance and much more…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is conducting a survey to assess “whether the advertising claims made about [a supplement] are legally and factually permissible”, with the initial focus on saw palmetto.
A custom DNA microarray may provide a ‘quick, more accurate, and inexpensive’ method for identifying microbials and probiotics in dietary supplements, say the FDA researchers who developed the technique.
The Federal Trade Commission, alleging false advertising, is seeking a permanent injunction to prevent Lunada Biomedical Inc. from claiming that its dietary supplement Amberen causes substantial weight loss.
Botanical ingredient experts are not surprised by a recent report on the association of green tea extracts with liver toxicity. It’s consistent with recent literature and could serve as a warning sign of the potential dangers lurking in the pharmaceutical-style,...
Dietary supplement development firm Inergetics has put its first CBD supplement on the shelf in a medical marijuana dispensary in Northern California. One of the company’s goals was to offer consumers a way to try the ingredient without the high out of...
Dispatches from the International Yakult Symposium
Probiotics are yet to win a health claim in the European Union but they continue to receive backing by various bodies for gastrointestinal issues like diarrhoea.
A recent study released by the AARP showed that brain health is becoming an increasing concern, and that more Americans are aware of the potential benefit that playing brain games and doing puzzles may have in combating cognitive decline. The results...
Another competitor has arrived in the specialized sphere of insurance for dietary supplement companies in the United States with a new program offered by Beazley Group, a worldwide insurance provider with headquarters in the United Kingdom.
The Alliance for Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) harmonised health supplement framework will be up and running by the end of the year after over ten years in the making.
