WATCH: How could Brexit impact the sports nutrition category?
"The easy answer is, we just don't know," said Tom Evans product manager at SCI-MX. "Nobody knows, it changes all the time."
However, Professor John Brewer, pro vice-chancellor and professor of applied sports science at St Mary's University, London, told Nutraingredients that he is 'not particularly scared' by the prospect of Brexit.
"I think there are opportunities for many universities to still undertake good quality research funded both privately and centrally - both before Brexit and of course after Brexit," said Brewer.
Meanwhile, Mark Gilbert, vice-chair of the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), noted that if Britain and the US harmonised rules over dietary supplements then that would create much more opportunity for business and mean a greater level of innovation in the UK market post-Brexit.
However, Luca Bucchini managing director of Hylobates Consulting, and also a vice-chair of ESSNA, commented that the regulatory path that the UK will take post-Brexit is unknown - and that it may remain close to Europe, or possibly follow more closely with rules like those in the USA, or Australia, or Canada.
"We're doing a lot of work to make sure that we're prepared for it, whatever the eventuality is. But until something signs on the dotted line, we just don't know," added Evans.
