Expo Asia Moved to December
New Hope Natural Media has rescheduled Natural Products Expo Asia 2003 because of concerns about the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The event now will be held Dec. 3-5 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Scott Griggs, managing director of New Hope Natural Media Asia, said more than 4,000 buyers from 51 countries attended Expo Asia 2002, and this year's show has already topped that mark. "We had already contracted 30 percent more exhibitors than we had at our 2002 event," he said.

Good News for Women, Bad News for Fish
Eating fish reduces the risk of chronic heart disease among women suffering from type 2, or adult onset, diabetes, and the more fish consumed, the more the risk declines, according to a new study published in the online version of Circulation. A team led by Harvard School of Public Health researcher Frank B. Hu studied 5,103 female nurses and determined diabetic women who ate fish one to three times per month reduced their risk of heart disease by 30 percent, compared with those who consumed it less than once a month. Eating fish once a week yielded a 40 percent risk reduction, and five times per week cut the risk by 64 percent.

Best Natural Citizens
Ranked for excellence at serving stakeholders, including shareholders, communities, minorities, women, employees, the environment, non-U.S. stakeholders and customers, five naturals companies were added to Business Ethics' 2003 list of the 100 best corporate citizens. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters hit the list at No. 8, Wild Oats Markets was not far behind at No. 19, Horizon Organic Holding Corp. landed in the top third at No. 31, Nature's Sunshine Products in the top half at No. 42, and Whole Foods Market jumped in at No. 63.

The magazine changed its methodology, ranking companies based on one year of data rather than the three years of data used in previous editions. The new methodology led to 42 new firms appearing on the list, including the five naturals companies.

Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXIV/number 5/p.