Supplement makers will need more innovative products and more
effective marketing to capitalize on a surge in demand for bone
health care in coming years, writes Dominique Patton.
UK trade officers and a charity are calling on industry to include
labelling about the risks of vitamin A to pregnant women on all
multivitamin supplements, writes Dominique Patton.
The court ruling on the European food supplements directive has
resulted in a win-win situation for industry, says one of the
groups that took the Commission to court over the laws, reports
Dominique Patton.
An extract of resveratrol-rich walnuts could offer supplement
makers a new ingredient for tackling the onset of age-related
macular degeneration, writes Dominique Patton.
Iron supplements could prevent irreversible brain damage in
thousands of children in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe,
believe UK researchers, who have started investigating the link
between iron deficiency and lead pollution,...
Regularly taking copper supplements could lead to excess levels of
the mineral that may impact health, said a US researcher last week,
calling for the current upper safe limit for the mineral to be
lowered, reports Dominique Patton.
The UK-based lobby group the Alliance for Natural Health said today
that it has commissioned independent experts to develop a new
approach to regulating food supplements to replace that proposed by
the 2002 European directive, already...
Taking a Chinese herbal supplement containing ginseng and other
plants everyday for three months has been found to improve memory
in people with mild cognitive impairment, writes Dominique
Patton.
The UK's food authority said this week that it will provide up to
£20,000 (€30,000) to pay for external scientists to produce more
dossiers for supplement ingredients not currently on the European
directive's positive list,...
Fresh from its acquisition of Solgar, the US' biggest supplement
maker NBTY said today that it has also bought the Canadian
supplement maker and distributor SISU, writes Dominique
Patton.
Irradiated herbal supplements, not permitted in the EU, are still
being sold in Ireland, says the country's food safety authority,
despite attempts to increase compliance last year.
A superoxide dismutase supplement, one of the first marketed
commercially, could reduce the susceptibility to sunburn, report
Dominique Patton and Jess Halliday.
The government has again demonstrated its commitment to
investigating the medicinal properties of botanicals, with the
National Cancer Institute (NCI) providing $1 million in funding to
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center...
D-alpha-tocopheryl acid succinate (TAS) can be safely used as a
source of tocopherol in foods for particular nutritional purposes
(PARNUTS), foods intended for the general population and food
supplements, a panel of European experts...
More than a quarter of China's health supplements are on sale
illegally and contain false claims on their packaging, found a
survey released last week.
Supplements, and not increased exposure to either natural or
artificial ultraviolet (UV) light, should be the preferred way of
topping up vitamin D levels, stress medical experts in a journal
this month.
Blue California is changing the ingredient purification process at
its China manufacturing facility from gamma-rays to ozone, in order
to meet regulatory standards in international markets.
Danish food and health authorities have launched a campaign to
promote the use of vitamin D supplements by the elderly and
dark-skinned immigrants, both groups prone to deficiency, writes
Dominique Patton.
Israeli microencapsulation firm Biodar has developed a new
technology that resolves the taste issue for companies making
mineral supplements and fortified foods, writes Dominique
Patton.
NSF International and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) have
formed a strategic partnership to boost public confidence in
botanicals and encourage more companies to use them in their
products, reports Jess Halliday.
Manufacturers of sports nutrition products will have to clean up or
face the consequences of increased scrutiny from Europe, which this
week called for further action against doping.
The market for tryptophan supplements is set to expand in the UK if
proposed changes to current laws on the amino acid go ahead,
writes Dominique Patton.
Giving high dose vitamin D supplements to elderly housebound people
should be seriously considered as a means of preventing falls and
fractures, writes a consultant in this week's BMJ.
Fourteen mineral sources not included on the EU food supplement
directive's original list of permitted ingredients will be allowed
to stay on the market until they are reviewed by European
officials, reducing some of the uncertainty...
Increasing consumption of meat in the developing world could be a
more effective means of reducing nutrient deficiencies than giving
children supplements, say US researchers, who called for more
attention to be paid to animal source...
A daily supplement containing plant oestrogens and antioxidants
like selenium and carotenoids may slow the rise in PSA levels, a
marker for prostate cancer progression in some men, report Dutch
researchers.
Anaemic mothers who took iron supplements reported significant
improvement in depression and anxiety levels after giving birth
compared to those who took a placebo, shows a new study.
Tennis players will test a range of sports nutrition products at
this week's Australian Open that have been developed in a bid to
avoid positive doping tests.
Taking supplements of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) appeared to
restore normal blood vessel function in children with inherited
high cholesterol, report researchers.
People who eat oily fish or take fish oil supplements score 13 per
cent higher in IQ tests and are less likely to show early signs of
Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study in Scotland.
Iron supplements may be useful for children with attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), say researchers that have found a
small group of these children to be deficient in the mineral.
Pregnant women who take folic acid supplements to protect their
babies from birth defects may also increase their long-term risk of
breast cancer, according to preliminary data published in
tomorrow's BMJ.
Vitamin K supplementation should be investigated as a way of
slowing bone loss among people with the inflammatory bowel
condition Crohn's disease, say Irish researchers.
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday it was intensifying
its efforts to ensure that any manufacturers still selling dietary
supplements containing the banned substance ephedra would be
stopped.
Pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline is to produce nutritional
supplements for the ATP, the governing body for men's tennis, under
a new scheme designed to limit the risk of supplements causing
tennis players to test positive.
European companies are increasing their presence in the green tea
extract market, looking to reach supplement makers with highly
concentrated products.
Fish oils, and particularly cod liver oil, are proving to be the
mainstay of the UK's dietary supplements market, providing growth
in a market where profits are continually eroded by price
competition.
Folate, the B vitamin required by women to prevent birth defects in
their babies, also appears to reduce the risk of them developing
high blood pressure, shows new research.
Dietary supplements may be doing more harm than good - with the
possible exception of selenium - if an article published today in
The Lancet is to be believed, writes Philippa Nuttall.
Dietary supplements have suddenly become a hot topic in the UK,
where consumers spend £300m on them every year- the Science Museum,
London will open up the debate on September 30, when it invites
experts and amateurs to air their...