The dirty dozen – a look at twelve shady and nefarious industry practices to avoid
There’s a toast that I like to offer up at gatherings of friends and colleagues, and in many ways, it truly sums up how I feel about the industry in…
Supplement Spotlight: Don’t Choke on the Obvious
Every so often the FDA does or says something so biased against the dietary supplement industry that it is difficult to understand how we are supposed to consider ourselves as…
Consumer demand = more trust transparency in the supply chain
A recent Harvard Business Review article reported on a study by researchers at the MIT Sloan School of Management that “found that consumers may be willing to pay 2% to 10%…
From fake to folly – dietary supplement gates are riddled with holes
If I’m a lay consumer, I remain absolutely confused and befuddled as dietary supplement brands continue to proliferate, in stores and online. A discerning label check can in some cases…
Amazon gumming up the supplement market and going to the dogs
It’s been just over 900 days since Amazon launched their first brand of supplements, Amazon Elements, with only four SKUs. Today, the brand carries 50. Amazon brands are continuing to…
Ingredients, Nutrition Science and Disease: A Messy Map
In some of our recent work in the curcumin/turmeric category and emerging prebiotic category we came up against that wall that often faces the dietary supplement industry: “Your scientific evidence…
Musings from NBJ Summit 2019
That’s now at least 17 NBJ Summit’s I’ve attended over the past 20 years. I’m a fan of the event, and it’s certainly interesting to see how it’s evolved over…
ABC Testing Labs Doesn’t Begin to Describe the Danger of Inadequate Testing Competency
This column has looked at FDA Warning Letters as “must reads” (4/24/2018) and unbelievable reads (6/5/2019), yet a recent FDA Warning Letter to Advanced Botanical Consulting & Testing Inc. (ABC…
Musings from Probiota Americas 2019
Probiota is the collaboration between William Reed’s NutraIngredients brand and the International Probiotic Association (IPA), a 5-year relationship that has solidified the probiotic community worldwide. Currently there are three global…
Musings from IFT 2019
Last week I had the opportunity to visit New Orleans, a phenomenal destination, for the 2019 IFT show. Disclosure: I did not take in any of the scientific sessions, and…