Teenagers, parents and older people displayed their interest in healthy foods, food supplements and complementary therapies as an estimated 6,000 people attended the Rude Health Show in the RDS, Dublin on Saturday and Sunday.
"Our numbers were up 50 per cent on last year although they didn't hit the 10,000 that I was expecting," said Erica Murray, owner of the Hop Sack Health store in Rathmines, Dublin and one of the show's organisers.
"There was a great energy about the show which we had doubled in size from last year and moved into the Main Hall of the RDS," she said.
There were more than 200 stands at Rude Health ranging from chocolate with herbal extracts and Omega oils to massage tables and organic hair dyes. Exhibitors gave people opportunities to test and purchase foods, drinks and food supplements, some of which are not yet available in Irish health stores and pharmacies.
Stands selling the herbal cold remedy, Echinacea, various fish oil supplements and healthy drinks were particularly popular.
Alex Hannon brought her Mangajo chilled green tea drinks to the show for the first time. "We started the business four years ago in London and we are now looking at the Irish market," she said. "I'm surprised how much people know about green tea and its antioxidant properties. I won't go home with one single bottle."
The commercial stands ran alongside a series of free talks on disease prevention and healthy living.
Bernadette Bohan, who developed a healthy eating programme during her cancer treatment, gave talks on juicing and making healthy snacks. "I'm not a doctor or a qualified nutritionist. All I'm doing is helping people improve their diet and telling them to get informed. My own healthy eating programme supported me through chemotherapy, radiation and surgery," she said.
The rebranded Rude Health Show (formerly Your Health Show) was held at the beginning of September instead of its usual late October slot.
Sinead Hughes and Fiona O'Shea, fifth-year students at Loreto College in Rathfarnham, Dublin, said they were looking for healthy options: "We are very aware of additives in food and want to live as healthy lifestyle."
Two older women who preferred to remain anonymous were interested in the healthy snack foods. "There are so many things available but we don't know how they work," said one. "We are both in our 80s and we're looking for something that will keep our minds alert and help our aching joints," she added.
The organic certification body, Organic Trust, took a stand for the first time. "People are coming to us asking how they can make their gardens organic and how they can tell that something is really organic," said Colin Keogh, an inspector with the Organic Trust.
