CNN Anchor To Keynote SupplySide East

CNN Anchor To Keynote SupplySide East

SECAUCUS, N.J.--CNN anchor Aaron Brown will startoff this year's SupplySide East with a topic that is sure to grab attention: themedia and dietary supplements. Formerly with ABC's World News Tonight andNightline, he received journalistic recognition covering the Columbineshootings, the O.J. Simpson trial and his around-the-clock coverage of the 9/11attacks. He currently hosts Newsnight with Aaron Brown.

Although Brown is busy these days with coverage of Iraq andother international affairs, he also reports on latest news in the field ofdietary supplements. When INSIDER spoke with Brown, he had just come offcovering the death of Orioles pitcher Steven Bechler. At press time, it wasreported that ingestion of an ephedrine-containing supplement contributed to the23-year-old's death.

How can the industry combat the negative image caused by mediaspeculation? Brown says research is key to a product's integrity. "Everyonein the industry needs to be honest about their product and what it does: what isknown, what is the basis of what is known, what is the research done,"Brown said. "It's when claims get grandiose that things get troublesome andcertainly catch my attention [as a news journalist]."

This has not deterred him from taking his own dailymultivitamin. "I would say I'm not an avid taker of supplements, but I amstrongly encouraged to take them," Brown said. "Depending on who isdoing the encouraging--between a doctor who believes and a wife who believes intheir benefits--I tend to behave."

The keynote is scheduled for 11 to 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday, May 6.