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"Dietary supplement quality is a question of commitment." Interview with Loren D. Israelsen
More and more Americans are benefiting from vitamins and herbs, but what is being done to root out shoddy manufacturing, promote research, and devise ways to caution consumers who use high-risk supplements? Loren D. Israelsen, a highly respected and widely influential member of the supplement industry, speaks to those questions and more in a wide-ranging, no-holds-barred interview with SupplementQuality.com. Read his views on threats to important health freedoms embodied in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), which in large part he helped to author and pass. Want the truth about Codex, international "harmonization" efforts, and the WTO free-trade agreements? Don't miss this interview! (July 2001)
 
"Recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) of vitamins more political than scientific." Interview with Robert Reynolds, PhD
Much controversy surrounds dietary supplements -- including the question of what amounts of vitamins and minerals are best for us. Recently published guidelines from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences have raised the issue anew. So we talked with Robert Reynolds, an internationally-recognized specialist in nutrition research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. According to Reynolds, recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) apply to less than 50 percent of the population and are often based on very limited data. And even though safe upper levels (ULs) may sound like a good way to avoid excessive intake, the scientific data supporting them is "even more fragmentary" than those for RDAs. (February 2001)
 
"Test results on herbal supplements are complex . . . and can be misleading." Interview with noted herbalist and publisher Mark Blumenthal
We've all seen news headlines trumpeting the failure of various botanical products to "pass the lab test." In this insightful interview, Mark Blumenthal explains why such stories are often misleading. Blumenthal knows of what he speaks: as Executive Director of the American Botanical Council (ABC), he has overseen testing of upwards of 500 ginseng products. Here he explains the complexities of testing while citing examples of both good and "worst case scenario" reportage. He also comments on the challenge of producing high quality herbal products on a consistent basis. As editor and publisher of HerbalGram, Blumenthal will publish results of ABC's Ginseng Evaluation Program in two forthcoming issues: March and June 2001. (December 2000)
 
Allison Sarubin, author of The Health Professional's Guide to Popular Dietary Supplements
A new book from the American Dietetic Association provides clear and impartial summaries of research studies on 69 leading dietary supplements. If you've ever wondered about the scientific research behind your favorite supplements but didn't want to sit down and plow through reams of studies yourself, this book has done the work for you. Read about the book and our interview with the author. (June 2000)
 
DSQI Founder Champions Freedom of Choice
At first glance, increased government regulation might appear to be the best way to assure the quality we all want in the supplements we buy. After all, if regulation "works" for pharmaceuticals, why not for supplements? The catch is that regulation has a down side, as Cristina Crawford explains in this article describing her reasons for founding the Dietary Supplement Quality Initiative (DSQI) and creating this SupplementQuality.com website. (November 1999)
 
Mark Lange, INA's Science Director
On March 20, 1999, we spoke with Mark Lange, INA's Science Director, and Loretta Zapp, President of Industrial Labs and the driving force behind formation of both the Institute for Nutraceutical Advancement and the MVP. (March 1999)
 
Loretta Zapp, President of Industrial Labs
On March 20, 1999, we spoke with Mark Lange, INA's Science Director, and Loretta Zapp, President of Industrial Labs and the driving force behind formation of both the Institute for Nutraceutical Advancement and the MVP. (March 1999)
 

 

 

   
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(c) Copyright 1999-2003 Dietary Supplement Quality Initiative. For permission to reprint, please contact our editor.