Cary Frye, IDFA vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs, spoke at a symposium held last June on the regulatory challenges of marketing probiotic foods. The proceedings from the symposium, "Probiotics from Bench to Market," sponsored by The New York Academy of Sciences and The Dannon Company, are now available online for download.
During the symposium, industry scientists discussed how commercial probiotic products are being studied to determine their health effects, while academic scientists enumerated the challenges of conducting probiotic clinical research. Federal regulators offered details on appropriate approaches for scientists to use when conducting probiotic research.
Frye discussed the regulatory challenges companies face when they want to use results from clinical studies to substantiate health claims on probiotic foods.
"They must have a good working knowledge of the regulations involved and word their package labeling so that the claims align with available evidence," Frye said. "Often manufacturers themselves will need to develop, by performing or funding clinical studies, the necessary scientific evidence for claims they wish to make."
The other topics covered in the proceedings are:
- Impact of Probiotics on the Central Nervous System
- Understanding and Altering the Intestinal Microbiota
- Models for Studying Efficacy in Probiotics
- Probiotic Foods: Developing and Implementing Quality Clinical Trials
- Therapeutic Probiotics: Designing and Implementing Quality Clinical Trials
- In-Brief: Innovations in Probiotics Research
- Suggested Reading
- Resources & Frequently Asked Questions
"Probiotics from Bench to Market," proceedings of the symposium presented by The New York Academy of Sciences, 6/10 (4.57MB PDF)
For more information, contact Frye at cfrye@idfa.org.