If you haven’t yet heard of this curiously named phenomenon, Turbo Beauty, fret not because you undoubtedly will sooner or later. Or so say Jody Villecco, quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods Market and Taya Tomasello, director of beauty innovation for the Mintel International Group. Villecco and Tomasello have just submitted their top beauty predictions for 2010 to HealingLifestyles.com and of course organic skin care is gaining credence in leaps and bounds.

But, just calling something ‘organic’ isn’t enough of a pull for savvy consumers these day, it seems. Which is where this Turbo Beauty idea comes in. “Turbo beauty is all about skin products, such as serums, that come fully loaded with what Tomasello calls “natural actives”—phytochemicals, anthocyanins, and fermented ingredients.” Of course, this is exactly what Sophyto Organics skin care is all about - which is why Villecco and Tomasello cite Sophyto as being “ahead of the curve” in delivering toxin-free, high-end skin care.

This is very gratifying indeed. As we’ve always said, why lather your skin with anything that doesn’t actually benefit it in some way? Contrary to the beliefs of many of the most popular beauty brands, skin care doesn’t need ‘fillers’ to look good or sell. Quality skin care should deliver functionality above all… and long may this trend continue.

The rest of the predictions are interesting too - the increasing importance for consumers of buying ‘green’ from ingredients to packaging; their desire for authenticity in the use of the term organic and the regard for sustainability as well. This is all very good news for us because these are all things we care about deeply and want to share with the world.

Whole Foods has been gracing the news and the gossip columns apace in the last couple of weeks and sadly not for the quality of its wares.

WF CEO John Mackey has angered a huge number of the eminent organic chain’s formerly loyal customers by expressing his ‘anti-health care reform’ views in an article in the Wall Street Journal. Given that the vast majority of WF’s supporters consider themselves to be (somewhat lefty) liberals, Mackey’s ’survival of the fittest’ capitalist stance didn’t sit too well with them, unsurprisingly. Opening the op-ed piece with a quote from notorious capitalist-conservative Margaret Thatcher wasn’t likely to go down to well, for starters! Not only does Mackey dismiss what he calls ‘ObamaCare’ but he also suggests that US citizens are no more entitled to health-care as they are to food and shelter.

The article has had a very divisive effect. In an attempt to exact some damage control the WF’s PR department has tried to insist that Mackey’s views are personal and the company will not take an official position on the topic of health reform. It has also initiated a forum on its own website for people to provide feedback and more than 17,000 responses have been posted so far. And, for every complaint and invitation to boycott the chain, there is a post from a Mackey supporter, insisting the article echoes his or her own views and has compelled them to start shopping at WF…

One particularly angry former shopper is Massachusetts-based playwright Mark Rosenthal who is calling for John Mackey to be fired and has created a Boycott Whole Foods blog and Facebook group. The Facebook group already has 28,145 members and counting.

Meanwhile, Whole Foods co-founder (and Mackey’s former girlfriend) Renee Lawson Hardy has issued her own response to his article in which she clearly distances herself from his views, saying that while she agrees with the pursuit of individual wealth and a free market economy she also believes in a publicly-funded health care option for all.

So, it remains to be seen whether Mackey’s comments have done irreversible damage in turning off former supporters who bought into Whole Foods’ convincing mantra about having a ’social conscience’.

What do you think? Have Mackey’s comments affected how you feel about Whole Foods? Or not? Will you be looking elsewhere for your organic food and other products? Should it matter what the CEO believes personally? We really want to hear from you…

It seems I am in the minority in loving the relatively recent addition of Whole Foods to the UK market. The massive store in High Street Kensington inspires in me a feeling akin to the religious experience I imagine many feel going to the Vatican or Mecca! So many foods that I can eat presented beautifully and expensively all under one roof, alongside organic beauty and organic supplements and organic household goods. Yes, its goods are comparatively expensive, but not nearly as expensive as health-care treatments for diabetes, heart disease, colon cancer and all the other diet-related ailments we are acquiring in droves.

But, while I, like a lot of people I know, feel a lot of love and gratitude towards Whole Foods for inciting that excitement in us during visits, it seems the majority of people in the UK have not warmed to it, since the company - Whole Foods Market inc - has posted a £36m loss for the year ending Sept 2008, up from a £9.9m loss the previous year. Complaints include a lack of customer parking around the country’s premier store and an over-sized, underused fish counter. WF took over a chain of small health-food stores across London - Fresh & Wild - which presumably have continued to attract the same loyal customer base. But the company’s attempt to venture outside the capital, by opening a new store in Bristol, was so disastrous it had to close down it to stave off further losses.

Apparently WF experienced similar losses when trying to break Canada some years ago, so the big cheeses are not overly worried about the luke-warm reception in London. They expect things to turn around in line with the economy’s recovery.

I, for one, hope they’re right because London life without WF would be far less enjoyable. Yes, the regular supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, have all stepped up their organic commitment in recent years but they don’t have the choice and/or availability of supplements and more obscure health foods that WF boasts.

Long live Whole Foods!