‘Nutraceuticals’ and other health food supplements can no longer be sold as ‘medicines’ in India; and new standards are currently being
issued to counteract their ‘mislabelling’ by manufacturers, according to
reports. There will also be new fixed limits upon the quantity of certain
ingredients which go into such supplements.
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Img source: ExpertBeacon |
The news comes with the publication of new regulations last
week by the country’s Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI). The Indian
Direct Selling Association (IDSA) welcomed the move as bringing ‘clarity’ to existing rules, which various outlets
have highlighted as being contributory factors in various supplement-related illnesses
in recent years.
As The Hindu reported on Monday, an investigation by NIMS of the medical history of a patient recently
taken ill in Hyderabad found the patient had developed a rare neuromuscular
disorder after consuming a ‘natural health food’ for an extended period of
time. Worse still, before doctors could treat the patient, they had to spend
time running a series of lab tests to identify the problem compounds, as
adequate ingredient information was not detailed by the product’s packaging.
India’s nutraceutical industry is currently valued at about $2.8 billion by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and
Industry. Under the new guidelines, manufacturers will be responsible for food
safety.
Dr Dinesh Kumar, President of the Indian Pharmacological Association
and Senior Scientist at the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) told reporters that the evidence for ‘adverse events from [the consumption of]
herbal and health foods [has] been beyond question…in many cases the labels
with information on constituents are simply not available on the products.’
Nevertheless, Dr Kumar also claimed that rules have thus far
gone largely unenforced because, fundamentally, there are currently inadequate
monitoring systems in place to regulate the huge industry; a problem compounded
by what he describes as a general ‘lack of vigilance’ and public awareness.
To counteract this, NIN has been designated by the Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare to monitor the nutraceutical industry, and to
compile a database to log the occurrence of supplement-related illnesses. The
new regulations will see the FSSAI begin distributing licenses to companies which
comply with the new standards, and will be taking force from January 2018.
James Stannard
James has a Bachelor’s degree in History and
wrote his dissertation on beef and protest. His heroes list ranges from Adele
to Noam Chomsky: inspirations he’ll be invoking next year when he begins a
Master’s degree in London.
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