Don Soetaert
INC President, 1992-2002
Question:
How do you organize nine different tree nuts/growers from 47 countries into a unified force to defend and fight against a false health premise threatening their own livelihood and the healthy food they are growing?
In 1993, the INC Executive Committee established a Working Group committee, Nutrition Research & Education. I appointed Rick Vidgen (Hawaiian macadamias) to head it up. Our goal was to address and reverse the ever-declining sales of tree nuts experienced during the 1980s and 1990s. Nuts were #1 on the DO NOT EAT LIST in countries around the world. In fact, in London, The Times reported British Airways would no longer serve chocolates with nuts “due to passenger death inconvenience.” In the US, per-capita consumption was down 17% from the previous year. At this rate, we only had a few more years to live.
After a deep analysis of the problem, Rick and I determined that INC was not financially capable of funding the necessary multi-year nutrition research and education needed to change the narrative and reverse the bad image of nuts. Furthermore, it was (is) actually the grower’s responsibility to “right the ship.” INC had only a few growers as members, and they were mostly from the US and were also marketers.
Answer:
We decided to establish an “INC Satellite” in the US through a self-sufficient, self-funding, self-governing foundation made up of tree nut grower organizations throughout the US. Six of the seven major tree nuts grow in about 15 states in the US, the largest being California. Cashews are a large-value crop not grown in the US; however, the US is the largest world market for cashew consumption.
Tree nut growers in the US recognize that as “manufacturers” of the product, it is their responsibility to market it, to sell it, to promote it, to grow the market for it, and finally, to make it healthy and good to eat. Consequently, it was easy to set up and fund INC NREF with the prime members over the years, including:
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- Almond Board of California
- American Black Walnut Marketing Board
- American Pecan Council
- American Pistachio Growers
- California Walnut Commission
- Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association
- Hazelnut Marketing Board
- International Nut and Dried Fruit Council
- Wonderful Company
Our challenge over the last 30 years has been how to promote the health benefits of tree nuts generically, as a category. The idea that “nuts are bad for you” has required us to continuously validate the entire nut category year after year, enabling individual nut groups to focus on their own health benefits.
INC NREF has invested roughly $15 million in research and education over the last three decades and takes pride in the fact that it has inspired dozens upon dozens of nut promotion and research organizations in numerous countries, including the US. The Almond Board of California, for example, established its own Almond Nutrition Research and Education unit 28 years ago with an annual budget of $3.2 million, amounting to over $89 million for California almonds through 2023. All the while, they, along with other members, have invested and participated in INC NREF generic nut projects.
In the early 1990s, there was very little research on nuts and health. Over the last 30 years, INC NREF has worked to change that:
- In 1997, INC NREF worked closely with USDA to analyze the nutritional content of all nine tree nuts.
- In 2002, INC NREF petitioned the FDA for a health claim. A year later, FDA approved one of the first qualified health claims on nuts and heart disease: “Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.”
- In 2007, INC NREF held a Nuts and Health Symposium at the University of California, Davis. The purpose was to bring together 25 researchers from around the world to come to a consensus on the state of the science for nuts and various health outcomes. Most importantly, they provided recommendations for research moving forward. These recommendations became a roadmap for research for INC NREF and the nut industry.
- In 2010, INC NREF funded one of the first mixed nut studies on diabetes and a follow-up study was published in 2018.
- An INC NREF-funded study at Harvard, on nuts and all-cause mortality, was published in 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The public relations campaign resulted in over 90 million in circulation with media coverage in 20 countries.
- In 2020, INC NREF funded a study at UCLA looking at the effects of nuts as a snack on weight loss and weight maintenance.
To date, 26 INC NREF-funded research projects have been published and they have all included at least seven of the nine tree nuts. The research areas include:
- All-cause mortality
- Cancer
- Cognition
- Composition
- Cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Diet quality
- Gut microbiome
- Metabolic syndrome
- Qualified health claim language
- Weight
While research has certainly been a major focus of INC NREF, education and outreach have been just as important. Over the last 26 years, Maureen Ternus, M.S., R.D.N., has helped INC NREF both on the research side and in educating health professionals, media and consumers about the health benefits of tree nuts. INC NREF outreach activities include exhibiting and sponsoring speakers at health professional meetings, conducting webinars, social media campaigns, and developing both print and online materials.
In January 2002, my final year in office, I wrote in The Cracker, “INC has once again experienced a year of growth as more members engage in our efforts to reverse the bad image nuts have attained. We can now say that there is much more positive than negative publicity everywhere in the world regarding nuts. It used to be nuts were BAD for your health. Now, nuts are GOOD for your health. Isn’t it nice to sell something with positive benefits?” Thirty years later, this still rings true…
Maureen Ternus