BOULDER, Colo. (March 9, 2009) — The 29th annual Natural Products Expo West/SupplyExpo (www.expowest.com), held March 5-8, 2009, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Calif., engaged more than 53,000 industry members in active business, up from last year’s record-breaking event. The event showcased the newest and most innovative products in natural, organic, and healthy living.

“Natural Products Expo West has been incredible. The show floor here certainly does not look like there’s a recession in this country,” said Stephen Brooks, Co-CEO, of Kopali Organics, a Miami, Florida-based company that buys from small organic farmers from around the world.

According to Nutrition Business Journal, consumer sales of nutrition products grew an estimated 9 percent in 2008 to more than $100 billion.

“Retail buyers need face-to-face meetings, particularly in a slower economy,” said Adam Andersen, show manager of Natural Products Expo West. “Buyers come to this show to seek out those new products that will fly off their shelves and offer a competitive advantage to their stores.”

Natural Products Expo West 2009 occupied 300,000 square feet and featured more than 1,900 exhibiting companies from 28 countries, with 484 new exhibitors. The show’s success proved that, despite a cool economy, innovation and retailer interest in natural products remains strong. Co-located events included Fresh Ideas Organic Marketplace, Healthy Baking Seminar, Nutracon, and SupplyExpo (www.supplyexpo.com), which featured the latest ingredients and manufacturing supplies.

“Products and technologies introduced at SupplyExpo allow manufacturers to get a head start in highly competitive and emerging markets around the world,” said Len Monheit, supply portfolio director with New Hope Natural Media.

Last year’s Natural Products Expo West/SupplyExpo was honored by Tradeshow Week as one of the “Top 50 Fastest Growing Shows” and was awarded a prestigious Gold Standard Award by Trade Show Executive magazine as a “Leader in Green Initiatives.” This year’s sister trade show, Natural Products Expo East, will splash down in Boston, Sept. 23-26, 2009, celebrating its 24th anniversary.

New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of the Penton Media Inc., is the leading media resource and information provider for the natural, organic and healthy products industry, with print, in-person/event, and e-business products and services. Penton Media is the largest independent business-to-business media company in the U.S., serving more than 6 million business professionals every month. The company’s market-leading brands are focused on 30 industries and include 113 trade magazines, 145 Web sites, 150 industry trade shows and conferences, and more than 500 information data products. Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co. , LP, and its co-investors. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.penton.com.

Nutrition Capital Network’s Fourth Investor Meeting will be held in New York City on Tuesday, April 21, 2009. NCN IV will present professionally screened companies to motivated financial and strategic investors in the nutrition, health, wellness, natural & organic and green products arena.

Companies interested in raising growth capital are invited to apply through March 20, 2009

“Despite current economic pressures, there are positive signs that the consumer trend towards healthier lifestyles is being sustained, and investors remain very attuned to products and services in this space,” said Grant Ferrier, an NCN principal and co-chairman of the meeting. “Several companies that participated in the first three NCN meetings have raised capital, and many more have forged valuable contacts with strategic and equity investors.”

Two NCN Investors Meetings are held each year, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. Each Investor Meeting presents at least 20 companies screened by NCN principals.

NCN IV will feature a special track devoted to ingredient & technology companies. The first 12-15 presenters will be consumer-facing, finished product companies and the second 6-8 will be in ingredient development, supply and technology.

NCN Investor Meetings are primarily for companies at two stages:

First Round: Typically companies beyond proof of concept with revenues less than $5 million and raising outside or professional capital for the first time.

Second Round or Later Stage: Typically companies that have already raised structured capital, have revenues of $5 million or higher and are looking for growth capital.

However, Start-up companies or those working on proof of concept may also submit applications.

Companies raising capital and interested in the opportunity to present their business plan to investors are invited to visit www.nutritioncapital.com to fill in a FREE application form on line. Only companies professionally screened and selected by Nutrition Capital Network principals will be eligible to present at the meeting. Investors interested in registering should visit www.nutritioncapital.com.

Where and When: The Nutrition Capital Network day-long Investor Meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City. An opening reception and dinner precedes the event on the evening of Monday, April 20. For more details visit www.nutritioncapital.com or contact Mike Dovbish at 415-254-1116, email:

mdovbish@nutritioncapital.com

About Nutrition Capital Network: The Nutrition Capital Network mission (San Diego, Calif.) is to facilitate the financing process for small companies and introduce investors to the next generation of successful brands in the nutrition, health, wellness, natural/organic and green product arena. However, the NCN vision goes beyond helping to improve the efficiency of capital formation in this dynamic sector. It also aims to accelerate the impact of nutrition companies on the country’s healthcare crisis, the food industry and the wellbeing of the general population. The Investor Meeting in New York is part of a broader service platform being developed by Nutrition Capital Network to facilitate partnering between nutrition industry firms and financial investors.

Are you a Facebook or LinkedIn “Power-User”?

Well, maybe you have been thinking of setting up an account?

If so, be sure to join The NBJ Summit LinkedIn Group as well as The NBJ Summit Facebook Group and the Nutrition Business Journal Facebook Group.

We’ll be using these social networking websites to keep you informed of new NBJ Summit and NBJ developments as well provide a forum for NBJ Community Members to interact year round.

Take a look!

-Patrick

For a limited time, NBJ has access to a special Nutracon 2009 registration discount code. If you are interested using this code and receiving $200 off a 2-day registration or $100 off a 1-day registration to Nutracon, email me at prea@nutritionbusiness.com.

Nutracon is the premier event for ingredient and technology innovation in the health and nutrition industry that occurs in conjunction with Natural Products Expo West. The conference goal is to help companies develop new science-supported products in the supplements, functional foods and beverages, and nutricosmetics sectors.

If you’re looking for invaluable insight on current, impactful, science and business information on selected themes, then you should attend Nutracon. As an attendee you’ll get a sense of the practical and operational opportunities – as well as the challenges – in your growing business.

In addition, NBJ will be presenting a special State of the Industry presentation at Nutracon on Wednesday. Presenters that will join me will include Carlotta Mast, NBJ’s Editor and Bob Burke of Natural Products Consulting.

I hope to see you there!

-Patrick

We’ve recently created Nutrition Business Journal and The NBJ Summit Facebook Groups.

If you are on Facebook, search on “Nutrition Business Journal” and “The NBJ Summit” to find us and join up!

We will distribute special offers and update this community regularly.

If you have any questions, call Rachel Dederich, NBJ’s Marketing & Subscriber Coordinator at 303.998.9263

-Patrick