Researchers funded by the US' National Institutes of Health (NIH) are to provide scientific presentations on botanicals as dietary supplements as part of the expanded seminar programme for SupplySide West this year.
Scientists from each of the six NIH-funded Dietary Supplement Research Centers will present on botanical ingredients including soy isoflavones, tea catechins, grape seed extract, ginger, turmeric, St John's wort, black cohosh and echinacea.
SupplySide West takes place this year from 1-3 October at the Venetian Hotel and the Sands Exposition Center in Las Vegas, US. Last year the event attracted almost 5,000 executives from dietary supplement, food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies from around the world, with more than 400 exhibitors.
Teams at Purdue University and University of Alabama Botanicals Research Center for Age Related Diseases have been studying the health effects of plants containing polyphenols, while the University of Arizona Center for Phytomedicine Research focuses on ginger, turmeric, and boswellia and their treatment of inflammatory diseases. The UCLA Botanical Center will feature studies using chinese red yeast rice, green tea extract and St. John's wort.
There will also be studies on herbal supplements that have potential benefits for women's health, including therapies for menopause.
The research centres are the result of a 1999 congressional mandate to the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the NIH.
On a lighter note, organisers Virgo Publishing have also announced that basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson will deliver the keynote address at SupplySide West on 2 October at the Venetian Hotel.