Safety of vitamin and mineral supplements and global stability testing guidelines are some of the key priority areas for the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA) in its three-year scientific and technical program until 2015.

The Alliance has prioritized the development of publications on these topics to provide both the sector and the authorities with the scientific and technical information they need on the safety and benefits of supplements in health, and guidelines for the promotion of best practice in the production and control of supplements.

The safety of vitamin and mineral supplements publication will be an update of our 2004 report, which identified scientific risk assessment procedures to define the highest levels of supplemental vitamin and mineral intakes that could be confidently considered safe for long-term daily consumption by most people,” said IADSA Chair Peter Zambetti. “Almost a decade after its publication, an updated report with the latest methodologies used in relation to risk assessment, risk analysis and risk-benefit analysis, including the Highest Observed Intake methodology, is clearly needed.”

“Our focus on global stability testing guidelines in 2013 aims to facilitate government initiatives particularly in Asia and Latin America that are considering their regulations on stability,” he continued. “There is currently no global guidance ‘tool’ on this subject.”

Other scientific and technical publications planned include the development of global guidelines on best practices in the supply chain, to assist supplement manufacturers worldwide with compliance to good manufacturing practice requirements.

Since IADSA’s creation more than 30,000 printed copies of publications have been circulated across the world and many thousands more downloaded from its website.