The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), one of the supplement industry’s most influential trade associations, recently honored Holistic Primary Care with the Integrity in Journalism award.

UNPA founder and president Loren Israelsen surprised HPC’s editor/co-founder Erik Goldman with the award during the organization’s annual members meeting at the 2022 Natural Products ExpoWest in Anaheim, CA.

Israelsen, one of the architects of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, praised HPC’s balanced, science-based coverage of nutritional and botanical medicine, and our longstanding commitment to building bridges between natural healthcare and the medical mainstream.

“I’m grateful to receive this honor from the leaders and the membership of UNPA,” says Goldman. “Nutraceuticals, herbs, and healthy whole foods are essential elements in the practice of holistic healthcare, and they’re increasingly important for reversing the staggering burden of chronic disease we now face.”

“On behalf of my co-founder, Meg Sinclair, and everyone at HPC, I want to thank UNPA for recognizing the work we’ve done over the last 22 years to educate the clinical community about natural, non-pharma alternatives. It means a lot to us as we look ahead.”

Goldman and Sinclair launched HPC in October 2000, with the goal of providing medical professionals and health-conscious readers with a credible source of scientifically-sound information on natural medicine and holistic health care. “At the heart of it all, we’re working to help practitioners put the health back into healthcare,” says Goldman. “We’re thrilled that the members of UNPA value our efforts in this direction.”

UNPA is an international association representing more than 100 best-in-class natural products, dietary supplement, functional food, and raw materials companies that share a commitment to providing consumers with natural health products of superior quality, benefit and reliability.

Founded in 1992, and based in Utah—an epicenter of dietary supplement manufacturing in the United States—UNPA was instrumental in the passage of DSHEA, and continues to take a leadership position in state and federal legislative and regulatory issues and industry best practices.

Most recently, UNPA has partnered with other trade organizations and practitioners groups to protect N-acetyl cysteine from a potential FDA ban that would prohibit its use in supplements. HPC has been covering this effort closely.