Changes in European Union food laws have caught industry hopping, says Alan Ruth, CEO of the Irish Health Trade Association. It could do well to look across the Atlantic to the pro-active trade groups there when it comes to self-promotion…
The CEO of UK start-up Provexis is bullish about the company’s prospects to develop its Fruitflow tomato extract and the Science in Sport (SiS) sports supplement range it acquired a year ago for €10 million.
Earlier this week we ran a story based on a Euromonitor blog that asked some questions of the efficacy, safety and marketing of food supplements. Here Alan Ruth, PhD, CEO of the Irish Health Trade Association responds...
Athletes should avoid taking food supplements because they are overpriced, don’t boost performance and could provoke doping violations, an article in online daily news site, Slate, has said.
Industry has slammed suggestions that vitamins and dietary supplements are ‘too much of a good thing’ with unknown toxicity, ambiguous intake levels, laxer regulations and marketing ploys that lull consumers into a false sense of security.
DSM is using the Olympic Games to highlight its sports nutrition offerings like carotenoids and vitamin D by sponsoring different teams within the Dutch and German contingents at the London Olympiad which negins on Friday.
The bad week for the sports nutrition sector continued this morning as the UK medicines regulator announced it had warned retailers and manufacturers to remove 84 products containing “dangerous ingredients”.
Adding vitamin B12 to standard hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment significantly boosts the body's ability to keep the virus at bay, according to a new pilot study published in Gut.
On the eve of the Olympics, Oxford University academics writing in the British Medical Journal – in conjunction with the BBC Panorama documentary team – have damned sports nutrition products like GlaxoSmithKline’s Lucozade Sport for lacking scientific...
UK supplier Gee Lawson has debuted organic red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus) into a sector dominated by Chinese supply and which has won a European Union health claim for cholesterol maintenance.
Food supplements and herbal products are the safest bodily inputs with the risk of death of using them less than 1 in 10 million, about as likely as being struck and killed by lightning, according to a report from the Alliance for Natural Health International...
The European islands of Guernsey and Jersey are working together to bring them into compliance with European Union laws on claims, labelling and formulation.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has re-issued a consumer warning against Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) and another product called Chlorine Dioxide Solution (CDS) over their chloride content.
Israel-based Herbamed is seeking commercial partners for a range of fortified cereal bar supplements it claims can address global nutrient deficiency needs.
The Olympic Games have in the past brought the food supplements industry to the edge of its collective seat – but not necessarily in fevered anticipation of the world-class sporting fare on offer as anti-doping scrutiny has raised contamination issues.
The multi-billion euro global nutraceutical industry will never achieve its potential until it better adapts pharma protocols – and this can be done with food nutrients, says Dr Stephen de Felice, who was the keynote speaker at the recent Vitafoods expo...
Vitafoods Europe saw 12% more attendees (11,594 ) pass through its doors in Geneva this year with show producer Informa casting its eyes forward to the second edition of Vitafoods Asia in Hong Kong in September.
Nestlé will centralise the development and management of all of its clinical trials, after the inauguration of its new clinical development unit and metabolic research centre in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Milk protein lactoferrin is safe to use in foods and food supplements, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found after responding to an application from FrieslandCampina.
Researchers have warned that calcium supplements should be ‘taken with caution’ after new findings suggested consumption of the supplements could double the risk of heart attack incidence.
DSM has debuted Tolerase L, an acid lactase enzyme aimed at those people that are lactose intolerant and seeking digestive health solutions via food supplements.
Israeli lipid specialist Enzymotec has doubled its krill production capacity to an unspecified level as it responds to growing global demand for the Antarctic micro-shrimp that is registering at about 30% per annum.
Food supplements are ideally suited for online sales: stable, light, high-value, popular with consumers. It is therefore no surprise that online food supplement sales are on the rise with the promise of lower prices and home delivery.
Dietary vitamin E in the form of gamma- and delta- tocopherol could be beneficial in battling and even reducing the risk of certain cancers, however the alpha- form commonly used in supplements has no such benefits, say researchers.
Veteran researcher Dr Stephen de Felice invented the term ‘nutraceutical’ in 1989 and ever since he has been imploring the sector to design and conduct better human clinical trials to back the medicinal potential of bodily nutritional interventions.
A survey of 46 omega-3 products on the South African market has found about half contain less than 89% of their claimed DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)-EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) levels and that there exists, “a wide variation in the quality of the marine...
Germany’s food safety agency has joined medicines agencies in the UK and Denmark in warning the public about ‘natural’ slimming and erectile dysfunction products spiked with unauthorised drug compounds.
A new way to encapsulate bioactive nutritional supplements into food-based products could provide industry with the right ingredients to create supplements that consumers can sprinkle on foods, say researchers.
Supplementation with fibre rich prebiotics could help to boost bone density by increasing the levels of important minerals absorbed in the gut, according to new research in rats.
An international court this month fingered food supplements as the most likely source of the banned stimulant clenbuterol in the blood of 2010 Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, even as a leading European testing service says it has never encountered...
Supplementing meals with solutions containing alginates from seaweed may increase the feeling of fullness and decrease subsequent energy intake, says a new study from Denmark.
Regular use of vitamin and mineral supplements could help to reduce the risk of colon cancer and protect against carcinogens, according to new research in rats.
England’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has begun campaigning to the English medical fraternity that certain population groups like under-5s should take vitamin D supplements.
The UK market for vitamins, minerals and other food supplements like fish oils will shrink 1.9% in 2011-2012, a decline industry says is actually a decent performance given severe economic conditions.
Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids may lead to reductions of body fat for obese people, but is only effective over short time frames, according to new research.
There is a need for better regulation and quality control of plant-based food supplements and ingredients – as they may contain potentially harmful agents, say researchers.
Borderline botanical products making medicinal or therapeutic claims but not holding appropriate registrations under new European Union laws, are coming under increased scrutiny from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which...
UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), says investigations are ongoing into a number of ‘borderline’ herbal products, and that its enforcement actions are not being swayed by recent European Union court decisions.
Portuguese and South Korean athletes have received two-year bans from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for methylhexaneamine (DMAA) doping violations at the recent World Championships in South Korea.
Pronova BioPharma, the high-dose omega-3 supplier of pharma blockbuster drug Omacor/Lovaza, is moving into the food supplements space with patent expiration looming.
Although some clinical trials have shown Garcinia extract to aid short term weight loss, the overall evidence suggests that supplements are “not as effective as conventional weight loss pills,” says a new systematic review.
