Natural Products News Beat

Optometrists to learn about nutritional link
Keeping your eyes healthy involves good nutrition and supplement intake. That's the message that will be taught to optometrists by that industry's leading professional group, the American Optometric Association.

A significant part of the association's program will teach optometrists that effective nutritional regimens and supplementation help people's vision and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

The AOA's Low Vision Rehabilitation Section will provide professional development courses called Low Vision University. The forums will instruct doctors of optometry on the latest research and low-vision rehabilitative practice methods involved in the care of individuals who are visually impaired from eye conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.

Kemin Health, a Des Moines, Iowa-based manufacturer and marketer of nutritional ingredients, is sponsoring Low Vision University, along with LVRS.

The company produces lutein that is used in many supplement brands. Studies have linked lutein with reduced risk of cataracts and AMD, and have also suggested daily lutein intake of 10 milligrams or more may help improve some AMD symptoms in certain patients.

Acrylamide levels now online
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition recently added new data to its Web page regarding acrylamide, a potential human carcinogen.

Acrylamide causes cancer in laboratory animals when administered at high doses, and may pose a danger to people. Cooking at high temperatures, such as those used when baking and frying, can lead acrylamide to develop in certain carbohydrate-rich foods.

Acrylamide has been extensively investigated by CFSAN ever since the chemical was detected in a variety of fried and oven-baked foods in 2002 by researchers at the Swedish National Food Administration and Stockholm University.

The acrylamide levels found in approximately 400 food samples as part of the FDA's Total Diet Study Program have been added to CFSAN's Web site at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/acrydat2.html.

CFSAN's 2006 Exposure Assessment for Acrylamide, based on 2,500 samples, is also online at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/acryexpo.html. The estimated mean intake of acrylamide for people in the United States over the age of 2 is 0.4 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, the same number as in 2003 and 2004.

Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXVII/number 9/p. 12