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It’s no secret that, when it comes to health and wellness retailing, women rule. Not only are they the ones buying most of the products — they’re also the impassioned voice driving many of the trends we see, from healthy kids’ options to better-for-you snacks and beyond.

So for retailers, it’s good to stay up on the latest consumer polls, like the one our parent company Penton, in concert with women’s lifestyle website iVillage.com, just released.

The results, which come from input submitted by close to 5,000 iVillage readers, aren’t surprising in a broad sense. But they do underscore the growing number of women saying they want to eat healthy, and then putting their ideals into action. Seventy-three percent of respondents, for example, say they read labels closely and are concerned about certain hot-button ingredients, like high-fructose corn syrup. And 50% say they look for specific health attributes like “low sodium” or “high in fiber” as opposed to general claims like “natural” and “organic”.

Here are a few other findings:

- 71% want to buy healthful products from mainstream grocers.

- 57% believe organic food is better for them.

- Only 26%, however, say they’ll go out of their way to purchase it.

- 39% say time is the biggest obstacle to healthful eating, followed by willpower and motivation.

The 71% figure should be especially encouraging to our readers. Indeed, that shows just how far supermarkets have come as wellness destinations — and how much further consumers want them to go.

Topco Associates’ pitch for the dormant Wild Oats brand name seems — at first blush — like an odd move. What would a company that already offers a pretty successful private-label natural/organic brand called Full Circle want with a retail name that hasn’t been seen on shelves for three years?

Or, more to the point: Why would Topco want it?

First, the background: The Wild Oats brand name has been for sale since Whole Foods Market acquired Wild Oats in 2007. A messy antitrust battle with federal regulators ensued, and ended only after Whole Foods agreed to sell off 32 Wild Oats units, along with the brand (to date, three stores have actually been sold).

Fast forward three years. According to papers filed with the Federal Trade Commission, Topco and Luberski Inc., a Fullerton, Calif.-based food-product supplier, are both bidding for the Wild Oats rights. A source familiar with Topco tells me that Topco has been interested in the name since the acquisition.

Why? The current thinking is that Topco will position the Wild Oats name as a “better-for-you” brand that complements the existing Full Circle natural/organic line, similar to what Safeway has done with its “O” Organics and Eating Right brands.

Adding a lesser-evil tier will allow retailers who pull from Topco to offer an additional line, with different price points and product attributes, to mainstream customers who might otherwise simply buy conventional products if given only a natural/organic option. more…

Each day on the show floor brings new insights into how the many moving parts in the natural foods industry can process emerging consumer demand and turn out products that answer the call. There were two trends that we saw in the aisles yesterday that will soon be coming to a store near you:

Flexitarian Soy: Soy regularly gets into trouble. Studies come out against it, only to be answered by research refuting the original findings. Nevertheless, soy remains the dominant alternative protein of choice for vegans and vegetarians — and now, it seems, flexitarians.

That last term was coined recently to describe those people who might also call themselves “casual vegetarians.” They don’t follow a rigorous no-meat diet, but they have cut down on their meat consumption, either for health or ethical reasons. Judging from some of the products we’re seeing here, it seems as if soy manufacturers are poised to deliver a soy product that increases the acceptance factor of these part-timers.

First, from Vitasoy/Nasoya, comes a line that’s been fortified with essential vitamins (particularly B12) that are primarily found in meat, and often at risk in a vegetarian diet. The second comes from Harmony Foods, which is introducing a dry soy mix that is extremely flexible (after all, flexitarian eaters must desire flexibility) and can be shaped into patties, balls or crumbles, simply by adding water.

What’s more — and here’s the kicker — the latter product is flavored to mimic certain animal proteins, such as chicken. So, these optional vegetarian consumers will be able to find a compromise between their actions and their desires.

Then there’s product redesign: An impressive number of manufacturers are unveiling new graphics, updated logos and more ecological packaging at the show. Among the big ones we found were Nature’s Path, the Canada-based maker of cereals and cereal bars. Their new boxes are 30% smaller now, though they contain the same amount of product. What’s more, the dimensions of the boxes won’t require retailers to reset shelves or change planograms, One of the side benefits for companies undertaking such a program is that, if the work with retailers, they’ll likely be ablr to get one or two more facings of their products onto shelves.

Over at Barbara’s Bakery, the company’s iconic puffin no longer gets top billing in the graphics. We learned that the new design will harken back to the company’s founding, and its California roots, with a bucolic image and a craft-paper shade of brown threading throughout.

We’ll note that all of the products mentioned are either just coming to market or are going into distribution right after the show. The fact that many manufacturers time their efforts to Expo West indicates the importance they give the show as a marketplace of ideas. For this reporter, this makes wandering the aisle more like a treasure hunt for seek out the new and improved items your customers are going to soon see.

It’s tough to stay focused when there’s so much ground to cover — and so much food to eat. Nevertheless, we were able to pick a couple trends that stood out from today’s show. They could be duds, or they could be the next big wave to hit the industry. Hey, we call ‘em like we see ‘em.

- Water packaging: With bottled water undergoing something of an image crisis these days, it seems manufacturers are finding new ways to deliver. We saw water in pouches, cartons, glass bottles and spiffy new recyclable containers. One company, H2O Box, markets entirely around its packaging, which is 100% recyclable and can biodegrade within 7 years.

- Sweeteners: With high-fructose corn syrup on the ropes, and serious questions being posed about artificial sweeteners like aspartame, suppliers are stepping up with alternatives from some interesting places. There’s stevia, of course. But we also saw lots of agave nectar today, as well as evaporated palm sugar, of all things.

- Dried fruit: It seems consumers want to eat their fruit, but maybe don’t have the time or patience to deal with the real thing. A depressing thought, for sure. But the dried options, which have been around for years, are getting a facelift with interesting new presentation (tubs, pouches, bulk bins), and some delicious company like nuts, granola and various grains.

- Tablets: Particularly in the household cleaning sector, the idea of cutting down on waste by reusing the same container has taken hold. Companies provide the bottle, along with the tablets that you drop in, add water, and….voila!

Thursday morning’s seminar, Best Practices in Social Media, played to a packed house. It could be people were raring to go the day before the show begins. But more likely the high attendance speaks to just how eager companies are to expand their online presence through Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and the like.

For companies used to delivering polished, deliberate marketing messages, social media is a significant change of pace. It’s quick, casual, and predominantly user-generated. It’s a “me”-focused space where people come not to be pitched or marketed to, but rather to connect and to be entertained.

So how do companies break through to a non-captive audience like this? First, a few stats, courtesy of presenter Mauricio Lluch, president of the consulting firm eMarketing Naturally.

- Facebook has 400 million users, 32% of them older than 35.

- YouTube has 173 million monthly viewers, more than 50% of whom make more than $60,000 per year.

- 82% of brands are currently utilizing social media.

Clearly, the opportunity is there. And making an impact, according to Lluch and fellow presenter Heather Smith, founder of PR firm Lady Luxe Inc. means being honest, informative, and even quirky. To demonstrate the latter quality, Lluch showed this YouTube video made by the BlendTec blender company, in which the company’s president throws an iPhone into one of his blenders as part of their ongoing series, “Will it Blend?” more…

The following post was filed by Matthew Reynolds, managing editor of Modern Baking and Baking Management magazines, both sister publications to Supermarket News

If 2009 was about inexpensive, 2010 is about simple. If consumers can’t pronounce the ingredient, they don’t want it. Instead, they are looking for simple packaging and simple formulations; fewer ingredients, cleaner labels and slimmer packaging.

* 48% of products in the U.S. showed a decline in the average number of ingredients in the first three quarters of 2009. ( Mintel)

* Haagen-Dasz introduced its Five line of ice cream with only five ingredients–milk, cream, sugar, eggs and one natural flavor, like mint.

* Starbucks changed its banana bread from 15 ingredients to 10.

According to Lynn Dornblaser of Mintel, a consumer research firm based in Chicago, products with simplified labels will be more sought after in 2010 than those that contain the former buzzwords “organic” or “natural.” From 2005 to 2008, there was an almost 65% increase in products using the words “simple” or “simplify” in the product or brand name. (Datamonitor) more…

A trio of beverage reports out this week all come from different sources, and consider different questions — but there’s a common thread that ties all of them together: obesity.

Two of the studies focus on carbonated soft drinks and other sugary beverages in our nation’s schools. The first compares deliveries of soda and full-sugar beverages to schools in 2004 to those this year. The numbers are down a whopping 95%. The ongoing initiative — headed up by the American Beverage Association (and big manufactures like Coke and Pepsi), the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association — has stressed 100% juice drinks, teas and flavored waters (though high school-age kids can additionally opt for diet drinks).

The program was introduced formally in 2006, in response to data showing that two-thirds of all Americans, including one in three children, have serious weight problems.

Against that backdrop, a second report unveiled at a heart disease convention this week shows that the increase in full-sugar beverage consumption has brought about 130,000 cases of diabetes and 14,000 cases of heart disease over the past decade.

The study’s lead author says that the greatest risk right now is to younger people, age 35 years and under.

“No one argues that these drinks are not fine in moderation, but over the past decade their consumption has been on the rise, while consumption of other beverages has declined,” Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, senior study author and an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, was quoted as saying in a Reuters story. more…

When you’re the best, you’re always looking to get better.

Colorado currently has the lowest obesity rate of any state in the union. If you look at this map from the Centers for Disease Control, it’s the only state colored blue, indicating that less than 20% of the population (the exact number is 18.5% as of 2008) is obese. That’s pretty good, especially when compared to Deep South states like Alabama and Mississippi, which have obesity rates above 30%.

So you’d think the Rocky Mountain state could kick back, have a veggie burger, and bask in its relative healthfulness. Wrong. Citizens and advocacy groups are working hard to keep their state in fighting form, and even bring obesity rates down further.

One organization called LiveWell Colorado just today released a “Food Policy Blueprint” that’s impressive for its comprehensiveness, and gives a glimpse into why the state is flying high. It focuses specifically on access and policy issues, encouraging a system of subsidies and other incentives to encourage healthy retailing and farmers markets in underserved areas, as well in schools. That’s targeting the most affected and at-risk segment of the population, and it echoes the Obama administration’s recent announcement that it will spend $400 million to help eradicate food deserts. more…

With baseball season fast approaching, there’s a pressing issue that goes beyond pitchers and catchers, squeeze bunts and any postseason predictions you might have.

What are we going to do about the hot dog?

As you may have read recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics has called for a redesign of that most American of delicacies. Sure, a lot of us grew up eating them. They’ve long been a symbol of summer, the easy-to-grill, quick-to-eat meal that can get a little messy, okay — but what’s a little mustard around your mouth or in your seat? Well, there’s a bigger problem here. Hot dogs also pose a choking hazard, causing about 17% of food-related asphyxiations, according to the academy.

“If you were to find the best engineers in the world and ask them to design the perfect plug for a child’s airway, you couldn’t do much better than the hot dog,” Dr. Gary Smith, lead author of the AAP policy statement, told AOL News recently.

This isn’t a revelation. Of course hot dogs can get caught in your throat! So can a lot of foods. That’s why we’re taught to take small bites, and to chew thoroughly before swallowing. What’s next? Grapes? Popcorn? Actually, yes, and yes. The academy also called out foods like popcorn, grapes, nuts and raw carrots. more…

The FDA has sent out warning letters to 17 food manufacturers claiming that certain products violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The development follows last October’s statement by FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg urging companies to review their nutrition claims.

Yesterday’s letters serve as a reminder that the agency is serious about holding manufacturers accountable for the promises they make to their customers. The vast majority of companies making health claims have been careful to include studies, research findings and other data supporting their claims on their websites, or otherwise make them available to consumers.

Even so, the FDA is saying companies continue to overreach, or neglect to balance their claims with statements that point out other nutritional aspects that are not so healthy.

For example, many of the manufacturers on this most recent list were cited for making claims such as “0 grams of trans fat” – a statement that, in and of itself, is accurate. However, many of these products contain significant amounts of saturated (bad) fats, or cholesterol, or sodium. FDA regulations state that if these nutritional elements exceed a certain amount, then manufacturers must include an ancillary notice next to any front-panel health declarations that directs the consumer to the Nutrition Facts panel.

There, they’ll see that the product does not have any trans fats as stated but, Wow, it’s loaded with saturated fat, cholesterol or sodium. No thanks, I’ll pass. more…