Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are to provide scientific presentations on botanicals as dietary supplements as part of the expanded seminar program 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.
Purdue University and University of Alabama Botanicals Research Center for Age Related Diseases has 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.
Meanwhile, The University of Illinois, Chicago Center for Botanical Dietary Supplement Research in Women's Health will focus on 11 herbal supplements that have potential benefits for women's health, including therapies for menopause.
The molecular mechanisms of phytochemicals and phytonutrients will be covered by Missouri University Center for Phytonutrient and Phytochemical Studies. Finally, Iowa State University and University of Iowa Center for Research on Botanical Dietary Supplements will present findings related to echinacea and St. John's wort.
Christine Swanson, program director of the Dietary Supplement Research Centers for the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), will also participate in the seminar program.
The research centers are the result of a 1999 congressional mandate to the ODS at the NIH. Center funding is provided by the ODS in collaboration with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
"This event provides invaluable opportunities for industry to learn what our government is doing to support research in many areas they may not be aware of, and it also allows those in influential positions to better understand the science and business behind our products," said Paul Allen, vice president of Cognis Group, sponsors of the show.
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. The show runs from October 1-3, 2003, at the Venetian Hotel and the Sands Exposition Center in Las Vegas.