World recognition of the importance of phytonutrients is spreading. This week the Chinese Nutrition Society (CNS) announced that it is revising its “daily reference intakes,” or DRI, to include phytonutrients.

That means the society will now recommend people get a daily dose of phytonutrients along with their vitamins and minerals to maintain optimal health.

We are proud to say that the Nutrilite Health Institute worked closely with the CNS in gathering research and scientific data to establish the DRIs.

The announcement comes as the 11th China Nutrition Science Conference and the 2013 China & Korea Joint International Phytonutrient Symposium wrap up this week where our own Dr. Keith Randolph presented.

Dr. Randolph is the nutrition technology strategist at the NHI. He called the decision by the CNS “a significant development in the effort to improve the overall health of a large portion of the world’s population.”

Read more about the announcement at the Amway Global Newsroom and see more photos from the symposium at our Nutrilite Facebook Page.

Would you like to own a piece of a Nutrilite Farm? Why stop there — how about a Nutrilite Lab? Amway Korea  has made it possible.

The more than 5 million users of a popular mobile game called Rule the Sky can purchase Nutrilite farms or crops, build Nutrilite structures and visit other users’ islands. It’s similar to Farmville, but in Rule the Sky users are on their own floating island in the sky called Flotia.

The marketing effort is called “advergaming,” and it’s not just a cool buzz word. When done correctly it can be a successful tactic with an immersive effect on players. Of the more than 5 million users of Rule the Sky, an average of 800,000 of them play 45-60 minutes more than once a day.

Rather than being exposed to a 30-second ad, a gamer’s attention is captured in a much more significant way. Advergaming also offers an additional measuring stick in the form of downloads: Nutrilite’s laboratory has been downloaded nearly 330,000 times. And Nutrilite’s El Petacal farm in Mexico? That’s been downloaded nearly 790,000 times.

So start tilling the virtual soil and rule the sky with your Nutrilite Farm!

You may know your IQ, but do you know your NQ?

NQ stands for Nutrition Quotient.

In partnership with the Korean Nutrition Society, Amway Korea made a long-term commitment to help children by developing a list of 19 questions aimed at evaluating a child’s diet and eating habits and coming up with an index score it calls the NQ.

The questions span five areas: balance, diversity, moderation, regularity and practice.

They ask children how many kinds of vegetables they eat with each meal, whether they eat breakfast regularly and how long they play video games or watch TV each day. They also ask how often children eat sweets, instant noodles, fast food and fruits, among other things.

The questions are based on the results of two studies that looked at the Korean Dietary Guidelines and evaluation tools being used or studied in Korea and elsewhere. The index is used to evaluate and improve a child’s eating habits and overall nutrition.

Women Dong, a monthly magazine in Korea, recently reported on the NQ, highlighting the importance of balanced nutrition in childhood.

What do you think your NQ would be?

The wonderfully talented employees at Amway Korea may be the next K-pop sensation with an Amway-inspired song and video that is reminiscent of the viral hit “Gangnam Style.”

Aiming to share the Amway story in a fun way for the younger generation, the employees at Amway Korea stepped away from their desks, put on costumes and performed in a video for an Amway-inspired song called “Dreaming.” Their choreographed dance moves are against a backdrop of images and graphics from Amway’s history.

The song has Korean and English lyrics. It begins with our Founders’ Fundamentals and even coins a new word, “Amwaian,” which means anyone who loves Amway. Are you an Amwaian? You might be after watching the video!

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If success is judged by the numbers, the China & Korea Joint International Phytonutrient Symposium held in Bejing last month exceeded expectations.

More than 300 people attended when organizers anticipated 200. Among them was our team from Nutrilite, including Keith Randolph, the Nutrilite Health Institute’s director of research and development, who presented the latest findings on the antioxidant paradigm.

The one-day event was a lively packed house of scholars and professors, all of them focused on nutritional science and phytonutrient research. Plenty of Q&A took place between the audience and speakers after every presentation.

The speakers presented their interpretations of Randolph’s presentation articulated the fact that we are at a turning point in understanding the role antioxidants play in the body, while identifying the importance of phytonutrients in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli: Specific phytos turn on switches in our cells that enable our bodies to fight oxidative stress.

The symposium played an extra key role in China, where the Chinese Nutrition Society is reviewing whether to institute a daily recommended intake, or DRI, for phytonutrients. The conference presentations gave them a better understanding of the role of antioxidants and the emerging phytonutrient science.

The event was hosted by China Nutrition Society and the Korean Society of Food Science and Technology and sponsored by Amway China Ltd and Amway Korea. Participants are already looking forward to next year’s symposium.

When you think about the Nutrilite story, China is really where it all began.

It was nearly 100 years ago that Carl Rehnborg was living and working in China when the “seed” of an idea came to him: He noticed a difference between the health of people living in towns and those living in the country.

He also noticed they had different diets. That’s when he made the connection between health and nutrition.

This week, a team from our Nutrilite Health Institute in Buena Park, California, is headed back to China to discuss the latest research connecting health to nutrition at the China & Korea Joint International Phytonutrient Symposium.

The mantra “more is better” is often applied to supplements, including phytonutrients, those wonderful things in fruits and vegetables that give them their vibrant colors. But NHI Director of Research and Development Keith Randolph, PhD, will present the case for “better is better.”

What does that mean? If you get the right kinds of phytonutrients in the right amounts, it will buoy your body’s own defense mechanisms.

“This research is in its early stages, but we have data that shows cruciferous vegetables as being particularly potent inducers of antioxidant response within the body,” Randolph said. (To save you a trip to Wikipedia, some examples of cruciferous vegetables are broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy and cabbage.)

Randolph will be joined at the symposium by nine leading nutritionists from Canada, Japan, China and Korea. And it will include opening remarks from Colleen Carkeet, PhD, senior group leader in Global Regulatory Affairs at Amway.

The event is hosted by China Nutrition Society and the Korean Society of Food Science and Technology. Amway China Ltd and Amway Korea are sponsors.

The symposium takes place on Friday. For live updates, follow us on Twitter.

ARTISTRY played a “break out” role at the 17^th Busan International Film Festival as the Diamond Premiere Exclusive Sponsor of the annual competition. The festival ran from Oct. 4-13 and included more than 221,000 guests and 304 films from 75 countries.

The event also featured celebrities, screenwriters, producers, directors and entertainment industry professionals. Among them? Emerging Hollywood actress Teresa Palmer. We know her better as the global face of ARTISTRY.

Palmer’s recent film, “Wish You Were Here,” was filmed in Cambodia and screened at BIFF. She shined in a Naeem Khan tufted taffeta, bejeweled gown. And, thanks to a billboard 74 meters wide and 29 meters tall, she also took center stage during a fireworks display.

“It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life,” Palmer said. “Seeing my face emblazoned on a gigantic billboard is one thing, but sharing the evening with such amazing talent from around the world in support of independent filmmaking – I felt so blessed.”

Amway Chief Marketing Officer Candace Matthews said ARTISTRY’s sponsorship of BIFF shows Amway is staking its claim as one of the top five premium skincare brands around the world.

“Our goal is to help all women take their beauty forward with superior products that perform, and a business opportunity that helps them play the ‘leading ladies’ in their own lives with grace and poise,” Matthews said.

Check out more photos from the amazing 10-day festival at ARTISTRY’s Facebook page.

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Did you know that Amway employees and distributors have volunteered more than 2.5 million hours to make the communities where they work and live a better place?

Read about our ongoing efforts around the world in the 2011 Amway Global Corporate Citizenship Report published today, or in the Amway One By One blog.  That blog, by the way, was recently honored as the “Best Corporate Social Responsibility” blog by PR News.

The digital marketing team for Amway Korea was formed less than a year ago. And earlier this month, the Korea Internet Professionals Association (KIPFA) bestowed one of the team’s projects with a Grand Prize during its Smart App Awards 2011.

The project is a web application known as sABN, with the “s” standing for smart. The app provides Amway distributors with an easy-to-use shopping interface and sophisticated design. It won the Grand Prize in the Specialized Shopping Category.

Amway Korea Manager of Digital and Integrated Marketing Hyun Dong Kim said, “This success is mostly attributed to the members of our Digital Business Task Force, who put their full efforts behind sABN. Our collaboration with the digital team at Amway World Headquarters also played a large role.”

This newly formed – and clearly very talented – team is off to a great start.

A company that wants to be successful operating internationally might heed the same advice given to a bride and groom, writes Amway Korea President Se-joon Park in The Korea Times.

“It is sometimes necessary to put ‘our needs’ before ‘mine,’” he writes. “The same is true for corporations.”

In the article Park cites examples of companies that have developed “glocalization” strategies that pursue global expansion while accommodating the local culture – including Amway.

Amway Korea’s strategies include consistent corporate citizenship activities and “One for One,” a program that means Amway launches a Korean-made product for every product it imports.  The program has given Korean companies access to new domestic and overseas markets for their goods.’

Doing good locally while expanding globally is the “secret” to glocalization success, according to Park.