Attendees at this year’s SupplySide West took advantage of the three-day, four-track education program, sponsored by BASF, that featured more than 40 education sessions, covering hot topics in the nutraceutical, food/beverage and cosmeceutical industries, as well as pre- and post-conference workshops.

“What a pleasure we had at this year's SupplySide West ‘Thinking Newtrition’ together with the thousands of attendees,” said Samy Jandali, vice president, nutrition & health, NA, BASF Corp. “As the exclusive sponsor of the education program, we were on a listening journey to hear from customers and prospects as well as leading experts to discover how we can address the unmet nutritional needs facing our industry. To say it was a successful journey is an understatement. At our booth and at the 40-plus educational sessions, we received outstanding feedback which we will now integrate into our new ‘Think Newtrition’ market initiative. Each year, VIRGO continues to be a great partner in bringing the best in their fields to help us create innovative, sustainable and beneficial dietary supplements, foods and beverages.”

Nutraceutical Insights

The Nutrition Education tracks were packed with attendees learning about the biggest issues facing the supplement industry. Hot topics included:

• Mark LeDoux, NAI International, and Marc Ullman, Esq., Ullman, Shapiro & Ullman, relayed insights from recent warning letters on common GMP violations and discussed how these issues can be addressed when using contract manufacturers. Among the common GMP violations noted in the seminar, LeDoux called failure to conduct at least one test to verify ingredient identity “the poster child for warning letters and GMP violations.”

• Jay Udani, M.D., Medicus Research, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine and Cedars Sinai Hospital, walked attendees through the important aspects of joint health clinical trial design. He stressed the importance of understanding joint anatomy and physiology, utilizing healthy or at-risk populations (instead of diseased subjects), applying standard stressors to the subjects and measuring objective endpoints that are functionally relevant.

• Clinical trial design is a critical issue, as companies look to invest more resources into research but want to maximize the quality of the data as well as the overall return on investment (ROI). Steven Shapiro, Esq.; Mal Evans, Ph.D., KGK Synergize; and Karen Todd, R.D., provided a legal/regulatory, researcher and marketing perspectives, respectively.

• Martin Last, Health Food Manufacturers Association (HFMA), discussed the present EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) opinion on claims, which threatens to become law as-is and would severely and negatively impact dietary supplements and foods in the European Union (EU).

• In the United States, GMPs are still a big issue, even if NDIs are currently taking up most of the industry stage. Joy Joseph, Joys Quality Systems, told a packed audience of manufacturers, “You need to worry about GMPs, because you are failing.” The former Pharmavite quality-control expert also advised companies, “Get it in your head that if you aren’t in compliance with GMPs, your products are adulterated.”

• Sharrann Simmons, Silliker, also took on an aspect of regulatory oversight, helping audience members understand the top-line impact of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) on dietary supplement manufacturers.

• Datamonitor's Tom Vierhile discussed personalized nutrition and the future of functional foods. He set the stage by noting the majority of global consumers attach high importance to individuality and self-expression. Nutrigenomic products, Vierhile argued, could be seen as the next step in the continuum of functional foods; three items driving the interest in this area and in personalized nutrition are the distinctiveness of genetic profiles, a growing focus on prevention, and the potential cost savings to society.

Food and Beverage

Attendees in the Food and Beverage Education track filled the rooms to learn how companies are reacting to health and wellness trends and how they are turning these trends into opportunities.

Among the highlights:

• Ewa Hudson, head of global health and wellness research at Euromonitor, discussed the $160 billion global market for health-oriented foods and drinks. She tapped several product categories poised for growth, including fortified waters, gaining a diversified edge with the addition of vitamin D and calcium for bone and joint health; digestive health beverages, notably yogurt drinks, featuring probiotics and fiber possibly branching into “beauty-from-within” territory; and digestive health gums, mints and chews perhaps receiving a boost with energy-oriented ingredients.

• Suzy Badaracco provided a fascinating look at her approach to identifying and tracking trends in food and beverage, using indicators from health, consumer behaviors like how they spend their leisure time and where they travel, governmental initiatives and legislation, and technology to see where and how the next big things in food will emerge. She said emerging trends to watch include people don’t want functional these days, they want “whole” foods; comfort foods are depressing and boring—people want “experimental and exotic”; and gluten-free will downsize, but pointed the way toward “allergen awareness.

• Jane Griffith, GFSI technical director for ASI Food Safety Consultants, Inc., investigated best approaches to avoiding contamination and controlling allergens in food manufacturing facilities. She said controlling the big eight allergens (and perhaps more) is paramount for every product manufacturer. One key point she brought up was the fact that FDA has a skeptical view of “may contain” and similar disclaimer-type label statements and could be viewed as an attempt by a manufacturer to cover less-than-thorough GMPs.

• A. Elizabeth Sloan, Ph. D., president, Sloan Trends & Solutions, Inc., provided an extensive overview of what ingredients, products and concerns are top-of mind for today’s consumers. She said while the interest in traditional fortified foods has waned, “natural fortification and inherent nutrition has moved center stage.” Sloan noted that antioxidant content is one of the hottest areas, and the next superfoods to hit the big time are spices, pulses, ancient grains, and heirloom and hybridized foods.

• Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., principal, Corvus Blue LLC, and Kimberly Lord Stewart, author of Eating Between the Lines, invited attendees to a “Functional Ingredients Try-athon,” an activity that sampled a number of ingredients in a focused manner within a defined context. Some of the ingredient tasted included coconut milk, almond crème, bean flour, an erythritol-based sweetener, bitterness masking agents and curcumin.

• Attendees were treated to a lively panel discussion on “How and When Does Product Development, Ingredient and Marketing Converge in Building a Beverage brand?” moderated by marketing expert, James S. Tonkin. The panel included David Del Pozo, manager at The Coca-Cola Company’s North American Product Development team and Michael Hammer with Physic Ventures, representing PepsiCo. Key takeaways included rethinking the business and fostering innovation is key in today’s market; understating the science, which includes researching the evidence and understanding the position of the associated scientific bodies; and the importance of product developers understanding the stability of bioactives in a finished product, including their effect on taste and appearance.

Cosmeceutical Trends

Cosmeceuticals are much more than beauty-from-within, as speakers in the Cosmeceutical Track explored the inclusion of ingredients ranging from stem cells to algae in topical products, while others tackled the changing regulations in the European Union and Asia, as well as the market trends driving consumer interest in these products. Hot sessions included:

• Rebecca James Gadberry offered an in-depth exploration of different types of algae with applications in “next gen” skin care. She cited the evolution from the use of brown and red algae for thickening and thalassotherapy into algae that can help in moisture retention, remineralizing and protection from UV damage.

• Stem cells are another hot ingredient for topical formulation, and were the subject of a talk by Ameann DeJohn, who focused on the goal of these products to increase the functionality of the keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Of particular note to formulators and marketers is the move toward parthenogenic stem cells, which are produced using unfertilized eggs; in addition the plant sourcing of both stem cells and mother plant cells may assist in delivering epidermal growth factors and help to rejuvenate the skin.

• Natural ingredients for skin whitening and wrinkle reduction were the focus of a presentation by Jeanette Jacknin, M.D. She first addressed three compounds that may fight signs of aging—Ginkgo biloba, white peony root and quercetin. Most of these deliver antioxidant support, but have been shown in more recent studies to have novel effects such as rejuvenating senescent fibroblasts and improving sebaceous secretions. On the skin whitening side, Jacknin addressed breadfruit (its heartwood and fruit have tyrosinase activity); kojic acid from koji mushrooms; and licorice, which is anti-inflammatory in addition to having positive lightening and brightening effects on the skin.

• Glenda Williams of the Personal Care Products Council helped attendees put the opportunities in a global context, noting that emerging markets in Asia and Latin America are seeing particularly robust growth—an attractive opportunity given the tightening regulatory structure in the European Union. Of note, Williams called out the animal testing ban as well as the rewriting of the frame formulas; a harmonized claims structure is also being discussed across Europe.