Suppliers of dietary supplement, personal care and functional food ingredients paint two sides to the story of how the global economic downturn is affecting the U.S. nutrition industry and what is possibly in store for 2009, as Nutrition Business Journal explores in its 2008 Raw Material & Ingredient Supply (RMIS) issue. On one side, suppliers say they are feeling the pinch associated with bad debt and tighter access to capital and credit, and are still dealing with the blows that rising fuel prices and currency fluctuations delivered in 2007 and the first half of 2008. Others point to a slowdown in finished product development that is believed will grow more sluggish in the coming year. But, on a more positive note, many suppliers interviewed by Nutrition Business Journal say they have felt few ramifications of the U.S. economic downturn and financial system meltdown and continue to experience solid growth.

Published in December 2008, NBJ’s RMIS issue provides an in-depth breakdown of 2007 sales figures and 2008 estimates for the U.S. RMIS market, as well as findings from our survey of more than 50 leading supply companies. “The business of nutritional raw material & ingredient supply is a lesser-researched part of the nutrition industry value chain,” said Nutrition Business Journal Publisher and Editorial Director Patrick Rea. “We’ve made it our specialty to shine the light on this part of the nutrition industry and to try to make sense of the global supply landscape as it pertains to the U.S. market for nutrition products.”

In the issue, NBJ profiles Solazyme and Sabinsa, and explores the industry’s response to the FDA’s recent warning to Bayer regarding its over-the-counter drug and supplement combination products, Bayer Women’s Aspirin Plus Calcium and Bayer Aspirin With Heart Advantage. The issue also examines the implications of China’s latest melamine-contamination scandal and provides insights from dietary supplement and natural product leaders into how suppliers and manufacturers can prevent a similar catastrophe from occurring within the U.S. nutrition industry.

“Raw material and supply companies will face a barrage of challenges in 2009, including continued economic uncertainty and the further rollout of new GMP rules for dietary supplements, which are forcing supplement manufacturers to be even more focused on supply quality,” said Carlotta Mast, editor of Nutrition Business Journal. “Still, we believe that suppliers can weather these challenges by remaining committed to quality, science and serving their customers’ changing needs. NBJ’s Raw Material & Ingredient Supply issue provides concrete guidance on how nutritional supply companies can do just that.”

Companies interviewed for and discussed in this issue include:

· ZMC-USA

· TSI Health Sciences

· DSM Nutritional Products

· Cognis Nutrition & Health

· BI Nutraceuticals

· Martek Biosciences Corp.

· InterHealth Nutraceuticals

· Fortitech

· And many others

To view the table of contents and read excerpts from the Raw Material & Ingredient Supply issue, visit

http://nutritionbusinessjournal.com/current/.

About NBJ

Nutrition Business Journal is an executive journal for decision-makers in the natural, nutrition and complementary and alternative health industries. NBJ's exclusive research and editorial focus on the strategic issues of the nutrition industry has made it a leading business intelligence resource for subscribers since 1996. To purchase detailed market research reports, subscribe to NBJ or sign up for the NBJ's free weekly e-newsletter, please visit www.nutritionbusinessjournal.com. NBJ also hosts the NBJ Summit, an invitation-only retreat for C-level executives in the nutrition industry each July. For more information, visit www.nbjsummit.com.

About New Hope Natural Media

New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of the Penton Media, Inc., is the leading media resource and information provider for the natural, organic and healthy products industry with print, in-person/event, and e-business products and services. Penton Media, Inc. is the largest independent business-to-business media company in the U.S., serving more than six million business professionals every month. The company’s market-leading brands are focused on 30 industries and include 113 trade magazines, 145 Web sites, 150 industry trade shows and conferences, and more than 500 information data products. Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, and its coinvestors. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.penton.com.