In an effort to focus the nation’s attention on the benefits provided by dietary supplements and other natural products, the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance (DSEA) has become part of the Natural Products Foundation (NPF). DSEA was dissolved as a corporate entity.

“DSEA’s Dietary Supplement Information Bureau (DSIB) and consumer and media outreach programs are highly regarded and will fit perfectly with the mission of the foundation, which is to enhance and promote the integrity of natural products through quality, science and education,” said Randy Dennin, chairman of the Natural Products Foundation. “This merger allows us to not only strengthen and expand the foundation’s educational scope, it provides an established infrastructure that can be used to grow initiatives begun and planned by DSEA.”

Elliott Balbert, DSEA’s founder and most recent president, and former president Jon Benninger have joined the foundation’s board of directors in order to ensure the continuation of programs that DSEA’s contributors have supported over the years.

“The Natural Products Foundation is an amazing group of industry stakeholders,” said Balbert, who founded DSEA in 2001. “Given the apparent collaboration of our efforts, it made sense for both groups to establish a formal affiliation, which we are most excited to announce to you today. The quality and scope of the foundation’s programs, especially with the addition of the programs DSEA pioneered, are well worth the continued support of our industry.”

For more information call (202) 204-4723 or visit www.naturalproductsfoundation.org.

A new study is underway at Oxford University, which involves more than 1,000 prisoners in three UK prisons, to investigate the link between nutrition and behavior. Researchers want to learn if dietary adequacy and optimum nutrient dosages required to support brain function and behavior are responsible for the significant reduction in antisocial and violent behavior among prisoners.

Led by Professor John Stein, the study is being funded through a $2.6 million award from the Wellcome Trust, the UK’s largest medical research charity and will help to determine which dietary supplements might further benefit participants beyond what is possible with diet alone. Collaborating on the study are researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at Imperial College, University of London, the University of Surrey and the University of Liverpool Medical Research Council on Human Nutrition Research.

"Seeing the level of research on diet and crime reach this level of financial support by the medical community is heartening. But it took over 30 years, even though the evidence was there back in the 1970s," said Alexander Schauss, PhD, FACN and senior director of natural and medicinal products research at AIBMR Life Sciences (Tacoma, WA), who has spent over 30 years researching this topic. Schauss published Orthomolecular Treatment of Criminal Offenders in 1978, a study indicating that diet can be used to reduce incident of antisocial behavior. Two years later, Schauss published Diet, Crime and Delinquency, which was reprinted 14 times between 1980 and 1992.

Since then, more than 20 controlled clinical trials have been performed in various state and county juvenile and adult institutions. The results published in the scientific literature confirm that diet could indeed be used to reduce the incidence of antisocial behavior by up to 60 percent.

Dr. Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, added, "If this study shows that nutritional supplementation affects behavior, it could have profound significance for nutrition guidelines not only within the criminal justice system, but in the wider community, in schools, for example." He went on to say, "We are all used to nutritional guidelines for our physical health, but this study could lead to revisions taking into account our mental health, as well."

The American Herbal Products Association’s (AHPA) 2006-2007 Tonnage Survey Questionnaire is now available online. For companies producing raw materials, participation in this survey is essential in helping to assure the continued sustainable harvest of North American herbs including black cohosh (Actaea racemosa syn. Cimicifuga racemosa), slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) and American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius).
 
While harvest information is already available in its components to individual companies, it is a more powerful tool when tabulated to include total usage. By working together in this manner, AHPA and the community of companies who are in the business of herbs can gain valuable information that helps in planning for sustainable growth and stability. Participation in this survey demonstrates the exceptional unity of AHPA members in its desire to benefit the health of all.
 
The latest report, “Tonnage Survey of Select North American Wild-Harvested Plants, 2004–2005,” is available free to AHPA members from the AHPA website.

For more information, or to view the survey, visit www.ahpa.org.

Natreon, Inc. (New Brunswick, NJ) released a study revealing that Capros, a standardized Phyllanthus emblica (PE) fruit extract of the Indian gooseberry, is a high potency antioxidant that can combat the detrimental effects of cigarette smoke.

The study was conducted at the Natreon facilities in Kolkata, India and was recently published in Pharmacology Online. “Our ever increasing portfolio of science shows that Capros is the must-have ingredient to help overcome oxidative damage, and the perfect ingredient for products designed to maximize wellness with safe and natural ingredients,” said Lucien Hernandez, president and CEO, Natreon, Inc.

In this particular study, a highly significant deterioration in the health status of rats after sub-chronic exposure to cigarette smoke was observed when compared to control animals. PE fruit extract was shown to be a more potent antioxidant than multivitamins, due to the presence of high amounts of low molecular weight hydrolysable tannoids (65-70 percent). Multivitamin supplementation did improve the antioxidant status of smoke-stressed rats but to a much lesser extent than that exhibited by PE fruit extract.

Additionally, the bioactives of PE extract may provide additional protection from oxidant-induced injury by increasing the systemic levels of GSH and related enzymes. These findings suggested that supplementation with PE fruit extract decreased the oxidative stress produced by cigarette smoking and thereby reduced their damaging effects on vital organs, particularly the lungs, which was reflected by increased levels of GSH in the PE fruit extract treated group.

For more information call (732) 296-1080 or visit www.natreoninc.com.

SunOpta Inc. (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) announced that it has joined with several companies in the natural and organic products industry to form a new not for profit business association known as The Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association (FTSLA). Currently, there are 19 member companies.

The objective of the FTSLA is to provide a network for businesses to share best practices and work toward sustainable improvements in key areas including organics, climate change, energy utilization, distribution, labor, packaging, water, waste management, animal care, corporate governance and consumer education, and in doing so, develop a clear framework for businesses to monitor and report progress, using common metrics and explicit benchmarks.

The organization’s “Declaration of Sustainability” sign-on campaign is an 11-point action plan aimed to promote education and action toward sustainable business practices in the natural and organic food trade. Companies that sign this pledge commit to continual improvement and transparency around their practices in key areas and in return, will receive the education and tools needed to support their efforts.

"I look forward to the success of this ground breaking association,” said Nathan Morr, director of social and environmental responsibility for SunOpta and president of the FTSLA Board. “Buckminster Fuller said, 'You never change things by fighting the existing reality; to change something you must build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.' That is what we are doing with the FTSLA—offering a new model for companies to articulate and monitor their sustainability efforts. The association is a great vehicle which creates an opportunity to band organic food companies together on the path to a more sustainable future, and is consistent with SunOpta's continued commitment to sustainable business practices."

For more information call (905) 455-2528 or visit www.sunopta.com.

Employees of Organix-South (Bowling Green, FL) are harvesting crops from the company’s community garden in their parking lot. Nearly every employee at the company’s headquarters is participating in the project, working as a team in the garden once a week.

“Right now, the corn is tassling and we’re picking green beans, okra, peppers and black-eyed peas,” said Dave Haight, the resident electrician and now-gardener. “We’ve got ginger, basil, rosemary and pineapples growing in the front courtyard and the bananas are taking off now that it’s started raining.”

According to Autumn Blum, CEO of Organix-South, the organic garden supports two key purposes: to show that growing organic vegetables is possible, even in Florida where the weather is less than accommodating, and to test and promote the use of the company’s organic Neem product.

Additionally, Blum hopes that other corporations take note of the garden’s success and plant their own community vegetable gardens. “The benefits of community vegetable gardens have been proven in urban neighborhoods across the country and we think that impact can be even more significant in a corporate setting,” she said. “It builds a corporate culture that focuses on teamwork, healthy eating and exercise—plus it helps our employees save money and minimize their carbon footprints.”

For more information call (888) 989-NEEM or visit www.organixsouth.com.