Dr Oz: Up & Coming Health Products
There are more than 3,000 new health food and drinks coming to a store near you. With the help of author and health journalist Max Lugavere, Dr Oz wanted to count down the top ten that have the nutrition world buzzing. Max visited the largest convention for natural foods to uncover some of the newest buzz-worthy health foods and drinks. He visited Anaheim, California to attend the Natural Products Expo West.
Dr Oz: Natural Products Expo West
Max sipped on brain-boosting coffee creamer, bit into all-natural potato chips, and snacked on dill pickle-flavored peanuts. He even peddled a bike with a blender attached to make his own smoothie. Max also taste-tested Phat Fudge, before joining Dr Oz to talk about some of his favorite finds.
Dr Oz: Collagen Protein Powder

Max Lugavere visited a convention to try all the latest, up and coming health foods and shared three of his favorites with Dr Oz. ([email protected] / Flickr)
Max, along with special members of Dr Oz’s Bite Club, joined Dr Oz to give some of those buzz-worthy health foods a try for themselves. Dr Oz welcomed one of his medical producers Niharika and Dan Pashman from The Cooking Channel’s The Snackdown.
So how did they feel about the products?
First, Dr Oz and Max looked at “the big three.” First was collagen protein powder. Collagen can be considered the glue that holds the body together. Because it’s not a protein we eat very often in the modern diet, it’s seemingly blowing up. It also doesn’t have a flavor to it which means you can add it to just about anything. Max enjoys it in his coffee! The taste-testers agreed they couldn’t taste it at all when it was added to soup, but by itself, Niharika described the flavor as a “buttered biscuit” type flavor.
As for the collagen protein bar, Dan compared the texture and flavor to halva, which is a tahini-sesame seed Middle Eastern treat.
Dr Oz: Healthy Pork Rinds
The second food on the list was a low-carb snack: healthy pork rinds. Dr Oz admitted he didn’t think it was possible and Max admitted he was thrilled to convince a heart surgeon the benefits of pork rinds. Max explained that when you take a healthily raised animal and render it in its own fat, you get a pretty healthy animal product with no carbohydrates.
The healthier pork rinds have half the calories of normal pork rinds, but even that didn’t seem to be enough to convince Dr Oz, who obviously didn’t like the taste. Niharika claimed we should all stick to our kale chips because even though the pork rinds are healthier, they’re still fried. Dan explained that if you’re used to eating regular pork rinds, the new ones will likely disappoint you. But if you’re looking for a new crunchy, salty snack the pork rinds could be it.
Dr Oz: Aloe Yogurt
Number one on Dr Oz’s list was yogurt from Japan. It’s aloe yogurt and Dr Oz was excited to learn more about it. As Max explained, the aloe plant has a gel inside of it that has already been shown to help with constipation. Both members of the Bite Club seemed to enjoy the yogurt a lot, even more than they expected to.
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