The botanicals sector has driven much of the innovation in the dietary supplement industry over the years. It’s also a point of risk, with regulators, lawmakers and media commentators voicing suspicions about this class of products
Popular herbal medicines that have been used for many years should not be considered safe as researchers highlight gaps in toxicity and carcinogenicity testing.
The National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) and the British Herbal Medicine Association (BHMA) have thrown their support behind the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program.
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has launched the free, publicly-accessible AHPA Botanical Identity References Compendium for manufacturers and researchers to accurately identify botanical ingredients.
The economic downturn has had a depressing effect on new product launches in the herbal dietary supplement industry, said Steve French, managing director of the Natural Marketing Institute. But the good news is that opportunity abounds, in that herbal...
Herbal products that do not possess EU medicinal registrations should be removed from market by the end of the year, says the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
A herbal product making diabetes claims in the UK has drawn the attention of the medicines regulator there, but the policing of herbal supplement products needs further examination, says the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH).
The UK medicines agency says it continues to monitor the borderline between herbal products classified as medicines as opposed to food supplements on a case-by-case basis, although some categories are now under the complete jurisdiction of new EU herbal...
Last week’s warning from the UK medicines regulator that menopausal herb black cohosh must carry warnings about potential liver problems is not a problem of the mainstream food supplements sector, says the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH).
The British Herbal Medicine Association (BHMA) says the recently implemented European Union Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD) is good for the botanical industry, although others have criticised it for working against smaller players...
Salvian, a sage product from Bio-Health designed to reduce excessive sweating in post-menopausal women, is the first herbal product to display the new Traditional Herbal Registration (THR) mark in the UK.
Dutch start-up Xenobiosis is promoting a ginkgo biloba extract it says is 16 times more potent than regular versions of the cognitive and energy boosting herb.
A Welsh food supplements company is calling on the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) to release documents that may shed light on why a herb’s novel status was changed shortly before a court case it lost over illegal use of that same herb – Festuca arundinacea.
The European Botanical Forum (EBF) has released a “communication tool” it says will “correct some commonly-held misapprehensions about botanical food supplements”.
Botanicals manufacturer Bio-Health is proving smaller companies can
cut it in the thrust and tumble of life under the Traditional
Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), by having a valerian
product registered in the UK.
Finnish pharma player Actavis has launched three ranges of VMS and
herbal products in Bulgaria with more planned as the company
attempts to meet revenue growth targets of 20 per cent by 2010.
The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) has released its newest
monograph, on feverfew aerial parts, in an effort to promote
botanical purity for the herbal products industry.
With the cold season well and truly upon us, it seems that Brits
are turning to herbal remedies in a bid to stave off the sniffles.
Both Boots and the National Association of Healthfood Stores this
week reported an increase in sales...
The only way to convince European governments on the safety and
efficacy of kava kava and to restore the industry in the South
Pacific is to conduct clinical studies and look further into the
mechanism, says expert on herbal safety...
The herb kava kava is to remain banned in both medicinal and food
products in the UK, following a review of the latest scientific
evidence weighing its reputed benefits for alleviating anxiety and
inducing sleep against the risk of...
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has initiated its
fifth survey in order to quantify annual harvests of selected North
American herbs used as ingredients in herbal products.
The American Herbal Products Association has filed new comments
with the FDA over its new dietary ingredients (NDI) program,
drawing attention to possible differences in composition between
unprocessed herbs and those that have been...
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.
Use of herbal medicine in German and France is the most widespread
in Europe, according to a report published in the New England
Journal of Medicine yesterday.
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.
Ayurceutics has responded to yesterday's article in JAMA claiming
there was a high risk of finding heavy metals in Ayurvedic herbals,
by highlighting its manufacturing process that it believes removes
any danger of contamination.
The standards of quality control on herbal supplements will need to
be tightened if the US public are to have any confidence in their
health claims. That was the main talking point of a symposium as
experts gathered for three days...
Herbal supplements available on the Irish market are still being
irradiated, contradicting European regulations on the practice and
highlighting a lack of traceability on supplement ingredients.
Canada's medicines body has released information on the adverse
reactions caused by herbal medicines, in a reminder to health
professionals and consumers of the procedure for reporting adverse
events under the new Natural Health...
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand is proposing to retain the
ban on adding kava to foods, but not dietary supplements regulated
under New Zealand regulations, and to keep the labelling statements
related to public health.
South Africa has joined numerous European countries by banning all
products containing the herbal remedy kava from sale. Yet another
market to be tackled by the coalition of kava campaigners launched
recently in Europe.
Herbal product manufacturers and kava suppliers are to stage a
lobbying campaign to try to force kava, a herb taken to combat
stress, back onto the shelves of European pharmacies.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland is advising the industry to
remove 10 herbal supplement products from sale, after a survey
found them to contain irradiated components not highlighted in the
product labelling.
The National Association of Health Stores in the UK says it has
been granted leave by the High Court to bring a case against the UK
government and the National Assembly for Wales to overturn the
recent ban on the sale of kava products.
Taking ephedra is 200 times more risky than taking many other
commonly used herbs combined, report US researchers who pitted the
reported side effects of the controversial weight-loss supplement
against those of herbs such as gingko...
The popular herbal remedy kava, commonly used to treat stress and
anxiety, has been banned in the UK by the Medicines Control Agency
(MCA) following concerns that it can lead to liver poisoning. The
UK previously issued a voluntary...
The popularity of over-the-counter herbal remedies in the UK shows
no sign of relenting, but patients may not be aware of the
potential risks involved in taking the wrong kind of cure, warns
the UK's National Institute of Medical...
Canada's national health department last week issued a stop-sale
order on all products containing the herb kava after a safety
assessment concluded there is insufficient evidence to support
their safe use.
The UK's Medicines Control Agency (MCA) is to consider a proposed
ban on the sale of the herbal remedy kava kava following a review
of current scientific data on the product by the Committee on the
Safety of Medicines (CSM).
ConsumerLab.com, the independent tester of health and nutrition
products, has signed an agreement with HealthGate Data Corporation,
the publisher of The Natural Pharmacist, an electronic encyclopedia
and database of supplements and...
A range of dietary supplements sold in the UK have been irradiated
in breach of food regulations, found a survey by the UK Food
Standards Agency. As a consequence companies with affected products
have been told to remove them from...
People suffering from the disabling disease multiple sclerosis (MS)
could help slow the rate of cognitive decline by taking the popular
herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba, according to research published
last week.
PC SPES, the popular herbal supplement which was withdrawn from
sale earlier this year after it was found to contain traces of
blood thinner wafarin, also contained an oestrogen drug and a
painkiller, according to new research.
Several popular herbal medicines have been found to have
significant oestrogenic effects, despite the fact that they are not
commonly used to treat gynaecological problems.
From bottled herb drinks to brews to spice up your sex life, Asian
traditional medicine companies are telling visitors to a Singapore
food expo they have just the tonic.
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has been quick to
react to the announcement earlier this week by the FDA that
consumers should be wary of using the herbal supplement kava kava
because of possible liver damage. The...
