Quality Assurance for Hemp CBD: Key Questions to Ask

Quality assurance is a challenge for all herbal companies. For those making hemp extracts, the challenges are compounded by a confusing regulatory landscape, the inherent complexity of the plant, the surging consumer demand for CBD, and the entrance of dozens of upstart brands with no prior herbal experience and little understanding of basic QA methods.

Regulatory Confusion Reigns As FDA Grapples With CBD

On July 30, former FDA Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, published an op/ed in the Washington Post saying that the agency needs to get a grip on the “out of hand” CBD craze. But it’s a tall order. In many ways, CBD epitomizes all the conflicting motives and scientific ambiguities with which the FDA must constantly contend.

Envisioning the Future of Dietary Supplement Regulation

In the 25 years since Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the supplement industry has grown from cottage industry to multi-billion dollar global business. Rapid growth, the introduction of new ingredients, the globalization of the raw materials supply chain, the widespread use of genetically-modified ingredients, and the growing threat of economically-motivated product adulteration are  challenging DSHEA in ways its original framers could not have envisioned.

Florida Mandates Discussion of Opioid Alternatives–But Not Supplements

A new Florida law requires that health professionals provide chronic pain patients with information about opioid-free alternatives to pharmaceutical painkillers. The law aims to protect patients––but it’s also spurring confusion among the practitioners and physicians’ organizations attempting to comply.

Delta-Tocotrienol Reverses Metabolic Syndrome, Fatty Liver

Twice daily supplementation with δ-tocotrienol, one of the eight isoforms of vitamin E, produced marked reductions of body mass index, triglyceride levels, markers of inflammation, and liver enzymes in a cohort of overweight patients with metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

“Junk Food is the Gateway Drug”: Untangling the Web of Food & Drug Addictions

“The typical standard American diet couldn’t be better designed to kill people: it’s about 10% whole plant foods which means potatoes for many people, 30% animal products, and 60% processed foods.” Oh, and soft drinks. Lots of soft drinks.

Speaking at the first annual Plant-Based World Expo, Dr. Joel Fuhrman described the complex web between addiction to empty calories, drug and alcohol abuse, and long-term chronic disease.

The EAT-Lancet Report: A Call For Food System Transformation

EAT-Lancet Commission’s Food in the Anthropocene, a report compiled by a committee of 37 independent scientists headed by Harvard’s Walter Willet, lays out a blueprint for an optimal plant-based, largely meat-free diet, and for food production systems that would ensure sustainable fulfillment of this diet on the widest possible scale.

The Roots of Supplement Quality Are in the Soil

For dietary supplements containing plant-derived ingredients, product quality has its roots in the soil in which those plants are grown. Recent developments in soil science and sustainable agriculture are helping conscientious companies to safeguard product quality in an era of widespread environmental degradation.

“The Answer to Disease is Vegetables”: Plant-Based Pioneers Have Their Moment

“We know the answer, and it is not that complicated. To be healthy, eat high volumes of vegetables. The answer to disease is vegetables. But people don’t want to hear, ‘Eat vegetables.’ They want pills to overcome the diseases caused by our dysregulated appetites,” said Joel Fuhrman, MD, at the first annual Plant-Based World Expo in New York City earlier this summer.

Plant-Based Planet: The Food Industry’s (Brave) New World

At a time when meat has never been cheaper, the food industry has discovered “plant-based” living. US sales of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives topped $4.5 billion this year. But today’s vegan offerings are very different from the kale salads and tofu sausages of yesteryear.