Two years ago lutein player Kemin said it was, “baffled and annoyed” when EFSA rejected its eye health claim that was already approved in France. This week the EU’s food science agency has done it again, but Kemin and its lutein partner DSM, say they...
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) is warning consumers about unspecified, high-dose green tea products (Camellia sinensis) after they were linked to liver complaints, even though the details of consumption have not been revealed.
As start-up food business Sweet Virtues claims to be launching the UK’s first hand-made ‘superfood’ truffles, one industry pundit questions whether confectionery with a health dimension will ever move beyond a bite-sized niche.
A new 12-week clinical study has strengthened evidence that melon-derived superoxide dismutase (Sod) supplements can help reduce stress and fatigue and improve cognitive performance.
The €2bn EU botanical food supplements market has been boosted by France’s imminent adoption of a 600-strong, positive list based on the well-regarded BELFRIT list, according to industry sources.
Energy drink association asks EFSA to aim for precision after an open NDA panel discussion on a draft caffeine safety opinion provides more questions than answers.
The bioavailability of micronutrients in a proprietary curcuminoid formulation is seven times more potent than 95% pure curcuminoids, say researchers from the Indian manufacturer Olive Lifesciences.
Algae could be a valuable replacement to salt in bread but price and negative perception issues must be overcome, according to Pinar Hosafci, Euromonitor International food analyst.
Exotic and functional fruits and vegetables like cashew nut fruit, chu chu and their extracts are set for an easier passage into European Union markets if mooted simplifications to EU Novel Foods laws come to fruition, according to a UK-based expert.
'If they are not included, they may be relegated to novel food hell'
Firms must fight the case of the botanicals that did not make it on the BELFRIT list, according to a consultant behind a comprehensive index of those excluded from the Belgian, French and Italian agreement.
The potentially negative effects of caffeine consumption on the heart significantly increase as young people reach adolescence, research has suggested.
The amount of polyphenols absorbed and used by the body may be greater when taken with other polyphenols, according to a research review of the antioxidants.
French supplier Roquette has advanced its commitment to the chlorella and algae extract market by inaugurating a 4-5000 tonne a year chlorella facility at its HQ near Lille in northern France, as chlorella continues to move from the shadow of spirulina.
The UK’s advertising watchdog has lambasted Slenderiiz UK for making insufficiently robust medicinal and weight loss claims on its website for its herbal homeopathic supplements - Slenderiix Drops and Xceler8 Drops.
Vitabiotics’ Robert Taylor will be the new chairman of the UK Health Food Manufacturers’ Association (HFMA) succeeding Lynn Lord who has left after a year in the post. Ray Myers of Wassen takes Taylor’s vacated vice-chair seat.
The French food supplements market is set for double digit growth this year as the sector adapts to changing EU regulations around health claims, according to the chairman of the country’s biggest trade group.
As the herbal products industry develops the question arises of whether some of the knowledge that drove the initial spate of creativity in the pre- and post-DSHEA period is being lost as founders retire. At least one industry pioneer fears that is the...
Companies have to be clever about proprietary research, and plant extracts may hold unique opportunities in this respect, according to a food and nutrition industry consultant.
Evolva Holding will collaborate with Universiti Malaysia Pahang to establish a scientific centre of excellence for natural products from Malaysia in Pahang state’s Flavour and Fragrance Cluster.
Botanical adulteration, like doping in sports, is a problem that can be controlled but never totally resolved, but what is being done about it? Here the world’s biggest botanical players debate their attacks on the problem.
Australian academics warn that young adolescents can easily identify energy drinks brands such as Red Bull or Monster, but are unaware of key ingredients including caffeine, guarana and taurine, and in comments that should serve as a wake-up call for...
CLEVER MARKETING CAN OVERCOME DIFFICULT EFSA SITUATION
Cocoa polyphenols can suppress oxidative stress that provokes the proliferation of cancerous cells in the colon, according to a study published in the book Cancer: Oxidative Stress and Dietary Antioxidants.
There is much talk about sustainability in the dietary supplement ingredients marketplace, but what does it mean exactly? Consultant Chris Kilham, known as The Medicine Hunter, makes a strong case for using the term to mean a marketplace in which all...
It has been a tumultuous few years for the European food supplements sector as it has had to learn to live under the world’s toughest health claims regime. Marketing strictures may be tighter than ever but the sector is in a good place, says the chairof...
Swiss-based DSM Nutritional Products (DNP) has entered the olive-sourced hydroxytyrosol market that has been hot since the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a rare plant polyphenol health claim approval in 2011.
From the 2014 International PlantLIBRA Conference in Vienna, Austria
As the EU’s ambitious €6m PlantLIBRA project to further botancials science drew to a close this week at a congress in Vienna, we asked the European Commission about the project’s relative merits – and whether a ‘mark 2’ was on the cards.
When it comes to cognitive health products, women look for emotional ‘brain food’, while men look for caffeine sources, according to a survey of German students.
Red wine-sourced antioxidant resveratrol – found in the skin of red grapes and wine – can amplify and extend the beneficial effects of anti-diabetic drug Metformin, says a new peer review study.
Sustainability is not such an important issue for the supplements industry, because of the relatively low ingredient volumes involved and a difference in industry priorities, Malaysia-based Carotech has said.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a string of warnings against a number of herbal medicines sold online and containing ingredients not authorised for the sale in the UK.
New Jersey supplier Pharmachem says a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) rejection of its ‘CranMax’ cranberry ingredient’s ability to prevent urinary tract infection (UTI) in women won’t change its European business plans.
Naturex and Pharmachem are the latest cranberry players to be rebuffed by the EU’s central science agency. In the first, it this week failed French botanical giant Naturex's urinary tract infection (UTI) dossier containing a key study it said, “showed...
French food supplements manufacturer Arkopharma has had its ‘EU medical device’ status revoked for a cranberry product that claimed to treat urinary tract infections (UTI) in women.
French botanicals firm Naturex launched a cranberry powder extract aimed at older men with the lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) often associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
Nick Henson is the Reading-based associate director at the International Food Network (IFN), a key player in the EU’s new multi-million euro, multi-partner Metabolic Syndrome-battling project, PATHWAY-27, that has health claim victories trained in its...
Kirk Radomski came through the fire of the performance enhancing drug scandal of Major League Baseball to a new life as the founder of a supplement company specializing in sports nutrition. The experience has given him a unique perspective on the business,...
EFSA last year concluded the safety profile of herbal stimulant yohimbe is inconclusive. Ban it anyway, says the chair of the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) in this guest article.
Lithuania has sent a list of 182 botanicals it intends to ban in food supplements to the European Commission in a move one major supplier called “a step back” for EU harmonisation and free trade.
The UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has granted permission for field trials of genetically modified (GM) camelina plants that accumulate omega-3s in their seeds.
Meso-zeaxanthin (MZ) proponent says a French government report on the fraudulent use of meso-zeaxanthin in eye health supplements casts unnecessary doubt on a safe and viable compound.
German flavours and aromas specialist Symrise has won the battle for French flavour and ingredients producer Diana, after agreeing a deal that values the firm at €1.3bn.
Over half of eye health supplements on the French market fraudulently contained meso-zeaxanthin, a cheaper and unauthorised stereoisomer of regular zeaxanthin, according to a two-year investigation by a French watchdog.
Italy has legally adopted a harmonised list of about 1000 approved botanicals for use in food supplements, following a joint research effort with Belgium and France (BELFRIT).