Business booms
It’s become an autumn tradition. Every year around this time the Natural Products Expo comes East. This year, after several years in Baltimore, it rolled into Washington, D.C.
Last week 1,700 exhibitors set up booths at the Washington Convention Center to display their products, services and technologies to anyone in the business of retailing natural products or organic foods. From Thursday through Sunday, two full floors of the center were jammed with attendees who combed the aisles, getting the lowdown on all things natural: supplements of every conceivable variety; personal hygiene products; therapeutic equipment; books, magazines and multimedia; a surprisingly wide range of pet products; beverages from tea, to coffee, to a tremendous variety of fruit juices and energy drinks; and, of course, organic foods galore.
But in addition to being a marketing showcase, the Expo also feels like a gathering of the faithful. Because this is one of those events where the value of complementary and alternative medicines and therapies is a given. In fact, for many exhibitors, it’s a way of life. As I say, it’s encouraging when just about everyone you meet is a believer.
Pushing the limits
But what makes non-believers out of so many who are not yet sold on alternative methods of health care? The answer to that can be found at the Expo too.
Like every community, the Expo has its mainstream and its fringe. Among the rows upon rows of exhibitors, you could find booths that were little more than a table spread with literature and samples, while other booths were so elaborate that they seemed like permanent environments, complete with refrigeration units, cooking stations and running water. And along with this variety there was both the credible and the incredible.
For instance: one exhibitor offered an aromatherapy device for cars. Another exhibitor featured protein pudding in a tube. And two different exhibitors displayed aura imaging systems. And while I wouldn’t deny any of these exhibitors their place, I can’t help but think that they represent that fringe element that makes much of the outside world look on the complementary and alternative world as a little bit wacky.
Three to watch
There were three obvious trends at the Expo. The first was echinacea, the popular herb reputed to boost the immune system and fight the common cold. There was echinacea in just about everything: tea, cough drops, liquid supplements, snack bars, popsicles, and even chewing gum. Just how much actual cold fighting protection you might get from chewing a stick of echinacea chewing gum is anybody’s guess, but I expect it couldn’t hurt. Clearly, echinacea has now officially entered the vocabulary with an almost magical healing connotation.
Another trend that seems to be a fast growing niche in natural food products is the healthy snack bar. And because they’re a perfect size for free samples, exhibitors left and right were handing out energy bars, fitness bars, honey wheat bars, soy bars, whole grain and nut bars, protein bars, carbo bars, and muscle recovery bars. Some of these bars taste better than others. In other words: some taste awful. But as convenient as they are, the snack bar will continue to boom, without a doubt.
The third trend was water. Of course, bottled water has been on the rise for years. But now it seems that pure spring water just isn’t enough. Suddenly, water is getting complicated.
The water way
Water isn’t always what it appears to be. In an e-Alert I sent you last summer (“Where the Yellow Went” 7/15/02) I told you about the fluoride dangers that come through most of the domestic water taps throughout the U.S. So getting your water supply from a bottled water, or looking for a dependable water filtration system (such as the one offered by William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.), is a very good idea. But there were three water companies at the Natural Products Expo that offered water unlike any water I’ve ever tried.
Waiwera Infinity Water is described as a naturally ionic minerally active micro water that is said to increase the energy production of cells. This is done by rearranging the molecular structure of the water to smaller H2O molecules which penetrate cell membranes more effectively. The Waiwera literature claims that no other water has the unique biological active properties of Infinity Water.
Keep in mind that all the information I’m sharing here has come from the water manufacturers, and is not, to my knowledge based on the results of strict testing standards.
That said, a water company named eVamor would not agree that Infinity Water is unique. eVamor is an artesian water that claims to have antioxidants, pH balancing alkalinity, and minerals that mimic insulin to regulate blood sugars. More than all that, the eVamor literature contains this baffling comment: “Imparting electromagnetic info into water to stimulate the fields in our bodies is like making a recording in water and playing it on your body.” (I think whoever wrote that may have been drinking something a little stronger than eVamor.)
And finally we come to Clustered Water. Much like the pitch for Infinity Water, Clustered Water claims to be structured like the “biowater” inside our bodies. The “cluster” is a ring of six H2O molecules held together by shared hydrogen atoms. According to the handout, the cluster “forms a crystalline matrix which is the key to countless biological functions within the body.” And like Infinity, Clustered Water claims to be far more effective at interacting with body cells than normal, unstructured water.
Suddenly I’m thirsty
If I’m sounding skeptical here about water that makes a recording and plays it on your body, or echinacea chewing gum, or protein pudding in a tube, it’s because I am skeptical. As encouraging and stimulating as the Natural Products Expo is every year, we can’t embrace every innovation that comes along just because someone has given it a “natural” stamp of approval. That’s what research is for.
Besides, a serving of skepticism can be as refreshing as a glass of pure, unclustered spring water.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
