The second Natracare Sisters raised $320,000 to help “improve the health of women and babies by training women scientists and clinicians.” Sisters Susie Hewson, Natracare’s chief executive, and Theresa White cycled 450 km over five days in China as part of the Women for Women Cycle China challenge.

The elete Electrolytes Add-In from Mineral Resources International, Inc. of Ogden, UT, features a new label with Nutrition Facts rather than Supplement Facts. The company says it also changed its tablytes Balanced Electrolyte Tablets branding “so that the entire elete product line up is more cohesive.”

The Natural Products Association (NPA) of Washington, D.C. now offers a Retailer’s Staff Education Toolkit for members that contains tools to help retailers discuss information about supplements within legal parameters. Included are a handbook on regulations, a summary of the regulations, a quick-reference wallet card with tips for talking about supplements to shoppers, shelf talkers, flyers and posters.

Ogden, UT-based Trace Minerals Research received an “A” rating through NPA’s GMP recertification program under the new FDA final cGMP rule for dietary supplements. In separate news, the firm announced that it is the “top-selling trace mineral brand in the natural products channel within the trace mineral category” per SPINS U.S. data (52-week period ending May 15, 2010). The data compared 18 brands, and found that Trace minerals has 70% of the market share in this category in dollar and unit volume in U.S. natural products supermarkets.

NHK Laboratories, Inc. of Santa Fe Springs, CA gave 400 bottles of 30-count children’s multiple-vitamin chewable tablets to the poor families living in Tsinjoarivo, Madagascar. The products were distributed through a non-governmental organization in Madagascar run by McGill University researchers.

The American Herbal Products Association of Silver Spring, MD now offers an industry guidance on products liability insurance for manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements. The text is entitled “Primer on Products Liability Insurance for the Dietary Supplement Industry” and is available for download at www.ahpa.org/10_0901_AHPA_InsurancePrimer.pdf.

Enzymedica of Port Charlotte, FL launched the Digest Challenge and Food Intolerance Educational Campaign at Natural Products Expo East. The challenge asks participants to take its Digest Basic supplement for two weeks after every meal to see whether they experience an improvement in their digestion. In-store promotional material is available through the company.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, December 2010 (online 11/1/10)