"WHITE PAPER" ON NUTRACEUTICALS

Today various nutrients are being studied for such far-reaching benefits as slowing the aging process and curtailing the adverse health effects of pollution, according to the US-based Foundation for Innovation in Medicine. It says that more and more food and nutritional products are found in government and university-based studies to offer potential or actual benefits in the prevention or treatment of widespread illnesses.

However, there is an absence of any appropriate and efficient review process for the product data claims and other information. This has come about, according to the Foundation, because the government does not directly regulate scientists or the media, or physicians and consumers. It only regulates the industry, which usually has neither sponsored the studies nor, in most cases, made the claims. The Foundation says that, in real-ity, there is no effective regulatory system in the USA regarding medical or health claims for nutraceuticals, despite the fact that these products have entered the mainstream of science, medicine and the consumer marketplace.

For this reason, the Foundation has issued a "White Paper" proposing specific economic and regulatory reforms to establish conditions in the USA for the responsible, research-based development and availability of nutraceuticals, as a growing array of food and nutritional products with health and medical benefits.