Emerging risks in food supplements: how to read the new European report.

The European Food Supplement Project brings together authorities and institutions from several countries to identify potential emerging risks associated with supplements other than vitamins and minerals. The work combines nutrivigilance data, adverse-event reports, poison-centre information and screening of botanical products available on the market.

The vigilance work package selected Bifidobacterium, Coleus or Plectranthus barbatus, guggul, Huperzia serrata, black radish and ginseng as areas requiring further investigation. The botanical screening also identified furfural, emodin and chrysophanol as substances of interest occurring across the products examined.

Its industrial relevance is not a list of prohibited ingredients. The report instead indicates where due diligence should be strengthened: botanical or strain identity, preparation, dose, specifications, contaminants, literature, adverse-event reports and supplier traceability.

The authors state that further data are needed to estimate consumer exposure and characterise risk. Inclusion in the report therefore does not demonstrate that every ingredient, extract, strain or finished product has the same safety profile.

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