AOAC 2018 Preliminary Program

WILEY AWARD ADDRESS Need for a Comprehensive Approach to Assess Quality of Dietary Supplements

MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 2018 3:00pm – 3:30pm Ikhlas Khan , Director, The National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR), University of Mississippi, Oxford Ikhlas Khan will deliver the Wiley Award Address at the AOAC Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada, where he will examine methodologies for determining the quality and purity of dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, and other products placed on the market as using natural ingredients. He stresses the importance of quality of the test material for precise and accurate analysis. While research is focusing on determining the beneficial effects of traditional medicines and botanicals, it is becoming a priority that identity and authentication issues must be resolved, which requires a multidisciplinary effort. There has been an increase in interest in science- based research of botanical dietary supplements. To date, much of the research has been plagued by studies being conducted on unauthenticated, uncharacterized products. One of the most critical issues involved in any research study is the quality of the test material. A study cannot be considered scientifically valid if the material tested was not authenticated and characterized such that the material can be reproduced. In the case of botanicals, there may be misidentification of the collected plant, adulteration with other species, or contamination with extraneous ingredients. From the perspective of a regulatory action, these cases may range from misleading labeling to safety because of toxic contaminants. From the scientific community’s perspective, lack of authentication and characterization of study materials has resulted in a considerable amount of published work that is not reproducible, inconsistent, and contradictory. It can often be difficult to compare reported efficacy or toxicity studies even when ‘standardized’ material has been used. Many studies refer to the use of standardized material, which usually implies chemical standardization. While chemical standardization is important, it has limited utility when the starting material is not well-characterized botanically.

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