The potential role for bioactive food component substances and the possibility of their widespread consumer use to promote health and reduce risk of disease are of enormous public interest. The Office of Dietary Supplements, along with representatives from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Agriculture, as well as agencies within these departments, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration have formed an ad hoc federal working group tasked with defining bioactive components and exploring approaches to evaluate their significance in health promotion and reduced risk of disease. The goal of this cross-agency effort is to stimulate discussion and research. The following activities have been completed thus far.
In September 2004, a Federal Register notice (Federal Register Sept. 16, 2004;69(179): 55821-55822) was issued to seek public comment on the definition of bioactive food components. These comments will be used to shape the agendas of public meetings, which in turn, will assist researchers in developing approaches to assessing the health effects of bioactive food components. In addition, these outcomes may guide public health policy on how Americans can choose diets that promote good health.
Two public meetings were also held. The first meeting took place in March 2005 at the Lister Hill Auditorium at NIH, and the second was held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology 2005 meeting (EB05) in April 2005. The goal of the March 24-25 Assessing the Health Effects of Bioactive Food Components conference was to identify guiding principles that can be used to direct the development of approaches that can be used to categorize and assess the health effects of bioactive food components. Specifically, the conference reviewed: (1) existing approaches for categorizing and assessing the health effects of bioactive components; (2) existing and innovative techniques for the evaluation of health and determination of the development and progression of disease; and (3) the definition of bioactive food components, as well as approaches to and the challenges of identifying them in food. The April 1 workshop at EB05 reported on the lessons that have been learned from the evidence-based reviews of omega-3 fatty acids conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and examined how this knowledge can be applied to researching the health effects of other bioactive food components.
The proceedings from the public meetings will be made available through publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and on government-sponsored Web sites. For the most recent activities on this federal initiative, visit: http://www.scgcorp.com/bioactivefood2005/.
