The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a trade association for the dietary supplement industry, is demonstrating its commitment to educating pharmacists through a grant in support of continuing education (CE) programs on dietary supplements for retail pharmacists.

“According to our annual CRN Consumer Confidence Survey, 40 percent of consumers said that they trust pharmacists as a reliable source of information on supplements, second only to doctors,” said Judy Blatman, vice president of communications for CRN. “It’s so important that we help ensure pharmacists have appropriate education options when it comes to learning about our industry and its products. We selected Drug Store News Pharmacy Practice as the accredited education provider because of its long-term expertise in providing pharmacists with practical continuing education programs.”

The grant will allow retail pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to receive CE credits from one or two courses, by choosing either an on-line or in-print version. Drug Store News will market the program to pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy schools through a series of promotional emails, postcards and advertisements placed in the publication.

Women appear to be leaving the US dietary supplement category in significant numbers, according to survey results released in January.

Market research and consultancy firm TABS Group (Shelton, CT) said that 66 percent of US women today report using vitamins and supplements, which represents a 13 percent drop since 2005.

The firm, which based its findings on an online survey, said that the drop in usage was isolated to women aged 30 to 59.

"The survey did not address specifically why so many left the market for nutritional supplements, however, we do find that they corroborate trends we have been tracking in the marketplace," said Kurt Jetta, TABS Group founder and president.

"Most notably, we've seen sluggish category trends, sharp declines in sales of women's supplements like soy and black cohosh, and declines in calcium sales, which skew heavily towards women concerned about osteoporosis."

The latest survey, which reflects a similar one conducted by the group in 2005, questioned 1,000 US consumers on their use of dietary supplements and vitamins.

According to TABS, manufacturers and retailers have also reduced their marketing and merchandising support behind the concept of women's nutrition during the past two years.

This, it said, adds to "compelling evidence that there is a significant category-wide cost to the reduction of this support.

“It appears that both women's herbs and calcium have strategic importance to this category beyond just the sales of those particular products," TABS added.

However, when it comes to men, the survey results indicated that the number of male consumers reporting supplement usage has remained a steady 66 percent between 2005 and 2007.

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has suggested an alternative to an ingredient safety classification system adopted by the US Pharmacopoeia (USP). That system, developed by the USP’s Dietary Supplement Information Expert Committee (DSI-EC), classifies ingredients into one of three categories that can be described as: Class 1 (safe with no labeling statement), Class 2 (safe only with a suitable labeling statement) or Class 3 (not safe irrespective of label statements).
 
AHPA recently submitted comments to USP, asking that it refrain from requiring cautionary statements on products containing USP-quality black cohosh (Actaea racemosa syn. Cimicifuga racemosa) articles or USP powdered decaffeinated green tea (Camilla sinensis) extract.

Subsequent to this process AHPA recognized a greater concern regarding the presentation of safety information (required cautionary labeling) than dissemination in more appropriate ways. The present requirement for USP Class 2 ingredients applies only to dietary ingredients claiming USP quality and limits the ability of manufacturers to appropriately advise consumers.  
 
“USP should provide ingredient safety information that it believes is important to manufacturers,” said Steven Dentali, PhD, AHPA vice president for scientific and technical affairs. “However, USP’s proposed cautionary labeling statements are directed at consumers while ignoring manufacturers’ responsibility to produce safe products.”
 
The alternate suggested by AHPA would employ a safety information section in USP supplement ingredient monographs that presents the findings of the DSI-EC. AHPA believes that the information generated by this committee can serve the interest of public health by allowing manufactures to intelligently apply the findings of the DSI-EC as is appropriate on a product-by-product basis.

The International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations' (IADSA) has strengthened its global position with the welcoming of the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED) into its fold.

The move looks set to allow IADSA to demonstrate its global clout and consolidate its position as the voice of the worldwide dietary supplement manufacturing industry offering membership to independent and representative dietary/food supplement manufacturers and suppliers associations across the world.

"We are delighted to have GOED as a member," said IADSA Chairman Randy Dennin. "We welcome organizations that work toward facilitating a political and regulatory framework for a growing international market in dietary/food supplements. Through our members we strive to ensure consumer safety through legislation, regulation and guidelines founded upon credible scientific principles."

GOED was created in October 2006 to educate consumers about the health benefits of EPA/DHA and work with government groups, the healthcare community and the industry, while setting high standards for our business sector, according to the organization.

The joining of the influential GOED is the latest in IADSA's expansion, having seen its membership more than double in size since its creation in 1998. The association represents 58 national trade associations and over 20,000 companies.

In a comment submitted to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Organic Trade Association (OTA) advised the agency that its proposed voluntary standard for a 'naturally raised' marketing claim for livestock products would only further confuse consumers.

"This proposed voluntary standard, if adopted, is bound to add to consumer confusion. Consumers already do not understand 'natural' claims on products, and this proposal will only further muddy the waters on what such claims mean," said Caren Wilcox, executive director of the OTA. "The organic label, meanwhile, covers both how animals are raised and how meat is processed, and all organic animal products sold in the US must meet or exceed US organic standards."

Under the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) definition, only minimally processed meat and poultry products containing no artificial ingredients or added colors may be labeled 'natural.' The FSIS definition includes NO requirements for the way the animal is raised. The proposal in question, offered by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), would allow a 'naturally raised' claim on livestock products if the animals were raised without growth promoters and antibiotics and had never been fed mammalian or avian by-products. However, the AMS proposal does not address living conditions or feed requirements.

OTA pointed out that meat labels would further baffle consumers. Having these two contradictory definitions means a 'natural' meat product could have been raised under 'unnatural' conditions and could have been fed hormones, antibiotics and meat by-products. Likewise, a 'naturally raised' meat product might contain artificial flavors or colors. Neither 'natural' nor the proposed 'naturally raised' claims would require third-party verification of those claims, in contrast to the organic label.

The organic label on meat products, on the other hand, refers to how the animals were grown and processed. Certified organic producers and processors must adhere to rigorous growing and processing standards verified by a third party. Unlike the 'natural' or proposed 'naturally raised' claim, organic livestock must receive 100 percent organic feed and be raised under living conditions specified by national organic standards. Organic animals are never treated with synthetic growth hormones, receive no antibiotics and cannot be cloned animals. 

"Why create another label that will further confound consumers when there already is a very clear regulated organic label that brings an assurance that the products have been produced and processed using specific practices?" Wilcox added.

Four environmentally responsible companies have created an innovative way to collect and reuse product packaging. Three organic food companies—Stonyfield Farm, Honest Tea and Clif Bar—joined forces with TerraCycle to operate four collection efforts to prevent millions of drink pouches, yogurt containers, energy bar wrappers and soda bottles from clogging our nation’s landfills. TerraCycle is then turning this ‘waste’ into eco-friendly, affordable TerraCycle products.

By making or packaging eco-friendly products from used containers, TerraCycle, with the help of Honest Tea, Stonyfield Farm and Clif Bar, hopes to eliminate the idea of waste. This is the first time industry leaders have set up collection programs reclaiming their used packages so it can be upcycled into a new product.

The collection programs, called the Yogurt Brigade, Drink Pouch Brigade, Wrapper Brigade and Bottle Brigade, are free to any school, community group or non-profit. Participating locations will earn two cents for every pouch, 6-oz. yogurt container or energy bar wrapper, and five cents for 32-oz. yogurt container or 20-oz. bottles. Donations will be made to a charitable organization or school of the location’s choice.

These programs strive to limit the amount of waste in landfills, teach kids about the importance of recycling and give money back to non-profits and schools. Plus, all the collected materials will be the building blocks of sustainable, eco-friendly products.
The used drink pouches will be sewn into tote bags, handbags and pencil pouches for kids and adults. The drink pouch line will be available at Target and Walgreens in 2008.

The used yogurt containers will be hand painted by inner-city artists and turned into planting pots for gardeners called Yo’Planter! These can replace the original, non-recyclable plastic planting pots used by nurseries and retailers.

These collection programs are based on TerraCycle’s Bottle Brigade, which has over 4,000 locations across the country. Schools and other community groups are paid six cents for every delabeled, used 20-oz. soda bottle they collect. TerraCycle uses the bottles to package their organic Worm Poop plant food.

For more information on these programs, call (609) 393-4252 x33 or contact Albert@terracycle.net.