The UK has issued yet another contamination warning against Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) claiming to treat conditions like menstrual pain and hair loss – leaving the local industry exasperated at the seemingly endless litany of cases.
Dutch authorities have issued a warning against a US fat burning food supplement called Dexaprine after 11 adverse reactions including hospitalisations and severe heart problems.
Interview: Prof Suhaila Mohamed, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Government financing and promotion of herbal ingredients research has helped Malaysia to become one of the world leaders in the field, according to one of the country’s pre-eminent researchers.
Cholesterol-busting plant sterol and stanol products – worth about €2.5bn globally – will have to carry warning labels in the European Union from next February.
Adding chia seeds to bread recipes significantly increases final product levels of proteins, lipids, ash and dietary fiber, and consumers like it too, according to research.
Researchers have discovered the way in which aristolochic acid causes cancer after a team of experts identified the 'signature' of genetic mutations caused by the once common herbal remedy ingredient.
Fermented resveratrol from Swiss biotech firm Evolva has won Japanese pre-approval in foods and food supplements – but the company says it won’t be jumping straight into the market.
The EU’s chief science agency has turned down a hangover health claim for a prickly pear extract before even evaluating the science behind it because it said the claim was too vague.
Last week the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said a lack of data meant it could not decide upon the safety of aphrodisiac herbal, yohimbe. But are its methodologies up to scratch for this kind of assessment? asks Italy-based botanicals expert,...
Watermelon juice has ‘excellent’ potential as a functional drink to relieve sore muscles in athletes due to high levels of amino acid L-Citrulluine, a new Spanish study testing cyclists reports.
Daily supplements of an extract from Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica) may improve the health of cells lining the blood vessels, and reduce levels of markers of oxidative stress in type-2 diabetics, according to results of a randomized, double-blind,...
Non-fermented carbohydrates can deliver tooth health benefits but there is not enough data to show cranberry can benefit urinary tract infections, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found in a new series of health claim opinions.
The use of novel phytochemomics technologies will define cause and effect relationships for phytochemicals that will assist in the substantiation of health claims for herbals and botanicals, say researchers.
Yohimbe plant extracts are unlikely to gain sale in Europe after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found this week the available data was too weak to allow it to pass a safety verdict.
EU nations could better regulate botanical products and maximum permitted levels (MPLs) for nutrients in food supplements and functional foods than the European Union, a UK government report has suggested.
The UK advertising watchdog has roasted its second green coffee firm in a month for making unjustified weight loss, antioxidant, colonic health and other claims.
Chinese herbal medicines appear to be safer and more effective than control measures in battling vascular dementia, according to a new meta-analysis from China.
Chinese herbal products have been found to contain arsenic at potentially dangerous levels by Swedish authorities although no adverse events have been reported.
Herbal products that do not possess EU medicinal registrations should be removed from market by the end of the year, says the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
A herbal product making diabetes claims in the UK has drawn the attention of the medicines regulator there, but the policing of herbal supplement products needs further examination, says the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH).
More than 70 stakeholders attended a botanicals workshop in the European Parliament’s Brussels offices last week as the heat increases to resolve regulatory ambiguity across the EU for herbal products - especially that ambiguity's impact on SMEs.
UK firm Provexis has filed to demerge the Science in Sport (SiS) consumer sports brand it purchased for €10m in June 2011 from its Fruitflow tomato-based ingredients business, as it believes the separation will increase the market value and perception...
Consumption of yellow-flowered herbal extract used traditionally for stress relief may increase lifespan by almost 25%, according to new research in fruit flies.
The EU energy market is set to grow by €1bn by 2017 and much of that could come from ‘natural energy’, a sub-sector that has been boosted by recent health claim approvals, says Euromonitor International analyst, Diana Cowland.
Unilever has applied to UK authorities for EU novel foods approval for its cholesterol-lowering phytosterol esters in liquid vegetable fats used in home cooking and baking.
Swiss-Israeli flavours and ingredients house Frutarom wants a greater slice of the global functional foods and drinks market with new investment and initiatives to tap markets like the Americas and Asia and the “sensitive” European market.
Naturex hosted 500 of its employees and guests the weekend just passed as it inaugurated a €12m expansion of its Avignon HQ in southern France. We caught up with CEO Thierry Lambert who said further expansion at its other global sites was very much on...
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has called on FDA for a ban on ginkgo products, basing its demand on a government report that industry sources have said is critically flawed. FDA, in response, said the request was 'not scientifically...
Patrick Ahern, a former industry advisor, trade group manager and consultant on EU law and affairs, is the new director General of the European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM).
An special interest group made up of leading players in the UK herbal industry has come together to request an urgent meeting with UK ministers amid reports that the government will back-track on its promises to regulate herbalists under UK rather than...
A Swedish lab has found amphetamine-like compounds in sports supplements containing a herbal extract that has been touted as a replacement for widely banned stimulant, DMAA. But the lab said the compounds were not illegal, while the product maker has...
The Dutch start-up Medical Brands is finding success with cranberry products that have won UTI and vaginal treatment claims via the EU medical devices directive.
With cranberry health claims rejected in the European Union, some players have ventured down the medical devices route where therapeutic claims are possible that would never succeed under the EU’s strict health claim rules. Not a good thing, says Gunter...
Dutch ingredients giant DSM is launching a dry powder form of its Fruitflow tomato extract which has an EFSA-approved health claim for improved blood circulation – attained in 2009.
Two NGOs responsible for safeguarding plants and forests have positively reviewed the harvesting practices of a prostate-benefitting botanical harvested in Cameroon.
Sabinsa Corporation is launching two novel water-soluble ingredients, one from of Boswellia serrata, called Polybos, and the other called MoringIn from Moringa oleifera.
Naturex has seen sales rise 13.2% to €83.2m in Q1 2013, with Nutrition its star core business performer, leaping about 33% from €22m to just over €29m.
A former EFSA Scientific Committee chairman says the European Union’s stalled assessment of botanical extract claims, safety and use needs a multilateral rethink before any progress can be made.
Plandai Biotechnology, a company built on a technology offering higher levels of bioavailability for its plant extracts, has entered into a licensing arrangement with a UK company covering the development of its line of extracts based on a new technology.
A study being presented at a conference this week has shown that Polyphenolics MegaNatural BP grape seed extract shows similar blood pressure support effects in a beverage matrix as it does in supplement form.
