Nutrasource Blog

The Western world is hungry for health products, and industry is meeting that demand with increased product innovation and global expansion like never before. In Canada, consumer health products are categorized as foods, drugs, cosmetics, and natural health products (NHPs). NHPs (referred to as dietary supplements in the U.S.) are health products sold in traditional medicinal formats. Vitamins and minerals, protein powders, herbal medicines, probiotics, and many others, are all examples of products that are sold as NHPs. A 2010 survey showed that 73% of Canadians consume NHPs regularly, proving Canadian consumers are more interested in alternative health products than ever before.

It’s no secret that probiotics are dominating the supplement market, and the consumer demand for foods and supplements that contain beneficial bacteria is increasing exponentially. In fact, the probiotics market is predicted to be worth $69.3 billion by the year 2023.

What if you could develop one dietary supplement, with a single product specification, and sell it in multiple countries simultaneously – with no reformulation or regulatory headaches involved?

Note: This article pertains to the United States. Products sold elsewhere are subject to different country/region-specific regulations.

Mandatory label compliance deadlines are drawing near. If you sell, or are planning on selling, a dietary supplement or food in the U.S., here is what you need to know about the updates required and how you can comply.

In addition to the changes to nutrition labeling, due for most companies January 1, 2020, FDA has set an official “uniform compliance date” of January 1, 2022 for final food and dietary supplement label regulations issued in 2019 and 2020. This compliance date also applies to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.

With so many label updates coming in the near future, will your brand ready?

For the past decade, I've written and educated industry about the benefits of substantiating dietary supplement claims, from the rationale of complying with national regulatory rules to remaining ahead of the innovation curve.

But despite policing from the U.S.-FDA and FTC, and the negative media attention surrounding offending brands, the supplement industry still has a substantiation problem. There are far too many instances of companies under fire (or yet to be under fire) for unsubstantiated, misleading, or deceptive claims.

The good news is that this can be fixed with a clearer understanding of what qualifies as substantiation and how companies can benefit from making the investment in quality research. Read on to find out what you need to know.

The past year was a whirlwind of regulatory change that brought exciting opportunities and new challenges in equal measure.

As we look to another game-changing year ahead, our regulatory and scientific team reviews the top regulatory trends expected to shape health product innovation and marketing in 2019 and beyond.

Here's what to expect...

The advent of new DNA sequencing technologies has fundamentally changed how we use DNA data to solve real-world problems. The first of those changes was in the technology that acquires DNA sequence data. The second was in the analysis of that data. (For more, see my previous post, Can DNA Solve the Supplement Industry's Identity Problems?)

One of the branches of DNA data analysis is what we now call metagenomics – a term frequently used but not always understood.

Here I explain what this technique is and how nutraceutical and food industries can use it to verify the identity of products, such as probiotics and prepared foods in mixtures, with more certainty than ever.

At this year's SupplySide West, we had the pleasure of presenting on a topic that consistently poses challenges for the health and sports nutrition market: how to reach the sizable, but largely untapped, segment of "fit" customers looking to build lean muscle mass.

In the wake of California's updated Prop 65 requirements—which came into force August 30, 2018—many of our clients have approached us with questions regarding compliance.

Our regulatory affairs team has regular contact with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a number of projects. Occasionally we learn about subtle policy shifts regarding Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Notifications and New Dietary Ingredient Notifications (NDIN).

Below is an overview of FDA’s latest updates to GRAS and NDINs which will have important implications for the dietary supplement and medical foods industry in the U.S.