"Last year we saw products without as much research. This year, people seem to be getting the message that if we don't regulate ourselves, someone else will do it for us," Paul Faganel, president of Embria Health Sciences told NutraIngredients-USA.com on the exhibition floor.
"The quality of the booths and the products seems to be improving," he said.
Three of Wednesday's educational sessions dealt with issues surrounding clinical trials, such as important factors for designing trials, selecting test materials and subjects, and the effect of negative outcomes on consumer demand.
Faganel added that it was "pretty obvious" the show was bigger than last year - and indeed, according to early estimates, his perception seems spot on.
More than 6,000 visitors are thought to have been welcomed to the Venetian and Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas over the course of the two-day trade show, about a thousand up on last year's figure.
Organiser Virgo Publishing said that the number of exhibitors also rose this year, 650 to 720.
One happy customer was Kenn Israel of Soft Gel Technologies, who said the show had been the "best ever".
Soft Gel occupied a booth opposite the entrance to the exhibition floor, and held four Vendor Works presentations during the event. Of these, a session entitled 'Clinical research, natural ingredients, and cardiovascular wellness: how to achieve success using a research-based products model' delivered by Israel and Najla Guthrie, president and CEO of KGK Synergize, drew an audience of around 130.
Charlene Lee, VP sales and marketing of Cyvex Nutrition, also spoke highly of the exhibition set-up.
"It is an opportunity for us to meet clients and friends in the industry, and to introduce and discuss our new products," she said.
The format of a two-day exhibition and three-day conference seems to be well-received by attendees. Several told NutraIngredients-USA.com that it meant they were more targeted in the way they worked the floor than they tend to be at other, longer shows.
However this may have been a reason why some exhibitors, particularly those around the edges of the exhibition floor, felt that the passing traffic was a little slow.
As for the educational sessions, one of the highlights was the state of the industry address. The leaders of the three main industry associations, NNFA, CRN and AHPA, focused on the importance and inevitability of introducing mandatory serious adverse events reporting for dietary supplements.
David Seckman, president of NNFA, also spoke about upcoming sports bills, and efforts to prevent legislation that would turn certain dietary supplements, such as DHEA, into controlled substances.
The key note address was delivered by TV golf commentator Johnny Miller. Other highlights of the schedule included the Lewin Group's Jeannine Dollard's discussion of the recent study into the potential health care savings of omega-3 and lutein with zeaxanthin supplements.
SupplySide East will return to the Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey, May 1 to 3, 2006. Historically a smaller show than its west coast counterpart, the 2005 event attracted around 2,800 industry executives.
For the last two years SupplySide East has been held in Baltimore, but Virgo announced the return to Secaucus earlier this year.
"After listening to exhibitor and attendee feedback, Virgo is taking the show back to the tri-state area," said Peggy Jackson, director of publishing for Virgo's health & nutrition division. "The industry is heavily concentrated in the area and we are listening to our customers' requests to return."