Nutraceuticals International articles from January 2002

Nutraceuticals International archives from January 2002

UK agency requests halt to kava kava sales, as companies appeal German ban.
January 1, 2002... The German health authorities' concerns over the safety of kava kava (Piper methysticum), which led the country to implement a ban on products containing the herb, seem to have spread to other countries in the European Union. In the UK,...

Industry disagreement surrounds EU Supplements Directive.
January 1, 2002... The two most contentious issues in the recently adopted draft of the proposed European Union directive on food supplements are the criteria for the assessment of upper safe levels of vitamins and minerals in Article 5 and the requirement for a...

EU issues alert on chromium picolinate.
January 1, 2002... On December 7, 2001, the European Commission circulated a notification under its Rapid Alert System for Food (Alert Notification 2001/271) about chromium picolinate capsules marketed by Nutrisearch of the Isle of Man, UK, under the brand name...

UK may allow CAM provision on NHS.
January 1, 2002... Patients treated under the UK's National Health Service may in the future be offered complementary and alternative medicines, including traditional Chinese and other herbal medicines, acupuncture and yoga, provided they are shown to be...

London Uni to study Mediterranean diet.
January 1, 2002... In the UK, the University of London's School of Pharmacy will lead a new multicenter project looking at the role of elements of the so-called "Mediterranean diet" in maintaining human health, according to report in the Pharmaceutical Journal...

Canada publishes proposals for natural health products regulation.
January 1, 2002... Canada's Health Minister, Allan Rock, at the end of 2001, provided details of a series of measures that are designed to lead to a regulatory framework for natural health products in the country. The measures include proposed regulations and...

UK views food labels aimed at children.
January 1, 2002... The UK Food Standards Agency may work with food manufacturers to develop guidelines on the labeling and promotion of foods specifically aimed at children. This follows a UK-wide, FSA-commissioned study into concerns at such promotion and...

EFSA takes temporary home in Brussels, as Laeken Summit fails to make choice.
January 1, 2002... The European Council of Ministers has decided that the European Food Safety Authority is to be sited temporarily in Brussels, Belgium, in order to get the new agency up and running as soon as possible. The decision was taken at the European...

Dutch footballers not to be given vitamins.
January 1, 2002... Players in the Netherlands' national football team are not to be given special vitamins, the Football Federation of Holland has announced. This decision follows positive results on two players tested for the steroid nandrolone, which is...

Still no agreement on vitamin and mineral supplement guidelines at Codex.
January 1, 2002... At the 23rd meeting of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, held in Berlin, Germany, draft guidelines for vitamin and mineral supplements were on the agenda. However, agreement on such guidelines was not reached....

Suggestions for growing Australia's ginseng industry from RIRDC.
January 1, 2002... If the Australian ginseng industry develops a common marketing strategy, it will be able to compete successfully in a growing worldwide market, according to a report by the Australian Rural Industries Research and Development Corp. The RIRDC...

Energy drinks market in Australia.
January 1, 2002... Energy drinks including Red Bull, V and Black Stallion are the fastest growing sector of the soft-drink market in Australia, with sales doubling to A$150 million ($77.6 million) in 2001. While most of these beverages contain a cocktail of...

US Consumer Reports finds label failures.
January 1, 2002... The US Consumers Union, which puts out Consumer Reports, has published the results of tests on 19 widely-available brands of glucosamine and chodroitin, four of which had failed to meet label requirements and two of which recommended too low a...

New FDA health and diet survey planned.
January 1, 2002... The US Food and Drug Administration, in a November 30 Federal Register notice, has announced plans for a new national Health and Diet Survey. The agency said it would soon start collecting data for review by the Office of Management and Budget....

Global analysis of opportunities for gastrointestinal benefit foods.
January 1, 2002... As scientific evidence grows of certain food ingredients' benefit to human health, ever more products are being launched claiming to have beneficial effects on gastrointestinal health and well-being in general. This is against a background...

HealthCentral.com assets bought by NBTY.
January 1, 2002... NBTY is acquiring certain assets of HealthCentral.com and its affiliates for $2.8 million in cash which are being purchased pursuant to a bankruptcy auction. The assets include the customer list of the mail- order operation, L&H Vitamins, as...

Kemin files lawsuit against Cognis over lutein ester claims.
January 1, 2002... US natural specialty ingredients manufacturer Kemin Foods has filed a lawsuit against Cognis' Nutrition & Health division, alleging that it is making false claims that blur the differences between lutein esters and the purified form of lutein...

Supplements tax breaks bill for USA.
January 1, 2002... A new bill, called the Dietary Supplement Tax Fairness Act of 2001 (HR- 3475), was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means in the US House of Representatives last month by Rep Dan Burton (Republican, Indiana) which is aimed at giving tax...

NIH cautions against garlic for HIV patients.
January 1, 2002... Scientists from the USA's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (a unit of the National Institutes of Health) have said that garlic supplements may reduce the efficacy of HIV medicines such as Roche's saquinavir, claiming that...

Nutra International's net income rises.
January 1, 2002... Nutraceutical International Corp has reported results for the fiscal fourth quarter ended September 30, 2001, which showed a 1.2% decrease in revenues to $24.6 million while, for the full year, they slipped around 3% to $103.6 million....

Canada's Forbes Medi-Tech acquires Reducol rights from Novartis.
January 1, 2002... Canada's Forbes Medi-Tech has reached an agreement with Novartis Consumer Health to acquire the licensing and distribution rights to consumer products fortified with the phytosterol Reducol, the former firm's cholesterol-lowering functional...

AmBev's Gatorade deal for Brazil.
January 1, 2002... Companhia de Bebidas das Americas of Brazil, also known as AmBev, has expanded its partnership with PepsiCo to produce, sell and distribute Gatorade in the country. The contract is valid up to 2017. With the addition of Gatorade, AmBev's...

Kraft sells Knox supplements to NBTY.
January 1, 2002... Kraft Foods is to sell its Knox NutraJoint and Knox for Nails nutritional supplement businesses to NBTY for approximately $4 million. Revenues from the units in 2001 are expected to be about $15 million, and the firms noted that NBTY will...

Harmony Trading to acquire Nuvo Way.
January 1, 2002... Harmony Trading Corp has signed a letter of intent to acquire Nuvo Way, a US nutraceutical company which it says has developed a patented delivery system for products related to health, performance and lifestyle improvement. Nuvo Way's...

NCLI to acquire marketing company.
January 1, 2002... Nutraceutical Clinical Laboratories International says that negotiations have been completed for the acquisition of Health Care Direct Services, a nutraceutical wholesale distributor based in Florida. HCDS markets products to over 1,000...

Martek placement raises $22.5 million.
January 1, 2002... Martek Biosciences Corp has completed the private placement of approximately 1.2 million newly-issued shares, raising $22.5 million before expenses. Adams, Harkness & Hill served as placement agent for the transaction, the proceeds from which...

Cyanotech expands astaxanthin capacity.
January 1, 2002... Cyanotech Corp of Hawaii. USA, is expanding production capacity by around 60% as a result of "current and projected future demand" for its NatuRose and BioAstin natural astaxanthin products. Kelly Moorhead, the firm's vice president of sales...

BASF to appeal EU vitamins fine.
January 1, 2002... Germany's BASF AG is to lodge an appeal against the 296 million euro ($264 million) fine imposed on the firm by the European Commission for its participation in vitamin price-fixing cartels (NI vol 6, no 12). The company noted that it has...

Danisco takes stake in USA's WellGen.
January 1, 2002... Danisco Venture, the investment arm of Denmark's ingredients company Danisco, says it has taken an undisclosed stake in US life science company WellGen. The latter, a New Jersey-based company, is developing disease prevention products for the...

Major restructuring at Weider Nutrition.
January 1, 2002... Weider Nutrition International of the USA has announced a reorganization of its operations into three strategic business units, which chief executive Bruce Wood believes will "speed our products and programs to market with the goal of improving...

Strong revenue growth for PanGeo.
January 1, 2002... Canada's PanGeo Pharma has announced financial results for the third quarter ended October 31, 2001, which show that revenues increased 34.6% to C$17.5 million ($11 million), while net income grew to C$2.0 million compared to C$253,000 in the...

Rexall finally names new CEO.
January 1, 2002... After a prolonged search (NIs passim), Rexall Sundown, the US subsidiary of the Netherland's Royal Numico, has named Ralph Denisco as its new chief executive, saying that he comes to Rexall with an extensive background in domestic and...

Half-year net profits up 13.3% at Dabur.
January 1, 2002... Dabur of India says that revenues in the first half of fiscal 2002 ended September 2001 increased 2.8% to 5.62 billion rupees ($116.6 million), while net profits jumped 13% to 332.7 million rupees. The company said it was pleased with the...

Taisho and Tanabe call off merger.
January 1, 2002... Japanese firms Taisho Pharmaceutical and Tanabe Seiyaku have abandoned their previously-announced plan to merge through the establishment of a joint holding company (NI vol 6, no 10). If the deal had gone ahead, the value of the new entity...

Danone extends bid for Frucor.
January 1, 2002... Group Danone of France has made a final extension to its bid to acquire New Zealand drinks maker Frucor Beverages Group (NI vol 6, nos 11 and 12), to January 18 (after this issue of NI went to press) from January 4, but said that no further...

Walmark focus on vitamins in Czech Rep.
January 1, 2002... The pharmaceuticals division of the Walmark group in the Czech Republic has recently invested 100 million koruna ($2.8 million) in expanding its plant in Trinec for the production of vitamins, according to the CTK news agency's Business News....

Biomarkers in functional food research: reduction of disease risk claims (part 2).
January 1, 2002... In the last issue of NI, we published a report on the scientific basis and development of biomarkers which might be suitable for supporting enhancement of function claims, drawn from the proceedings of the International Life Sciences...

Vit A linked to hip fractures in women.
January 1, 2002... Chronic long-term intake of a diet high in retinol, a vitamin A compound, may increase the risk of osteoporotic hip fractures in older women, according to a study published in the January 2 issue of The Journal of the American Medical...

Extra iron improves mental ability in kids.
January 1, 2002... Low doses of iron supplements given daily could improve motor and language development of pre-school children, according to a study published in the December 15 issue of the British Medical Journal. The researchers measured the effects of iron...

Iron formula milk may help inner-city babies.
January 1, 2002... Giving an infant iron-supplemented formula milk instead of cow's milk not only prevents anemia but reduces the decline in developmental performance observed in those given only cows' milk, according to a study in the British Medical Journal...

Soy protein has no effect on sex hormone.
January 1, 2002... A study published in January's issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2002 75; 145-153) does not provide evidence that long-term ingestion of soy protein alters steroid hormone values in postmenopausal women. 73...

Daily recommended vit D may be too low.
January 1, 2002... Wintertime vitamin D insufficiency is common in young Canadian woman and the daily recommended vitamin D intake does not prevent it, according to a study published in the December issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Currently,...

Selenium may help prevent prostate cancer.
January 1, 2002... Men with low blood levels of selenium are four-to-five times more likely to develop prostate cancer, according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Urology. The US researchers studied 52 men with prostate cancer and 96...

Saw palmetto can improve urinary problems.
January 1, 2002... The herbal remedy saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) can improve symptoms in men with lower urinary tract problems, but has no significant impact on urinary flow rates, quality of life or sexual function, according to a study published in the...

Red wine reduces heart disease.
January 1, 2002... Components specific to red wine may help prevent coronary heart disease, according to a report in the December 20 issue of Nature. Moderate drinking of any alcohol is known to help reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease, but researchers...

Chlorophyllin may prevent liver cancer.
January 1, 2002... Chlorophyllin, a mixture of semisynthetic derivatives of chlorophyll that is used as a food colorant and over-the-counter medicine, has been shown to inhibit aflatoxins, a fungal substance which infects nuts, cereals and soy products, and is...

Curcumin may help wound healing.
January 1, 2002... Researchers from Singapore have published findings recently in the Journal of Trauma (2001: 51: 927-931) that curcumin, a substance found in the curry spice turmeric, is protective against oxidative damage in skin cells and could promote wound...

Coffee boosts memory in older subjects.
January 1, 2002... A new study suggests that coffee could boost memory, especially in older subjects. The researchers, from the USA, tested 40 participants aged 65, twice a day, using the California Verbal Learning Test. Subjects received either 12-ounce cups of...

Eating tomatoes lowers prostate cancer risk.
January 1, 2002... Prostate cancer risk is lower in men reporting high consumption of tomato products, which contain high levels of the antioxidant lycopene, according to a study published in the December 19 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute....

Vitamin E may reduce risk of asthma.
January 1, 2002... Pregnant women could protect their unborn child against allergies, including asthma, by eating more food containing vitamin E, according to work presented at a British Thoracic Society meeting held in London. The researchers studied the diets...

Drop in testosterone due to licorice refuted.
January 1, 2002... A research letter in the November 10 issue of The Lancet refutes a paper two years ago, reported at the time by NI, which described a large drop in testosterone in the blood of seven men who consumed licorice over four continuous days. In two...

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo set to compete in nutrient fortified bottled water sector.
January 1, 2002... Rivals Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are increasingly moving outside of the traditional cola market and are entering the young, growing bottled water and alternative drinks sector, which some believe has a promising and lucrative future. The two...

Coke poised to launch Vitango drink.
January 1, 2002... Coca-Cola's orange-flavored drink containing 12 minerals and vitamins, Vitango, could be launched in about a year and will compete with Procter & Gamble's Nutristar which is already on the market, according to US press reports. The Coca-Cola...

Folic acid reduces risk of leukemia in kids.
January 1, 2002... A study published in the December 8 issue of The Lancet has found that folic acid supplementation in pregnancy reduces the risk of common acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. The investigators in the study, led by Judith Thompson from...

Folic acid could ward off stomach cancer.
January 1, 2002... A daily dose of folic acid may lower the risk of stomach cancer, according to a report published in the journal Gut (2002 50: 61-64). The researchers' from Shanghai University in China, divided 16 male beagles into two groups; a folic...

Probiotic strain may improve cell immunity.
January 1, 2002... Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 could be an effective probiotic dietary supplement for enhancing some aspects of cellular immunity in the elderly, according to a study published in the journal of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition (2001...

LCP's important for infant development.
January 1, 2002... A study on the long term importance of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet during infancy for development of mental abilities in later childhood was presented by researchers at the Milupa Infant Nutrition global conference, held...

Calcium supplements' effects short-lived.
January 1, 2002... Unlike milk, the effect of bone-boosting calcium supplements do not last, according to new studies from the UK National Osteoporosis Society. Researchers studied 86 girls, aged 11-12, over two years. Half took a calcium supplement added to a...

Asthmatics would welcome natural asthma remedy, says survey.
January 1, 2002... A new survey suggests that patients suffering from asthma and their physicians would welcome a natural dietary supplement that augmented prescription drugs. The survey prepares the ground for the launch of a new product that uses...

Geni herbal helps in arthritis of knee.
January 1, 2002... US ayurvedic and herbal product manufacturer Geni Inc has sponsored a randomized, double-blind human trial of the herb Boswellia serrata as an anti-inflammatory agent, after encouraging results in a pilot study. A gum derived from B serrata,...

Valio produces lactose-free milk.
January 1, 2002... Valio of Sweden has launched a new kind of milk drink that contains no lactose. The milk uses a production process which is patented by Valio, whereby chromatography physically removes part of the lactose. The remaining portion is...

CPB launches marine biomass product.
January 1, 2002... CPB International has launched a marine biomass product, Lyo-krill powder, which contains antioxidants such as astaxanthin, vitamins A, E and D, riboflavin, B vitamin, folic acid, pantothenic acid, niacin, biotin, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals...

Tasty, hearty soy bread in the oven.
January 1, 2002... Researchers at the Ohio State University in the USA have produced the first soy bread that is, they claim, good for the heart and tasty. "This is the first soy bread that can legitimately carry the Food and Drug Administration's claim that...

E-pops launched in New Zealand.
January 1, 2002... A range of energy lollipops is being launched in New Zealand, reports Just-food.com. "We noticed people drank a lot of energy drinks and Chupa Chups (lollipops) were very popular and stuck the two together," explained the product's creators,...

Joint Juice expands to the north west USA.
January 1, 2002... Joint Juice, a supplement drink manufactured by the US company of the same name, has now been made available in several stores throughout the Pacific Northwest region of the USA. First test-marketed in San Francisco in 2001, one bottle of Joint...

Polyphenolics says prods GRAS affirmed.
January 1, 2002... Polyphenolics, a subsidiary of the USA's Canandaigua Wine, has announced Generally Recognized As Safe affirmation for MegaNatural Gold Grape Seed Extract and MegaNatural GSKE Grape Skin Extract, purified concentrated phenolic/flavanoid...

New stomach-friendly coffee addition.
January 1, 2002... Coffee Legends of the USA says it is introducing a stomach-friendly gourmet blend known as Johann's Wulff, The Considerate Coffee. The firm says that the product is available in regular blend, dark roast and decaffeinated, in both whole bean...

Morinaga looks forward to continued success in Japan's jelly drinks market.
January 1, 2002... Despite the recession, Japan's Morinaga & Co predicts another jump in sales next year for its jelly health drinks, under its popular "Weider in Jelly" brand name, assuring dominance of this market in Japan. A spokesperson for Morinaga told NI...

Natto makes a comeback in Japan as health benefits are touted.
January 1, 2002... The Japanese are increasingly taking a new look at an old food product dating back more than 1,000 years because of its health benefits. Natto, a fermented soybean paste, has had its ups and downs in the culinary history of Japan, and there are...

Instant microwave tofu from Access Corp.
January 1, 2002... Access Corp has launched an innovative product in Japan that makes it possible to cook up fresh tofu in a microwave oven. The product is based on nigari (brine) and soy milk and turns into tofu when microwaved for three minutes. Ordinarily, it...

Melatonin study suggests role in AD.
January 1, 2002... Melatonin, a hormone produced from serotonin from part of the brain called the pineal gland used to treat insomnia and jet-lag, reverses the formation of beta amyloid peptides, small protein molecules that clump together to form senile plaques...

Vitamin E may reverse neurodegeneration.
January 1, 2002... Vitamin E prevents and reverses the development of neurological symptoms according to a study published by a Japanese researchers in the December 18 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The researchers produced a...

Indian herb shows antioxidant properties.
January 1, 2002... Celastrus paniculatus, an Indian medicinal plant, showed an improvement in learning and memory of rats, according to Indian researchers presenting work at a satellite conference of Neuroscience held in San Diego, USA. At higher doses,...

Ginkgo may have neuroprotective role.
January 1, 2002... Promising research suggests that Ginkgo biloba, a herbal extract and flavonoid-rich antioxidant, could be used as a possible neuroprotective agent against free radical damage, according to work recently presented at the Neuroscience meeting in...

Forthcoming meetings/events.
January 1, 2002... - Nutritionals 2002, described as the premier trade event for nutraceutical, supplement and functional foods manufacturers, will be held on February 5-7, 2002, in Anaheim, California, USA. For more information, phone +1E(310) 996 9445; faxE+1...

People on the move.
January 1, 2002... - Paul Choffat has succeeded Al Piergallini as head of Novartis Consumer Health; - Archer Daniels Midland has named senior vice president Paul Mulhollem as president of the firm, to succeed John McNamara, who resigned in December; -...