Nutritional science for mind health products
DSM Nutritional Products
The report, "Vitamins and Minerals: What You Need to Know", gives consumer advice on how to choose reliable supplements as well as explains the different categories and benefits of vitamins and minerals.
Directed at the general public, the report could stir up the issue in the nutraceutical industry surrounding what body should give a stamp of approval for supplements, and whether an independent body is needed for such a purpose.
"Choose products that bear the U.S. Pharmacopeia Dietary Supplement Verification Program (USP-DSVP) mark, which indicates that the supplement manufacturer has complied with certain standards," says the report.
The issue of an independant regulatory body to oversee the dietary supplement industry was once again highlighted in January following a ConsumerLab report with findings that a multivitamin from The Vitamin Shoppe was contaminated with 15.3 micrograms of lead per daily serving.
"Our industry badly needs an independent testing procedure that truly has the best interests of the consumer at heart," Vitamin Shoppe CEO Tom Tolworthy said at the time. He did not elaborate on what form testing could take or where funding for such an entity could come from.
Via its recommendations, the Harvard report is also critical of dietary supplements that go beyond the vitamin and mineral category.
"Generally, if you're hoping for phytochemical benefits, you'll do better in the produce department than the supplement aisle," according to the report. "There is virtually no evidence that herbs and other nonvitamin ingredients added to supplements, such as echinacea, are essential for your health."
The report questions another key area for the supplement industry - the benefit of different sourcing for vitamins in minerals.
"It doesn't matter whether vitamin C is derived from organic rose hips or synthesized in large batches in a laboratory," says the report. "Your body will use the resulting product similarly."
New and possibly more bioavailable sources for ingredients are an area of constant research and development for the nutraceutical industry.
Vitamins and Minerals: What you Need to Know is a 48-page report edited by Meier J. Stampfer, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health.