This article reports that two professors from the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University, Karen Russo France, Ph.D. and Paula Fitzgerald Bone, Ph.D.,

A personal note here to my readers wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Like many people, I have resolved to lose weight this year. No great supplement news there, but there is a website called SparkPeople that is offering a free on-line diet program similar to other paid programs available on the internet.

An article entitled 'Functional Drinks: an uncertain future' co-authored by Craig Simpson and Darren Abrahams, attorneys in the Brussels office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, is featured in the 2005/2006 Life Sciences Industry Report and is available on the internet here.

According to this article the Governor of New Jersey signed an executive order today that, among other things, "directs state health officials to come up with a plan to check nutritional supplements for steroids."

The National Nutritional Foods Association has just released a guide for nutritional and dietary supplement retailers to assist stores with 2 issues: 1) what to do when the FDA comes knocking for an inspection, and 2) how to provide nutrition information to customers within the law and FDA regulations.

Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine from India that uses herbs to bring the mind and body into balance for optimal health and well being.

While nutritional supplement patents are not unheard of, it is still somewhat unusual for nutritional supplement makers to apply for patents on their formulations. Instead, supplement makers typically rely on trade secret protection, creating proprietary blends of ingredients and keeping the formula secret.

NNFA sent out an email alert yesterday with updated information on ephedra. The association said that this update was prompted by recent seizures by FDA of dietary supplement products containing ephedrine alkaloids.

Dateline, my home town, Boca Raton, Florida, which, previously unknown to me, is home to a kava bar called Nakava where this root of the pepper plant is served up as "horrible tasting" tea to thirsty college students at nearby Florida Atlantic University, so says USA TODAY.

  Earlier this year, legislators in California proposed a new law that would set up a universal healthcare system in the state, similar to the Canadian system.

We told you about the last teleseminar here. Well, the NNFA is doing it again, but the call is limited to the first 200 NNFA member companies to respond.

Scott Bass, counsel to the NNFA, and head of the International Food and Drug Law Practice at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood has penned an excellent article about the current state of the nutritional supplement industry.

In what appears to be the first enforcement action since last year's ephedra ban, the US Marshalls, working with the FDA, has seized 2634 bottles of "Nature's Treat Energy Plus #1 from Nature's Treat, Inc.

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and NPIcenter have collaborated to create a subcription database to access all notifications the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received for new dietary ingredients (NDIs).

For many years, the large supplement maker Twinlab has maintained it owns a family of trademarks for nutrition, vitamin and mineral supplements using the word FUEL as the second word in the mark.

Heaven Sent Naturals, makers of the Elexia nutritional supplements for male and female sexual enhancement sold at GNC Stores has sued the makers of Trojan condoms for trademark infringement in connection with Trojan’s new line of Elexa condoms and sexual enhancement products.

Basing its decision in large part on the determination that a "dietary supplement smoothie" is "legally identical" (the TTAB's term, not mine) to a nutritional supplement, the TTAB has affirmed a refusal to register ISLAND NUTRITION on likelihood of confusion grounds with the previously registered ISLAND BERRIES.

In a complaint filed last week in federal court in California, Salu, Inc., the owner of the popular cosmeceutical site SkinStore.com has sued the owners of competitor NewSkinSpa.com

Supplement maker Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc., manufacturer of the Redline RTD energy drink, recently filed suit against Red Bull GmbH, manufacturer of the popular Red Bull energy drink.

Two interesting items from the latest NNFA Supplement email worth noting: NNFA Testifies Regarding Health Claims NNFA Executive Director and CEO David Seckman testified that health claims on product labels can benefit both consumers and industry at a November 16, 2005 public meeting in Washington, D.C.