LAS VEGAS—As Walter Cronkite said, all the planes landed safely is not a news story; similarly, the media is looking for sexy stories on adulteration, fraud and regulatory concerns when examining the supplement industry. Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director, American Botanical Council (ABC), spoke at SupplySide West on Nov. 11, on how the media is covering issues in the nutraceutical and dietary supplement industry.
Blumenthal noted media themes such as quality/adulteration, safety, efficacy and regulation are not only recurring, but are increasingly high profile in the media. To illustrate the point, he ran through stories dating back to 1998, with a focus on more recent releases such as the 10 articles that have gone out via Associated Press since June 2009. In fact, a story disseminated Nov. 10 titled “Experts: Placebos power behind many natural cures” claimed most dietary supplements, particularly those for sleep, have effects that are primarily driven by the placebo effect. Less notable in the article was the fact that the situation is the same in the pharma market.
Next, Blumenthal took on the topic of media bias, citing two studies examining the issue of pharma advertising in medical journals and the type of coverage of dietary supplements. Perhaps not surprisingly, the more drug company advertising, the fewer stories on dietary supplements and the higher the likelihood that the stories would be negative. He did discuss positive articles in the press, with a mention that international stories tended to be more balanced to positive, possibly due to longer history of use of such products.
