An extensive body of scientific research has shown that taking antioxidant supplements, including vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc and selenium, consistently over the long-term, can play a role in reducing the risk of chronic disease, and an updated meta-analysis published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews should not cause consumers to question the efficacy or safety of antioxidant supplements, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN, Washington, DC).

The University of Copenhagen in Denmark examined previous studies and the effects of vitamins and antioxidants and published the study under the sponsorship of the Cochrane Collaboration. The authors concluded: “We found no evidence to support antioxidant supplements for primary or secondary prevention. Vitamin A, beta-carotene, and vitamin E may increase mortality. Future randomized trials could evaluate the potential effects of vitamin C and selenium for primary and secondary prevention.

“Such trials should be closely monitored for potential harmful effects. Antioxidant supplements need to be considered medicinal products and should undergo sufficient evaluation before marketing.”

“Antioxidant supplements are certainly not meant to be magic bullets and should not realistically be expected to undo a lifetime of unhealthy habits,” said Andrew Shao, PhD, vice president, scientific and regulatory affairs, for the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the leading trade association for the dietary supplement industry. “However, when used properly, in combination with eating a healthy diet, getting plenty of exercise, not smoking, etc., antioxidant supplements can play an important role in maintaining and promoting overall health.” The authors of this meta-analysis examined the effects of antioxidant supplements on all-cause mortality, concluding with negative generalizations that discount most of the body of scientific research behind antioxidants supplements. “The conclusions one can reach from this meta-analysis are very limited. In fact, a variation of these results has already been published and was heavily criticized in its original version, due, in part, to the authors' systematic exclusion of studies that didn't support the hypothesis they were trying to prove," said John Hathcock, PhD, senior vice president, scientific and international affairs, CRN. "With nearly 750 studies to choose from, it's interesting that they chose to include only 67 studies—less than nine percent of the total clinical trials on antioxidants that are available. Moreover, the possible 750 clinical trials do not even account for other sources of evidence, such as observational studies, which were not considered by the authors at all. It is their exclusions, not the inclusions, where the fault lies."

Although the authors claimed to be assessing antioxidant supplements for the prevention of mortality, they excluded all studies—405 of them—that reported no deaths.

"It really comes down to whether or not this meta-analysis should mean anything to consumers or scientists," said Shao. "And from a practical standpoint, it doesn't mean much. We maintain that healthy consumers who are using antioxidant supplements in the manner that they were meant to be used—as complements to, not in place of—other healthy lifestyle habits, can continue to feel confident in the benefits these supplements provide.

A new study indicates that multivitamins and vitamin C top the list of dietary supplements used by US adolescents, which is "reassuring" given the relative lack of health risks associated with them, researchers said.

But adolescents in the study who used prescription medications were also more likely to use dietary supplements, and doctors and pharmacists should be sure to ask their young patients about supplements to avoid the possibility of harmful interactions, concluded Dr. Paula Gardiner of Boston University Medical School and her colleagues.

Gardiner and her team reviewed data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for 11- to 19-year-olds to investigate how common supplement use is among adolescents and factors associated with using vitamins, herbal medicines, minerals and other products.

Twenty-seven percent of the adolescents surveyed said they had used a dietary supplement in the past month, the researchers found. Sixteen percent used multivitamins, while six percent said they took vitamin C. Just four percent used non-vitamin mineral supplements, including two percent who said they used supplements to help them lose weight or enhance sports performance.

Non-Hispanic whites were most likely to be using dietary supplements, while prescription medication users were 37 percent more likely than those not taking prescribed drugs to use dietary supplements. Study participants who said they were in fair or poor health were 41 percent less likely to take supplements than their peers who considered themselves to be in better health. And adolescents who reported having chronic headaches were 25 percent more likely to use dietary supplements.

Obese individuals were 51 percent more likely to be using non-vitamin or mineral herbal supplements, the researchers found, as were older teens.

"To better understand use among culturally diverse groups and those with different clinical conditions, future studies should include a broader range of dietary supplements (such as those used in folk remedies, foods and medicinal teas) and ask about common health conditions," the researchers reported.

"Additional studies are needed to determine the impact of dietary supplement use on health care use, health status, and quality of life," they added.

Kerry North America has begun rolling out a new name change in the Americas that it said will enhance its customer service by regrouping previously divided divisions, according to a report by Clarisse Douaud posted on the website FoodNavigator-USA.com

The global dairy ingredients giant has changed its business model for the Americas by re-integrating three of its current divisions—Kerry Ingredients, Kerry BioScience and the Mastertaste flavors—under the new name of Kerry Ingredients & Flavours.

According to the firm—which is headquartered in Tralee, Ireland—the motive behind the regrouping is to better market the services and technologies it offers. Only recently acquired and set up, the various divisions will be amalgamated under the same structure.

In 2002, the Kerry Group launched Mastertaste as its global flavor division for food and beverage markets, after having previously purchased Mastertaste operations in both the UK and Australia.

In 2004, the Group acquired Quest Food Ingredients, which it transformed into the Kerry Bio-Science division, specializing in bio-ingredients and pharma-ingredients.

According to the company, the change has allowed the company's American operations to have a more market-focused approach with different technologies and applications now organized according to specific product needs.

However, the main push behind the move is to make things easier for clients, said Jim Egan, Kerry North America's director of communication programs.

"I think it's just our continued effort to find ways to serve our customers," he said. Prior to this, Egan said all three divisions operated as strong businesses, but it was less easy for customers to access the various applications and technologies surrounding their one product than it will be now.

Kerry Ingredients & Flavours will now have teams dealing with specific categories including: bakery, cereal and snack bars; prepared meals; dairy and frozen desserts; soups, sauces and dressings; nutritional beverages; salty snacks; tea and coffee; soft drinks, alcoholic beverages; meats, seafood and appetizers.

The name change will affect these three companies located in the USA, Canada and Mexico only. The firm is rolling out the change in the Americas first and notifying its customers of this change as the transitions will apply to systems such as invoicing procedures.

"We hope the name will be effective as of July 1," said Egan.

Kerry Group reports annualized sales of €4.5 billion ($7.1 billion) and employs 22,000 people at its global manufacturing, sales and technical centers. The Group has manufacturing facilities in 19 different countries and international sales offices in another 20 countries.

Corn Products International, Inc. (Westchester, IL) has entered into an agreement with Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co. Ltd. of Osaka, Japan, for the exclusive license of its patented stevia strain, manufacturing technology and stevia production, along with global marketing and distribution rights.

Sweeteners from the stevia plant are allowed in dietary supplements in the US. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow their use in foods or beverages on the basis that available toxicological information on stevia is inadequate to demonstrate its safety as a food additive or its status as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). High-intensity sweeteners from the stevia plant are natural and may be hundreds of times sweeter than sucrose.

Westchester-based Corn Products International will market the sweetener under the brand name Enliten and file for regulatory approval in the US, although that process is expected to take several years to complete.

"While the commercialization and production scale-up of Enliten is not expected to make a significant contribution to our revenues in the near term, this is another initiative we are taking to lay the groundwork for longer-term, profitable growth," said Sam Scott, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Corn Products International.

Cargill (Minneapolis, MN) and The Coca-Cola Co. (Atlanta, GA) are working under a partnership to develop and introduce a high-intensity sweetener from the stevia plant that the companies will call rebiana. The partnership involves research that seeks to gain GRAS approval for rebiana in food and beverages in the US.

Several countries in Asia and South America already approve stevia-based sweeteners for use in foods and beverages. Morita Kagaku Kogyo began to commercialize stevia-based sweeteners in 1971. The sweeteners have a high concentration of Rebaudioside A, which is found in the stevia leaf and makes the sweetener more than 400 times sweeter than cane sugar, according to Morita Kagaku Kogyo. The company said its sweetener from the stevia plant has no bitterness or aftertaste.

Corn Products will use patented plants in both hemispheres to increase the sweetener’s supply. Contracted growers in Brazil began to grow the stevia plant for Corn Products more than a year ago.

"In addition to current access to Morita’s production in Japan, Corn Products is committing $20 million to begin construction this year of a dedicated plant in Brazil, with a year-end 2009 completion date, to meet expected growth in customer demand," Scott said.

Corn Products will market Enliten in select Latin American and Asian countries where the sweetener already is approved for use in foods and beverages, he said.

The Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials (WICST) has produced a series of findings focusing on the productivity of organic corn-soybean systems and concludes that organic farms can be essentially as productive as nearby conventional farms.

Organic corn and soybean yields were on average 90 percent of conventional yields, and organic forage crop yields were the same as conventional yields. In years where organic farmers could carry out early-season weed control on a timely basis, corn and soybean yields were the same.

In years with wet weather in the spring, however, organic yields can suffer when mechanical cultivation of weeds is delayed. But in dry years, organically managed crops often yield higher than conventional crops because of the ability of soils on organic farms to more quickly take in rainfall.

The approximate 10 percent lower corn and soybean yields on organic farms likely results in 15 percent to 25 percent higher concentrations of protein, some vitamins, and overall antioxidant activity. The increase in nutrient density likely more than makes up fully for the modest yield reduction.

Part of the increase in organic corn and soybean nutrient density is directly linked to lower yields and the "dilution effect" with the balance of the difference attributed to the ability of soils on organic farms to increase flavonoid and antioxidant levels.

Source: J.L. Posner et al., "Organic and Conventional Production Systems in the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping System Trials: I. Productivity 1900-2002," Agronomy Journal, Vol. 100, No. 2, 2008

The Organic Center (Boulder, CO), a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering scientific research behind the health and environmental benefits of organic food and farming, will receive a portion 10 percent of the proceeds from Organic Bouquet sales by customers following the link www.OrganicBouquet.com/OrganicCenter.

To support the work of the Center, Organic Bouquet has created a special “Organic Center Bouquet” of organically produced roses. As a special offer for Mother’s Day (May 11), The Organic Center Bouquet comes with a free vase when a customer clicks through to this link: www.OrganicBouquet.com/OrganicCentermday.

“Give something beautiful that doubles your giving and send The Organic Center Bouquet or any of the bouquets on offer through our link to Organic Bouquet’s website,” said Seleyn DeYarus, The Organic Center’s development director. “Working with such donor partners as Organic Bouquet helps ensure that we can continue important scientific research into the human health and environmental benefits of organic agriculture and communicate those benefits to the public.”

The production of organic flowers helps to improve the quality of farm working conditions, minimize damage to ecosystems, conserve biodiversity, and enhance environmental quality for future generations.