Nutraceutical standards a team effort

Prepared Foods, March, 1999 by Fran LaBell

The pressure to develop industry standards for botanicals and other nutraceuticals has grown steadily as larger food manufacturing companies have entered the market.

"The dietary supplement craze is now hitting the food industry," says Dennis Reid, marketing manager, food and beverage, Fine Ingredients Division Ashland Chemical Co., Dublin, Ohio. "Food companies are now putting the active nutritionals in foods. Of the functional foods, approximately 80% are beverages at present, with baking products, cereals and grains in second place."

Several associations and companies are working to speed the adoption of universal standards. "There are some proposed standards and some standards developed by industry organizations; some of our standards are self-developed," says David May, marketing manager, Ashland Chemical Co. "Increased standards will make the industry stable, secure and quality oriented."

The company is working with the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the National Nutritional Foods Association, the American Herbal Products Association, and the Institute for Nutraceutical Advancement (INA).

Methods Validation Program

The INA launched its Methods Validation Program (MVP) in early 1998 with initial funding from 29 companies. The program seeks to validate scientific methods for use in analyzing raw botanical materials. INA is a non-corporate division of Industrial Laboratories, Denver.

Validation methods quantitatively measure the marker compounds that are associated with the biologically active botanical substances, says Mark Lange, science director, INA. Marker compounds are chemical constituents of plant materials whose amounts are known in standardized extracts. Such compounds may be used to indicate the physiological activity and efficacy of botanical extracts.

"We seek to develop and validate analytical methods that are practical and economical to run in any well-equipped laboratory," Lange says. "HPLC is used in the analyses of most botanical products, and sometimes GC or spectrophotometry is used also."

The first validation methods to be published are for flavonol glycosides in ginkgo biloba and for ginsenosides in Panax and American ginsengs. Other components undergoing primary evaluation include echinacea, kava kava, and St. John's wort. Validated methods are publicized via INA's web site. [ILLUSTRATION FOR CHART OMITTED].

"FDA is assisting industry with the process. We want to help them move into peer validated methods so that the methods could be used throughout industry," says James Tanner, special assistant to the director, office of special nutritionals, FDA. "We want to partner with the industry because they have the expertise."

Companies such as Ashland Chemical (www.ashchem.com) are in a position to help. The company supplies more than 3,500 ingredients and just completed a $20 million expansion to its Dublin, Ohio, technical center.

Ashland Chemical, Fine Ingredients Div.

Furthering Nutraceutical Knowledge

Several organizations publish information on reference amounts, testing methods, toxicology and health benefits of various supplements. Among them are:

* The Institute for Nutraceutical Advancement (www.nutraceuticalinstitute.com), which sponsors the Methods Validation Program for standardized analysis of raw botanical materials.

* The National Nutritional Foods Association (www.nnfa.org), which represents thousands of retailers and manufacturers of dietary supplements. Sponsors the TruLabel program requiring randomly monitored, independent laboratory tests of the ingredient integrity of its members' products.

* The Council for Responsible Nutrition (www.crnusa.org), a trade association of more than 80 nutritional supplement and ingredient companies.

* The American Herbal Products Association (www.ahpa.org), publishes the "Botanical Safety Handbook" providing safety data and classification system for more than 600 commonly sold herbs.