Ingredient Idol @SSW22—just like on TV!

Come enjoy a rollicking show on the convention floor to pick the best-in-class ingredients in three popular health categories.

Todd Runestad, Content Director, SupplySideSJ.com

October 27, 2022

2 Min Read
Ingredient Idol.png

We know the most valuable aspects of SupplySide West are people-to-people connectivity and ingredient discovery. (We know because we asked.) Hundreds of booths offer the promise of finding that next provocative ingredient that can superpower your formulations to serve consumer needs and help your brand succeed in a crowded, always-innovating marketplace.

Oh sure, you can stroll the aisles, hoping for kismet via a compelling booth, perhaps running into a colleague, or setting up booth visits with old clients to see if they’ve got anything new under the sun.

What I’m most looking forward to is our attempt this year to excite, educate and entertain those looking for best-in-class ingredients that should be the foundation of your company’s efforts to develop products that have demonstrated efficacy.

Ingredient Idol is just like the TV show. It is Thursday, from 12:45-2:00 p.m. at the show floor main stage, #5670.

At the show, a panel of three savvy industry judges will hear elevator pitches from brands, pepper company representatives with follow-up questions, and then decide which ingredient is best.

While the judges are huddling to decide the winner, the audience at hand will be asked to pick their own “People’s Choice” winner.

The three health categories for which the contestants will vie are brain health, immune support and gut/microbiome.

We received nearly 70 nominations from companies around the world, and we had a heck of a time winnowing the list down to three finalists in each of the three categories.

Just looking at the submissions was quite a learning curve for all of us insiders. Pity we get to reveal to the public only nine!

Some ingredients were new innovations and others came from start-up companies with a little flash on offer. Other submissions were from legacy companies with ingredients boasting dozens of studies over many years.

Judges will focus on the science, the innovation, the market potential and the all-important X-factor.

The judges are Petra Erlandson, director of sales and marketing at Alkemist Labs; Ola Lessard, a CMO-for-hire who has put in successful stints at Barlean’s and HempFusion; and Diana Morgan, VP of global regulatory affairs for Nutrabolt and impresario for the networking group, “What’s Up with Supps.” These individuals are sharp, smart and informed. Who will they select?

Contestants are:

Brain health

  • Activ’inside: Memophenol Gamers

  • Ixoreal Biomed: KSM-66 Ashwagandha

  • Maypro: ETAS

Immune support

  • Balchem Z-life Zinc Max

  • EpiCor, a Cargill brand: EpiCor Postbiotic

  • Stratum Nutrition BLIS K12

Gut health and the microbiome

  • Clasado Biosciences: Bimuno GOS

  • Comet: Arrabina

  • Entera Health: Immunolin

 

 

 

About the Author

Todd Runestad

Content Director, SupplySideSJ.com, SupplySide Supplement Journal

Todd Runestad has been writing on nutrition science news since 1997. He is content director for SupplySide Supplement Journal and its digital magazines. Other incarnations: content director for Natural Products Insider (now rebranded to SupplySide Supplement Journal), supplements editor for NewHope.com, Delicious Living!, and Natural Foods Merchandiser. Former editor-in-chief of Functional Ingredients magazine and still covers raw material innovations and ingredient science.

Connect with me here on LinkedIn.

Specialty

Todd writes about nutrition science news such as this story on mitochondrial nutrients, innovative ingredients such as this story about 12 trendy new ingredient launches from SupplySide West 2023, and is a judge for the NEXTY awards honoring innovation, integrity and inspiration in natural products including his specialty — dietary supplements. He extensively covered the rise and rise and rise and fall of cannabis hemp CBD. He helps produce in-person events at SupplySide West and SupplySide East trade shows and conferences, including the wildly popular Ingredient Idol game show, as well as Natural Products Expo West and Natural Products Expo East and the NBJ Summit. He was a board member for the Hemp Industries Association.

Education / Past Lives

In previous lives Todd was on the other side of nature from natural products — natural history — as managing editor at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He's sojourned to Burning Man and Mount Everest. He graduated many moons ago from the State University of New York College at Oneonta.

Quotes

"There is not a colds-and-flu season. There is a vitamin D-deficiency season."

"There is no such thing as inclement weather. Only improper attire."

Link answers question, "When taking magnesium, should you also take vitamin D3 2,000 IU?"

"Cannabis is nature's most nearly perfect plant."

Subscribe for the latest consumer trends, trade news, nutrition science and regulatory updates in the supplement industry!
Join 37,000+ members. Yes, it's completely free.

You May Also Like