News You Can Use
A New Look for the ODS Web Site
The ODS Web site has been newly designed—same URL, but with a very different look. Designed with our many audiences in mind, the navigation system uses color to help you quickly find what you are looking for. The home page has a consumer focus, highlighting ODS fact sheets on dietary supplement ingredients and other informational materials. Whether you're a consumer, health care provider, scientist, or member of the dietary supplement industry, you'll find reliable information on dietary supplements including:
Visit the redesigned ODS Web site at http://ods.od.nih.gov.
Dietary Supplements: Now There's a Free App for That
My Dietary Supplements (MyDS) is a new, free application (app) for the Apple iPhone and iPad that provides an easy way to keep track of the nutrients, herbs, and other supplements you take. You can email the list of supplements to yourself or your health care providers, and print it out. With MyDS, you can also create profiles for others (your children, spouse, or parent, for example) to keep a record of the dietary supplements they take.
MyDS is simple to use. Begin by creating a profile and record the name and amount of each dietary supplement taken. Add additional information about each supplement in the Notes field. Using the iPhone's camera, take up to two photos of each dietary supplement on your list (such as the front and back labels). If you wish, protect these details of your supplement use by creating a password to access this information.
Rounding out the features of MyDS are brief fact sheets (Consumer) from ODS on several nutrients, as well as links to the ODS Web site and several other ODS publications. Further information about MyDS and a link to download it at the Apple iTunes store are available at http://ods.od.nih.gov/myds.
Ability to Search on Dietary Supplements Topics Coming to PubMed
Soon, searching PubMed for topics related to dietary supplements—such as health and adverse effects, role and function, surveys of supplement use, cultivation of botanicals used as supplements, and food fortification—will be made easier by the addition of a Dietary Supplements subset as a choice in the Subset category on the Limits page. ODS and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) have created this subset with a unique search strategy focused on selected journals in MEDLINE that have significant dietary supplement-related content.
PubMed, the resource developed and maintained by NLM at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provides free access to MEDLINE, a bibliographic database of citations and abstracts from approximately 5,400 biomedical journals around the world extending back to 1948. Most readers of this e-newsletter have used PubMed to search for information.
The PubMed Dietary Supplements subset will succeed and replace the International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) database, a project on which ODS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have collaborated since 1999.
Twitter
If you haven't already noticed, "new media" has come to ODS. Now get timely messages from ODS through Twitter, a rich source of information on a wide variety of topics—then re-tweet to share with your followers. Join today and follow @NIH_ODS
on your computer or mobile device.
ODS Programs and Activities
Save the Date: Mary Frances Picciano Dietary Supplement Research Practicum, June 6-9, 2011
ODS will conduct its 5th Annual Dietary Supplement Research Practicum on June 6-9, 2011. This four-day course, named in memory of its creator, provides a thorough overview and grounding on issues, concepts, unknowns, and controversies related to dietary supplements and supplement ingredients. Its focus is science-based and research oriented. As in previous years, the practicum will be open to academic faculty in the health sciences and their doctoral or postdoctoral students/fellows with a serious interest in the subject.
In January, the practicum Web site will be updated with details about the application process, selection criteria, and agenda. Information currently on the site, from the June 2010 practicum, will give you a general sense of the program, orientation, and speakers, and may help you decide whether the practicum might be of interest.
Registration for the 2011 practicum is free, but participants are responsible for their travel expenses, accommodations, and meals. Awards will be available for students to help defray expenses.
New Funding Opportunities for Research
ODS collaborates on funding initiatives across NIH and with other agencies through mechanisms such as Requests for Applications (RFAs), Program Announcements (PAs), and notices. Over the past few months, ODS has signed onto several funding initiatives. Further details are available.
ODS Staff News
Kathryn Camp, MS, RD, CSP joined ODS in September as a Scientific Policy Analyst. She works jointly with ODS and the Office of Rare Diseases Research to develop an evidence-based framework for nutrition interventions to treat genetic and metabolic disorders. Kathy has 25 years of experience in clinical practice caring for children with genetic and metabolic conditions, and currently holds an academic appointment as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. Prior to coming to ODS, she was a Senior Health Policy Analyst in the Office of Biotechnology Activities at the NIH.
Johanna Dwyer, DSc, RD, ODS Senior Research Scientist and Senior Scientist in Tufts University's Nutritional Epidemiology Program, received the Dean's Medal from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at the School's 30th Anniversary Celebration and Dean's Medal Ceremony on November 6 in Boston.
Recent ODS Staff Publications
Leila G. Saldanha, Johanna T. Dwyer, Karen W. Andrews, Regan L. Bailey, Jaime J. Gahche, Constance J. Hardy, Joanne M. Holden, Mary Frances Picciano, Janet M. Roseland, Paul R. Thomas, and Wayne R. Wolf. Online dietary supplement resources. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 110(10):1426-1431, October 2010.
Elizabeth A. Yetley, Christine M. Pfeiffer, Rosemary L. Schleicher, Karen W. Phonney, David A. Lacher, Sylvia Christakos, John H. Eckfeldt, James C. Fleet, George Howard, Andrew N. Hoofnagle, Siu L. Hui, Gary L. Lensmeyer, Joseph Massaro, Munro Peacock, Bernard Rosner, Donald Wiebe, Regan L. Bailey, Paul M. Coates, Anne C. Looker, Christopher Sempos, Clifford L. Johnson, and Mary Frances Picciano. NHANES monitoring of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D: a roundtable summary. Journal of Nutrition 140(11):2030S-2045S, November 2010.
Recent ODS Staff Presentations
Joseph Betz gave the keynote address titled Reference Materials for Nutrition Research and the Public Health at the Future of Reference Materials: Science and Innovationon conference in Geel, Belgium, on November 23.
Paul Coates presented Economic Analyses of Nutrient Interventions for Chronic Disease Prevention at the Natural Health Research Institute 5th Annual Scientific Symposium "Natural Products – Cost-Effectiveness & Safety of Dietary Supplements" on November 18 in Bloomingdale, IL.
Jody Engel presented Dietary Supplements: What Registered Dietitians Need to Know to dietetic interns in the Washington, D.C. area at the NIH on November 15.
Johanna Dwyer, Leila Saldanha, Janet Roseland, and Regan Bailey presented a symposium, Help Me with Dietary Supplements, at the American Dietetic Association's Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, November 7 in Boston.
Kathryn Camp and Dianne Frazier presented The Affordable Genome: Implications and Challenges for Dietary Treatment of Inherited Metabolic Disorders and Multifactorial Chronic Conditions at the American Dietetic Association's Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, November 7 in Boston.
Upcoming Events
Indo-US Symposium on Ayurvedic, Siddha, and Unani (ASU) Drugs
December, 8-9, 2010: Bengaluru, India
Joseph Betz will present Technical and Regulatory Challenges to Clinical Research on Botanicals: An NIH Perspective on December 9.
Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine
8th Annual Natural Supplements: An Evidence-Based Update
January 13-16, 2011: San Diego, CA
Joseph Betz will present Reviewing the Research and Literature: The Best of the Year on January 14th. Rebecca Costello will present a workshop titled Dietary Supplements Resources: Point of Care Answers for the Busy Clinician on January 15. ODS will have an exhibit booth at this conference.
ODS Update provides information on news, activities, and resources from the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS). ODS is a program office within the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The mission of ODS is to strengthen knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements by evaluating scientific information, stimulating and supporting research, disseminating research results, and educating the public to foster an enhanced quality of life and health for the U.S. population.
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ODS Update is not copyrighted and is in the public domain. If you copy or distribute its content, please credit the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements and include the publication title and date. Do not use our information in any way that suggests we endorse any commercial product or service.
To contact the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), go to the "Contact Us" page of the ODS Web site.