Advances in genomics and understanding the human gut microbiota will lead to the discovery of probiotic bacterial strains that will deliver biomarker-measured health benefits – but it may take 10-15 years, according to a leading researcher.
Six online marketers accused of using ‘fake news’ sites to peddle bogus weight loss claims about acai berry supplements have agreed to settlements with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that will permanently halt their allegedly deceptive practices.
A surprising numbers of companies contacted by the Natural Products Foundation (NPF) about unauthorized disease or drug claims on supplements are unaware that they are breaking the law, according to NPF executive director Deb Knowles.
The firm at the center of the 2009 Hydroxycut recall has been told to pay $1.5m to settle 10 California district attorneys' complaints over deceptive advertising of its dietary supplements and Proposition 65 violations.
Another firm has been ordered to pay a large sum to settle a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as part of its crackdown against firms making bogus weight loss claims about acai pills.
The FDA published a handful of warning letters in late December, with cGMP violations and claims on websites and social media sites continuing to catch the FDA’s eye.
Jarrow Rogovin, never a man to mince his words, says it is high time the IPA and other trade groups stepped up to the plate to defend a sector that has been under regulatory siege on both sides of the Atlantic for several years.
PepsiCo’s snacks business Frito-Lay has been accused of misleading consumers by making all-natural claims on its products which also contain genetically modified corn and vegetable oils.
South Africa’s San people say food giant Unilever was working off inaccurate research data when it decided to bin a €20m investment in hoodia gordonii, the Kalahari cactus the San have used for centuries to curb hunger pangs.
A federal judge has found supplement marketer Lane Labs USA Inc in contempt of a court order barring it from making deceptive health claims, but has also heavily criticized the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) handling of the case.
Five years ago the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) became law. Around the bloc, hopeful EU healthy foods and supplements stakeholders submitted more than 44,000 health claim applications.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it had no choice but to seize supplements manufactured by Syntec Inc (Syntec Nutraceuticals) after the firm committed serious cGMP violations and ignored warning letters accusing it of making unauthorized disease...
The first part of this vitamins special edition looks at how increasing government support and ‘industry standard’ fortification programmes, coupled with favourable regulatory shifts, is benefitting the sector.
The firm behind controversial weight loss crystals designed to be sprinkled on foods to ‘activate your hunger control switch’ has been hit with a class action lawsuit filed in a Texas district court accusing it of false, misleading and deceptive marketing.
Heart healthy food giants Raisio and Unilever have clashed over proposed changes to the wording of health claims about phytosterols and the risk of coronary heart disease.
Pfizer has joined a growing number of companies calling on the FDA to rethink a controversial December 2010 proposed rule that would ban cardiovascular disease risk reduction claims on supplements containing non-esterified phytosterols.
Is the weight management supplements market properly regulated? Was satiety a flash in the pan? Where does the truth really lie on hoodia? Which hunger-busting ingredients really work?
Supplement maker ProCaps Laboratories has weighed into the row over whether dietary supplements containing ‘free’ non-esterified phytosterols should be allowed to make coronary heart disease risk reduction claims.
The leading pan-European food supplements trade group has written to the European Commission in an effort to prevent certain negative European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim opinions reaching the lawbooks in their current form.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cracked on two firms accused of making false and deceptive claims about the much-hyped weight management ingredient hoodia as part of its “ongoing efforts to stop bogus health claims”.
In 2010, Stepan Company, the New Jersey-based firm that had for decades supplied flavours and emulsifiers, decided to move into nutrition - a decision that led it to buying Dutch supplier Lipid Nutrition from Loders Croklaan for an undisclosed sum in...
It is now increasingly likely that a judgment in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) false advertising case against POM Wonderful will not be issued before POM squares up with rival Ocean Spray next month at a trial the cranberry juice giant has unsuccessfully...
With the volume of omega-3 science tripling in 10 years, the world’s leading omega-3 trade group is working with international regulators to have that research reflected in authorised claims – especially in the EU and the US.
Chr Hansen has commissioned a 1000-person+ trial seeking to demonstrate the immunity benefits of one of its flagship strains, Lactobacillus casei, as the leading Danish probiotics supplier continues to fight for Europe’s first approved probiotic health...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is “willfully and grossly misinterpreting the law” by making new dietary ingredient (NDI) submissions product-specific rather than ingredient-specific, advocacy group Citizens for Health has argued.
Firms making structure/function claims about foods and supplements in the US could face difficult questions when the final list of general function claims permitted in Europe is released and it becomes clear that scores of products sold in the US feature...
The second Beauty From Within conference will open its doors in Paris on October 27th and here we draw attention to some of the main highlights and how you can reserve your place.
The second annual Beauty From Within Conference will open its doors again at the Hotel Lutetia in Paris on October 27th, focusing in on the latest opportunities, trends and challenges in nutricosmetics.
Supplement makers with products containing free phytosterols should not be prevented from making heart health claims if they can prove their formulations are effective, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) has argued.
Three more firms have followed Cargill’s lead and submitted petitions to the FDA urging it to rethink plans to amend the criteria for making health claims about phytosterols and heart disease or risk causing “irreparable injury”.
The 2010 global omega-3 market – just for foods and beverages and food supplements – is worth €5.57bn, according to a new report, with growth predicted of between 15-20%.
Regulatory uncertainty in Europe and a string of high-profile lawsuits in the US has made firms much more cautious about making health claims about probiotics, according to one California-based supplier.
The attorney representing Shaping Beauty – the recipient of a recent FDA warning letter claiming multiple violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act – says her client is cooperating fully with the FDA.
It could be several months before a qualified health claims petition about vitamin D is submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to the lawyer coordinating the application.
A high-fat challenge test employing cutting edge –omics technology may generate more and better information about the health effects of dietary ingredients and supplements, say researchers.
The birthplace of functional foods, Japan, continues to be the world’s most robust with 38.4% of a global functional food market of $24.22bn (€16.75bn), according to a Leatherhead report utilising tight functional food definitions.
A flurry of seizures, criminal charges, and warning letters shows that FDA is increasing it enforcement of dietary supplement regulations. Good for FDA and good for industry!
Minnesota-based UAS Laboratories, Inc., has defended the safety and efficacy of its products following a US Marshalls-led seizure, adding that it is working with FDA to ‘remove and/or modify the language’ of alleged disease claims on the labels of its...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that Gerber Good Start milk-based formulas meet the criteria for a qualified health claim, the first such claim for infant formula.
The Natural Products Foundation (NPF) has called on regulators to take action against 13 dietary supplement firms making unauthorized disease and drug claims about dietary supplements.
A high-profile legal battle between Californian juice maker POM Wonderful and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will move into a new phase tomorrow at a hearing in Washington DC.
The surge class action complaints against health claims on food, beverage and dietary supplements shows no sign of calming, as Bayer is targeted in a new class action lawsuit in California against claims made on some of its probiotic products.
False and misleading claims – particularly on the web – continue to dent consumer confidence in supplements, but there are “fewer really outrageous claims on print and on TV today than there were five years ago”, according to the Council for Responsible...
The Natural Products Association (NPA) sympathizes with the motivations behind the Free Speech About Science Act 2011 just introduced into Congress, but fears it could be a double-edged sword.
The congressmen behind last year’s abortive attempt to enable supplement makers to cite scientific studies on their labels and websites have launched a fresh bid to change the rules, but legal experts predict they face an uphill struggle.
Scandinavian ingredients giant Danisco has signed a “long term” deal to market globally the free and esterified phytosterol offerings of US firm Arboris.
A potent combination of lawyers on the make, a rise in activism from consumer lobby groups and food manufacturers pushing the envelope with more aggressive health claims is set to prompt an “explosion” in class action lawsuits in the coming years, according...
Dietary supplement manufacturers operating in China will have to do more to guarantee the quality of their supply chains, after Chinese authorities imposed new quality control regulations last week.
One of the most highly praised nutraceuticals of the decade – açai – has “insufficient and unconvincing scientific evidence” to promote it as an exceptional health supplement, according to a new review.
The maker of a caramel snack making ‘calcium inside’-type claims has been given 15 days to amend its labeling by the Food and Drug Administration because of the product’s unsatisfactory overall nutrient profile.
