ADVANCE FOR RELEASE October 20, 1998
Media Contact: Tom Ryan ([email protected]), Doris Acosta or M. Johnna Thomas
800/877-1600, ext. 4894, 4822 or 4769
October 19-22, 1998
Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Press Room, Room 2210A
816-871-3442
(Please do not publish these numbers.)
SUPPLY AND DEMAND: CONSUMERS' GROWING INTEREST IN ORGANIC, ALTERNATIVE AND BOTANICAL PRODUCTS
KANSAS CITY -- From the farm to the laboratory, the boardroom to the kitchen table, Americans' interest in organic and botanical products is at an all-time high and growing. Sales of organic foods this year are an estimated $4 billion, representing 1 percent of the total U.S. agricultural economy, with annual growth predicted in the double digits. The retail market for herbs and phytomedicinal products is estimated at more than $3 billion annually, and also growing.
What's fueling these continuing trends? And where to from here?
Speakers at The American Dietetic Association's 81st Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Oct. 19-22 in Kansas City, Mo., will tackle those questions and provide new consumer and scientific information about organic, botanical and natural products.
Topics will include findings of a recent survey of organic farmers; efforts by one company to bring food products grown by "sustainable farming methods" to consumers; helping health professionals meet consumers' exploding demand for solid information on botanical products; and results of a Harvard University study relating intake of a compound found in flaxseed with lower risks of coronary heart disease in women.
At an 8 a.m. session Tuesday, Oct. 20, It's Organic! Trends, Issues and What to Tell Consumers, Bob Scowcroft, executive director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation, will present results of the foundation's third National Organic Farmers Survey.
"Consumers' increased interest in purchasing organic products has rippled back to the farm," Scowcroft says. "Growers are investing a greater amount of their acreage to organic farming than ever before."
More than 1,200 organic growers responded to the survey, the largest number to date.
Among the survey's findings: ß The average age of an organic farmer is just over 47, while the average conventional farmer is 59. "If people want to know where the next generation of farmers is coming from, here it is," Scowcroft says. ß More than 75 percent of all organic food is grown by 20 percent of the farmers. "It's a rare farmer who's making a full-time living being an organic producer. The stresses in agricultural production are so dynamic that even an organic producer needs to produce other crops or have family members working off the farm," Scowcroft says. ß The average size of an organic farm is 300 acres, up more than 30 acres in two years. And organic growers have decreased the amount of land they lease, from an average of 145 acres devoted to organic crops to 120, while increasing the amount of owned land from 155 to 168 acres. "They're making a commitment that has long-term implications for the environment and clearly differentiating themselves from their conventional brethren," Scowcroft says.
At the same session, Nell Newman, founder of Newman's Own Organics, a division of the food company founded by her father, actor Paul Newman, will discuss the current and future states of organic product research, agriculture and product development.
"My interest in endangered species and my degree in human ecology gave me the ethical and science background to support organic agriculture," she says. At Newman's Own Organics, "I am able to provide a two-fold growth for organic agriculture through our use of ingredients and our support of organic farming research."
Sale of herbal products is the fastest-growing segment in mass-market retail outlets and consumers increasingly are seeking solid, scientifically based advice on their use, says Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council. Blumenthal will speak at a 10 a.m. session Tuesday, Oct. 20, Use of Botanical Products in Medical Nutrition Therapy.
"Sale of herbal products went up 101 percent between the first quarters of 1997 and 1998," says Blumenthal. "They are flying out the doors. But how do we properly evaluate the benefits and potential risks associated with herbal products?" The council recently published an English translation of Germany's "Commission E Monographs," an exhaustive, 20-year evaluation of more than 300 herbs and herbal combinations sponsored by the German government.
"This gives dietitians, nutritionists and pharmacists, for the very first time, an authoritative reference on herbal medicines, as determined by experts convened by the German equivalent of the FDA," Blumenthal says.
Blumenthal will also present preliminary results from a five-year study sponsored by the council, to be published in early 1999, of more than 400 commercial ginseng products sold in the U.S. and Canada "to determine whether they really are ginseng. One of the biggest questions we're asked is, 'What products can we trust? What can we reliably recommend to our clients?' Our study shows that some of these products do not pass muster."
At a 2:30 p.m. session Tuesday, Oct. 20, Flaxseed in Human Nutrition, Dr. Frank Hu, a researcher at Harvard University's School of Public Health, will present findings from his studies of associations between consumption of alpha-linolenic acid and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in women. Alpha-linolenic acid is found in many foods, including walnuts, tofu, soybeans, corn oil and flaxseed. Dietary consumption of ALA, a polyunsaturated fat, is essential for health because the body cannot manufacture it.
Hu and his colleagues studied records of 70,000 women who enrolled in the nationwide Nurses' Health Study in the mid-1980s and were tracked for 14 years. "We found that a higher intake of ALA is associated with lower risks of coronary heart disease," Hu says. "We also found that high intakes of vegetable oil-based salad dressings, a main source of alpha-linolenic acid, is also associated with lower risk of heart disease among women."
Hu says his group's findings are consistent with those of laboratory studies on animals. But he adds that clinical trials with human volunteers are still needed to determine whether ALA intake actually does reduce the risk of heart disease in people.
Other speakers at the session will discuss scientific and nutritional properties of flaxseed, also known as linseed. Flaxseed has been used in people's diets for thousands of years but is undergoing a resurgence of popularity in North America as a health-promoting ingredient in baked goods. Flaxseed grain is high in dietary fiber and it contains lignan precursors, which have been found useful in preventing breast cancer and estrogen-related disorders.
The 70,000 member American Dietetic Association is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. More than 10,000 of the nation's top nutrition researchers, registered dietitians and industry leaders are attending the Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Based in Chicago, the ADA serves the public by promoting optimal nutrition, health and well being.
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