Why Scientific Validation Is Important
Regulatory authorities throughout the world are drastically tightening the regulations relating to dietary supplements. Some are treating dietary supplements as medicines and demanding more and more scientific evidence to substantiate claims and document safety. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and certain members of Congress have recently been spurred into a frenzy of new regulatory activities by powerful lobbying groups. These activities include stepped-up enforcement of existing regulations and proposed new regulations that would directly target our industry.While this may sound troubling, and it will be for the unprepared, it is also an opportunity. According to Dr. Andrew Shao, the Senior VP for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), companies with good scientific validation and quality programs “may stand to thrive in the environment of stepped-up enforcement of the regulations because they are in compliance.” Dr. Sinnott, as chairman of CRN’s Senior Scientific Advisory Council, has worked closely with Dr. Shao and believes exactly the same thing. Mannatech has continually strengthened its scientific validation to reach a new industry standard that you probably won’t find in many other dietary supplement companies. Scientific validation has become a point of strength for Mannatech, and it will play to its distinct business advantage in the near future.
Speaking of scientific validation, the latest Ambrotose® research, published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology ,1 is a case in point. This paper, while just a small piece of the overall strategy to validate Ambrotose products for immune system functioning, enhanced cognitive functioning and beneficial gastrointestinal (GI) tract effects, is very important in its scope and content. It applies the most rigorous and modern scientific methods to elucidate the effects ofAmbrotose and Advanced Ambrotose® products on the GI tract microbial ecology. This publication supports that both Ambrotose products have unique, beneficial effects on microbial ecology, which could be one mechanism for the broad range of systemic health benefits that users commonly report. It also demonstrates, unequivocally, that bacteria in the human digestive tract provide the enzymes necessary to process both formulations into smaller fragments for biological utilization. This puts to rest, once and for all, the theory of some self-proclaimed experts that Ambrotose products cannot be useful because they cannot be digested by the human body. While human organs may not produce the enzymes necessary to digestAmbrotose products, the bacteria in our digestive tracts do produce and secrete the necessary enzymes. We live in complete synergy with our GI tract bacteria.*
It is important to add that this research project was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Ghent (Belgium) and ProDigest, a European company with leadership in scientifically validated GI tract research. These partners were chosen as part of Mannatech’sefforts to globalize its research and development by seeking out and working with some of the best scientific experts in the world.
Scientific validation is important not only in providing a business advantage but also in complying with the ever-increasing oversight by the world’s regulatory authorities. Those who have it will survive and thrive. Mannatech is poised to do both.http://www.healthyscience.net/
