Neil E. Levin, CCN, DANLA is the nutrition education manager and a product formulator for NOW Foods; a natural food, personal care, and dietary supplement manufacturer based in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Neil is a board certified clinical nutritionist with a Diplomate in advanced nutritional laboratory assessment. He is a professional member of the International & American Associations of Clinical Nutritionists and serves on the Scientific Council of the national Clinical Nutrition Certification Board.

Neil is a Director and the Program Committee Chair of the American Nutrition Association (ANA); part of Nutrition for Optimal Health Association. He serves on the board of directors of the Mid-American Health Organization (MAHO), the Midwest regional affiliate of the National Products Association (NPA). The NPA presented Neil with its Industry Champion Award for 2008, given to “people who have made notable individual contributions to the natural products industry above and beyond what is expected to achieve commercial success”. Neil serves on a committee of the American Herbal Products Association.

Neil's comments and articles are published in magazines and newspapers; he contributes to scientific journals and has been featured in many radio interviews and television news reports. Neil posts articles on his blog  www.honestnutrition.com and at www.nowfoods.com.

 

Scientific Publications (electronic and print; letters, comments, editorials and articles)

Annals of Internal Medicine
    11/11/04 Vitamin E Warning Premature http://www.annals.org/cgi/eletters/0000605-200501040-00110v1#617
    5/2/05 New Evidence on Vitamin E Safety http://www.annals.org/cgi/eletters/0000605-200501040-00110v1#1563
    7/11/07 Antioxidant Confusion http://www.annals.org/cgi/eletters/0000605-200708210-00177v1#21702

British Medical Journal
    11/4/05 The truth about Vitamin E - Vitamin E is safer than implied

                 http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/330/7490/0-f?q=y#99008

CA: A Cancer Journal for Physicians
    1/17/06 Cancer patients may very well tolerate the use of certain dietary supplements
                 http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/eletters/55/5/319#176

Journal of Applied Nutrition
    2005 (#1) Land of Confusion: How Poor Science and Misleading Media Coverage Create Public Confusion About How Dietary Supplements Affect Health
            http://honestnutrition.blogspot.com/2006/06/land-of-confusion-how-poor-science-and_21.html
    2005 (#2) New Evidence on Vitamin E Safety
    2005 (#2) The Truth About Vitamin E!

inform AOCS American Oil Chemists’ Society: International News on Fats, Oils, & Related Materials
   January 2009 Cover Story: Vitamin E’s safety controversy


Selected Formal Presentations:

Foundations of Nutrition Series, Part V - Vitamins 2/95  
Nutrition for Optimal Health Association, Wilmette, Illinois

The Macrobiotic Diet 1/96        
Nutrition for Optimal Health Association, Chicago, Illinois

Vitamin E: Hype or Science? 5/2/06 Vitamin E Symposium, presented by the Natural Health Research Institute (NHRI) at the American Oil Chemists Society 97th Annual Meeting and Expo, St. Louis, Missouri

Alternative Sweeteners: From Agave to Xylitol
    7/14/06 Natural Products Association, Annual Trade Show, Las Vegas, NV
    9/19/06 Nutrition for Optimal Health Association, Oak Park, Illinois
   3/21/07 Nutrition for Optimal Health Association lecture, Morton Grove, IL
    5/18/07 Mid-American Health Organization (MAHO) trade show, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Playing With Our Food: Nutrient Differences of Organic, Conventional and Biotech (GMO) Crops
    7/19/07 Natural Products Association seminar, Annual Trade Show, Las Vegas, NV
    10/9/07, 10/24/07 Nutrition for Optimal Health Association, Oak Park and Morton Grove, Illinois
   10/3/09 AIWF Farm to Fork Agricultural Symposium, Chicago Botanic Garden

Pathways of Vitamin C Absorption
    7/20/07 Natural Products Association, Annual Trade Show, Las Vegas, NV
   9/5/08    CHFA Expo East seminar, Toronto, ON

Land of Confusion: Why We're Receiving Mixed Messages About Nutrition
    8/19/07 Snowmass Wellness Experience, Snowmass, CO

Behind the Label: The Hidden Science of Supplements
    8/19/07 Snowmass Wellness Experience, Snowmass, CO
    9/7/07 and 4/4/08 Canadian Health Food Association, Expos East and West, Toronto and Vancouver, CA
   4/4/08 Canadian Health Food Association seminar, Expo West, Vancouver, BC

Natural Controversies: Navigating Sensational Reports and Conflicting Claims
    7/17/08 Natural Products Association, Annual Trade Show, Las Vegas, NV
   9/19/08 Mid-American Health Organization official seminar, St. Charles, IL

The Science of Stevia: Growing, Processing and Herbal Properties
   3/5/09 Natural Products Expo West seminar, Anaheim, CA
   4/3/09 Canadian Health Food Association seminar, Expo West, Vancouver, BC
   4/24/09 Natural Products Association-Southwest seminar, Austin, TX

Detoxification to Resolve Delayed Food Sensitivities
   10/2/09 Canadian Health Food Association seminar, Expo East, Toronto, ON

Neil Levin started in the natural products industry in 1973 as a co-manager of Earthworks General Store, a worker-owned collective in Urbana, Illinois. He was then the corporate treasurer of the Earthfoods Co-Operative in Waynesboro, Tennessee until 1982. Then he was general manager and corporate treasurer of Sherwyn’s Health Food Shop in Chicago, Illinois through 1997. More recently, Neil was the Purchasing and Promotions Manager for the Fruitful Yield grocery chain in Bloomingdale, Illinois before joining NOW Foods as a product formulator and its first Nutrition Educator. He enjoys meeting retailers and consumers to discuss natural products and defend the natural products industry against all enemies.

Neil has been a vegetarian since 1972 and a clinical nutritionist since 1992. He lives on a 4-acre wooded hillside homestead west of Chicago that is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat™. His wife, Deborah Cadigan, is a long-time organic gardener who won the first “Garden Smartest” award from the PBS GardenSMART television program and lovingly provides Neil with healthy homegrown food.

 

 

 

 

---

 

---