His path to journalism was an unexpected one. A PhD scientist who had planned to pursue academia or industry, Daniells stumbled into journalism in 2005 after realizing he no longer wanted to do bench research.
While doing his second postdoc in Montpellier, France, Daniells stumbled across a publishing company covering nutrition and dietary supplements and applied on a whim, despite no advertised job openings. Days later he was offered a role at NutraIngredients.
Back in 2005 when Daniells joined the company, NutraIngredients was a very different operation.
“It was just the news that went out every single day and then went out as a newsletter,” he said. “There were none of these webinars. There was no video. There was no podcast. There was none of the events that we then subsequently launched.”
The industry as a whole was not the behemoth it is today and the scientific foundation was far less developed. Daniells recalled being at a show and asking an ingredient company to show him the science behind a product, only to be handed a “printout of a PowerPoint slide that had two bars on it.”
Thankfully, the science has advanced considerably, alongside delivery technologies and the way consumers access health information.
Some conversations inside the industry have proved more persistent. Quality, adulteration and questionable claims remain recurring themes, while regulatory development continue to shape innovation.
Daniells pointed to the introduction of the European health claims rules in 2006 and US GMP requirements in 2007 as major developments early on in his career. More recently, he said uncertainty surrounding the regulatory pathway for new dietary ingredients remains an important issue.
According to Daniells, one of the most profound changes in journalism has been the sheer volume of information competing for attention.
“Our job is to figure out what’s really newsworthy and what companies should know about,” he said.
And despite the rise of AI, he is confident there is a continuing role for human journalism.
“What AI can’t do is pick up the phone and actually add that context,” Daniels said. “That authenticity and that personality is where we’re going to win.”
Looking back, Daniels said the close-knit nature of the industry helped make NutraIngredients feel like home. “As you get to know the people in the industry, you realize just how special the industry is, how close-knit it is,” he said. “And so I kind of felt like I’d found a home.”
Two decades after making the unexpected move into journalism, Daniells said his younger self would have been pleased to know he was still covering the industry today. “If you’d have said to me 20 years ago, you’re still going to be doing this in 20 years, I think I would have been delighted.”
To hear more of Daniels’ reflections on 20 years at NutraIngredients and his thoughts on what’s next for the industry, listen to the NutraCast above or on your preferred podcast platform.
To mark the milestone, NutraIngredients has launched a dedicated 25-year anniversary hub, bringing together stories and highlights from the publication’s history.
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