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Spicing Up the Nutrition World: How is Dan-O’s Seasoning Changing the Flavor Game?
With no shortage of puns or fun, Dan-O’s is a trusted brand at The Nutrition Insider for good reason.
The Worst Best Medicine: Alcohol and Pain
Paradoxically, the thing that made uncle Jeff decide to go sledding off the roof is the same thing that will ease the pain of a fractured tailbone.
Here’s How Alcohol Affects Your Health
Sorry to be a Buzz Killington, but someone’s gotta say it.
Get Fit to Change Your Gut Microbiome? (And Vice Versa)
Recent research shows that exercise enhances the number of beneficial gut microbes and enriches bacterial diversity.
Cortisol Confusion: Why Some TikTokers Ditch Weights for Pilates
Don’t get us wrong—pilates is a pretty sweet form of exercise. It’s basically yoga with no chill, adding more rigorous (but usually weight-free) strength training to the postural, core stability, flexibility, and breathwork emphases of yoga.
VegOut Organics at Expo West 2023
Leveraging the research-supported skincare benefits of hemp, Veg Out Organics offers a 9-step skincare routine in the form of a plant-based topical product line.
Expo West 2023 Standout Brand: Ritual Zero Proof
Eager to see if they’ve concocted any new NA spirits since our last encounter at Expo East, we were happy to sip samples while Ritual Zero Proof Retail Marketing Manager Bri Makaric filled us in.
Can Carbs Make You Anxious?
Is a low-carb diet the new Xanax?
Health Gimmick of the Month: Potatoes > Antibiotics
This TikTok trend proposes a solution to strep throat that we all apparently missed: potatoes.
Expo West 2023 Standout Brand: ROWDY
Taking advantage of a high-fiber, natural sugar alternative called yacon root to stand in for sugar, Rowdy Bars offer a low-glycemic prebiotic bar that does what others can’t.
Expo West 2023 Standout Brand: Brainiac Foods
Taking a pragmatic approach to the daily nutritional needs of babies, toddlers, and adults, Brainiac is targeting key nutrients that most of us just aren’t getting—lutein, DHA, omega-3s, and more.
Expo West 2023 Standout Brand: Bonafide Provisions
Bonafide Provisions is one of the only bone broths you’ll find in the freezer, as freezing right after they make the broth in small batches helps retain the broth’s nutrients.
Expo West 2023 Standout Brand: More Labs
If you’ve ever had one (or three) too many during a fun night out, you know that the next day is not so fun—but that’s something More Labs aims to help.
10 Trends from Expo West 2023
Our team pinpointed quite a few up-and-coming trends at the Expo West 2023, from edible caffeine and eco-focused initiatives to herbal coffee and healthier options for alcohol, pasta, baby food, and more.
WATCH: Expo West 2023 (Part 2)
Watch us meet more brands from Expo West 2023!
WATCH: Expo West 2023 Recap (Part 1)
See the best and most delicious products we found at Expo West 2023 for yourself.
Health Gimmick of the Month: Toning Shoes
Toning shoes have made it way farther into the mainstream than they ever should have.
Mushrooms on the Mind: Can Lion’s Mane Mushroom Magnify Memory?
While many common grocery store mushrooms certainly have some nutritional advantages, the real power lies with medicinal mushrooms (like lion’s mane).
NotCo Review: Does it Taste Like a Burger?
In our NotCo review we critically evaluated (by eating) their plant-based burgers and milk, and we’re brutally honest about what we think.
Health Gimmick of the Month: Appetite-Suppressing Sunglasses
Can blue-colored sunglasses help you lose weight? Find out in our next installment of health gimmick of the month.
Bad News for Omelet Lovers: Why Are Egg Shortages Sweeping the Nation?
Whether you’re a fan of the hard-boiled, the scramble, the omelet, or the fried, you may be out of luck if eggs were your go-to breakfast, as egg shortages are sweeping the nation.
Better Being Review: A Family of Wellness
In our Better Being review, the parent company of well-known brands like Solaray, we critically evaluated their products and what makes them unique.
Nutrition in the News: Beyond Meat is Beyond in Trouble
One of the first companies to popularize vegan burgers that actually looked and tasted like red meat, Beyond Meat’s meteoric rise to plant-based fame may be coming to an end.
We Do Stuff: Birthday Cats & Thailand Superfoods
Regardless of whether or not we all forgot to wish Nutrition Writer Cambria a happy birthday until the day was almost over—we totally did—she made the most of it in a pretty awesome way.
Why We Partner With Hi-Health
It’s rare that we take our focus off of wellness brands to feature and partner with multi-brand online retailers, but we made an exception for Hi-Health because of the value they can bring to our audience.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Xlear
Xlear has been a leading manufacturer of products based around xylitol since 2000, when people first started learning about the benefits of this natural sugar alcohol.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Dr. Bronner’s
Even if you’re not familiar with Dr. Bronner’s, you’d probably recognize the colorful bottles with words wrapped around all available surfaces.
Standout Cosmetic and Body Care Products at Expo East 2022
Although most people came to Expo East for the food and endless snacks, there were also plenty of cosmetic and body care products that our team was eager to learn more about.
Standout Vegan Brands at Expo East 2022
A couple of decades ago, veganism was limited solely to the biggest health nuts, with animal-free products being hard to find and often difficult to enjoy.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth
If you want the benefits of bone broth without having to simmer cow knuckles and chicken feet on the stove all day, Dr. Kellyann has got you covered with her selection of highly nutritious, ready-to-drink bone broth products that give you all the nutritional benefits without the hassle.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Remedy Organics
You know a ginger shot is potent when you can feel the burn (and the sinus-clearing) on the way down—and Remedy Organics’ “Heal Me” Wellness Shot definitely fits the bill.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Om Mushroom Superfoods
Although some people might be averse to drinking mushrooms, Om is quick to dispel this fungi-phobia.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: 4 Gauge
If you’ve ever downed a pre-workout drink before heading to the gym, you know that common ones on the market tend to cause jitters and itchiness due to high amounts of caffeine and beta-alanine, respectively.
Top Functional Nutrition Products at Expo East 2022
Functional nutrition is one of the newest buzzwords to hit the wellness world—but these products are more than just hype; they actually walk the talk.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Serenity Kids
It’s bad enough that your mother-in-law guilt trips you for providing your child with a pouch of baby food instead of a home-cooked meal (some of us work, grandma!); you shouldn’t have to feel more guilt for handing your little one a tube of preservatives and cheap fillers.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Death Wish Coffee
After more than a decade of caffeinating the teeming masses without losing their sarcastic touch, Death Wish Coffee has no intention of relinquishing their “world’s strongest coffee” title anytime soon.
Our Favorite Healthier Alternatives From Expo East 2022
If the mere mention of the words “eating healthy” or “diet” conjures in your mind images of plain, old grilled chicken breast and broccoli for dinner every night, these better-for-you brands from Expo East will open up a completely new world for you.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: RIND Snacks
Honoring true whole-food philosophy in an authentic way is Rind, who offers the playful slogan “Keep It Real, Eat the Peel” as a way of promoting their vision of sustainability and nutritious snacking.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Wilde Chips
Made from chicken breast, egg whites, and bone broth, Wilde Chips are just plain good, and the texture is very, very close to potato chips.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Lesser Evil
Well, you can’t fault them for haughtiness, but we would certainly give Lesser Evil a bit more credit than evil after hearing Founder Charles Coristine’s spiel on what sets their popcorn, puffs, “peanots,” and more apart from other supposedly healthier snacks.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Life Extension
They didn’t know it, but Life Extension was the very first booth we visited at this year’s Natural Products East Expo, and thankfully, they made the visit a fruitful one.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: MaryRuth’s Organics
Not to cheapen the value of their all-vegan catalog of high-quality, organic multivitamins, but we have to say: MaryRuth’s Organics had one of the coolest looking booths in the expo.
Standout Vitamins & Minerals Brands from Expo East 2022
Let’s say two vitamin/mineral supplement brands you’re comparing have the exact same magnesium product—how do you determine which is better?
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Olbas Herbal Remedies
With soothing scents like peppermint, eucalyptus, wintergreen, juniper, and clove, Olbas Herbal Remedies is sure to help you relax and breathe easier.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Boiron
As a world leader in homeopathic medicines, Boiron is dedicated to providing your family with natural treatments made from over 1,000 botanical ingredients you can feel good about putting in your body.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Wishgarden Herbs
For over 40 years, Wishgarden Herbs has been harnessing the power of plants to produce a broad variety of herbally-infused liquid wellness extracts.
Standout Herbal Remedies at Expo East 2022
Some of the brands that we saw at Expo East 2022, like Wishgarden, Boiron, and Olbas, know that some of the most powerful compounds on Earth come directly from nature—and they’re using these natural herbs and plants to improve human health.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Better Being
It quickly made sense to us why Better Being needed a bigger booth at the expo, as this family of brands has a whole lot to showcase.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Kyolic
Kyolic will not make your breath smell like garlic.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Ombre
We simply cannot overstate the awesomeness of the highly active approach that Ombre is taking to determine the best probiotic products for their customers.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Enzymedica
Definitely one of our most edifying and interesting encounters took place across the front counter of the Enzymedica booth, where East Coast Director Silvia Solaun poured out a quick, but very informative schooling on digestive health (and Enzymedica’s digestive enzyme products) into the mic.
The Best Supplement Brands At Expo East 2022
As expected, supplement brands showed up in force at Expo East, but even with such a deep reserve, we’re confident after talking to these four brands that we correctly identified the best in the convention center.
Our Standout Snack Brands from Expo East 2022
Any diet philosophy that doesn’t incorporate a little forgiveness for snacking is, frankly, unrealistic, which is why we don’t have any conflicts about promoting healthier snack brands, especially if the snacks they’re replacing are typically unhealthy.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Ritual Zero Proof
We might be skirting the edges of the term “dietary restriction” with the inclusion of Ritual Zero Proof on this list, but we’d argue that people wanting to eliminate or reduce their alcohol intake fit the bill.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Dan-O’s Seasoning
Whether you have high blood pressure, kidney issues, or simply want to lead a less salty life, Dan-O’s has got you covered with a wide range of low-sodium seasonings to spice things up.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: NotCo
If you’re a vegan who is tired of tofu and watery non-dairy milk, NotCo is for you.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Fody Foods
While vegan, gluten-free, and paleo foods have definitely been having a moment, people requiring a low-FODMAP diet have been left in the dust—until now, with Fody Foods.
Standout Brands for Dietary Restrictions at Expo East 2022
Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, low-sodium, gluten-free, low-carb, or low-FODMAP, millions of people require a bit of special treatment with what they eat.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Highkey
Starting with low-carb cookies was certainly a bold move on the part of Highkey, as this is one of the cherished treats that few people are willing to compromise on in the taste department, but it’s crazy what they’ve managed to accomplish.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Miracle Noodle
We definitely like where this super-accurate imitation pasta movement is going, and right now, it looks like Miracle Noodle and NuPasta are positioned to lead the field.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Kevin’s Natural Foods
In this product and the rest of their catalog, there are no unpronounceable preservatives, highly refined vegetable oils, artificial fillers and additives, or copious amounts of sugar.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: NuPasta
NuPasta is definitely in the top tier of plant-based pasta alternatives we’ve tried.
The Best Keto Brands of Expo East 2022
Early-wave keto-ers, you have our respect, because we don’t know how we would have kicked the carbs without brands such as those we met at Natural Products Expo East 2022.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Oats Overnight
If you want the creaminess of overnight oats without having to do any of the work, Oats Overnight is your dream come true.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Lakanto
Today, Lakanto harvests this sacred fruit that we know now as monk fruit—named after the people who discovered it—from the same region, using pesticide-free and traditional farming methods that support the local economy without interference.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: MUSH
You might be wondering why oatmeal is on a list of healthier sweets—but hear us out.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Supplant
With Supplant, upcycled veggie waste has never tasted so good.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Honey Mama’s
With a wide array of uniquely flavored cocoa truffle bars ranging from carrot cake to tahini tangerine to lavender rose, Honey Mama’s encourages indulging in delicious chocolatey treats without making any compromises when it comes to health.
Healthier Sweets at Expo East 2022
Healthy sweets kind of sounds like an oxymoron—but not with these brands presenting at Natural Products Expo East 2022.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Nuun
“We have a sport line, we have vitamins, we have immunity and energy, we have something for everybody.”
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Liquid I.V.
Immediately passing the vibe check with a jovial and welcoming attitude, the Liquid I.V. team was a fun booth to visit, and we dig where they’re going with the product(s).
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Biolyte
Somehow, Biolyte has made the prospect of an IV drip seem fun and easy.
Expo East 2022 Standout Brand: Trace Minerals
No crazy flavors, no over-hyped marketing claims, just—you know—saving lives and stuff.
Standout Hydration Brands from Expo East 2022
After a cushy, multi-decade regime, those well-entrenched sport drink giants we’ve all seen dominating the convenience store coolers are starting to sweat, and for good reason.
Expo East 2022 Is Over and the Fun Begins!
Expo East 2022 is officially over, and the Nutrition Insider team is wiped!
Expo East 2022: Day 2 Recap
Another day at Expo East yielded more incredible discoveries. We tried the strongest coffee on earth and sampled baby food; yeah, it’s crazy.
Expo East 2022: Day 1 Recap
We discovered several innovative products in Philly today, ranging from super-charged zinc tablets to pre-workouts in shotgun shells.
The War On Food Waste Is Here: Meet The Farmlink Project
The Farmlink Project, an altruistic organization founded by college students, is combating food waste on a grand scale. We spoke with co-founder Aidan Reilly to learn more.
Standout Supplement Brands at Expo West 2022
Here are a few of the best supplement brands we engaged with at Expo West, from CBD and herbal remedy brands to a doctor-founded nutrition company.
Standout Keto Brands at Expo West 2022
Keto is daunting enough without the added woes of subpar food choices, which is why we’re highlighting brands from Expo West 2022 that do it right.
Standout Beverage Brands at Expo West 2022
Brands at this year’s Expo West were pushing the frontier of healthy coffees, beers, and teas far beyond the gimmicky permutations of the past.
Natural Products Expo West 2022: Standout Brands
See the most interesting highlights from the first Natural Products Expo West since 2019.