ODS Update - Spring 2011

ODS Update: A Newsletter for Professionals from the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health

Spring 2011

Table of Contents

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ODS Director Paul Coates

ODS Director Paul Coates Receives Award from American Society for Nutrition

The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) Director Paul Coates is the 2011 recipient of the Conrad A. Elvehjem Award for Public Service in Nutrition. This award is given annually by the American Society for Nutrition in recognition of specific and distinguished service to the public through the science of nutrition. Dr. Coates received the award at the annual meeting of the society on April 10.

In addition to directing ODS, Dr. Coates now serves as acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Disease Prevention (ODP). ODS is one of the offices within ODP, which also includes the Office of Rare Diseases Research and the Office of Medical Applications of Research. The principle that guides him in approaching the challenges faced by both scientists and policymakers in the field is that collaboration is crucial, a strategy he has used since his research endeavors in inborn errors of metabolism at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Indeed, some of his most ambitious efforts have engaged collaborators in other countries as well, since many of the same issues that we confront in the United States arise in countries around the world.

Last year's recipient of the Elvehjem Award was another ODS scientist, Dr. Elizabeth Yetley. Dr. Yetley has retired from ODS as a senior nutrition research scientist but continues to serve as a part-time scientific consultant to the Office.

News You Can Use
ODS Director Paul Coates

Fact Sheets on Vitamin D, Calcium, and Other Nutrients Updated

ODS has updated many of its fact sheets over the last several months, including those on vitamin C and zinc. A new fact sheet on iodine is now available.

For the vitamin D and calcium fact sheets, important new information warranted the revisions—primarily updated recommended intakes for these two nutrients issued in November by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, National Academies. These, and other ODS nutrient fact sheets, provide the most up-to-date recommendations on daily intakes together with information on nutrient consumption and health status, risks of excessive intakes, groups at risk for inadequate intakes, and related topics.

Many ODS fact sheets are available on the ODS Web site in two versions. The Health Professional version gives a comprehensive review that is directed to health care providers and researchers. The Consumer version provides a detailed overview for consumers, but it also is suited for busy health care providers.
Oranges rich in vitamin C

Standard Reference Materials for Berry-Containing Dietary Supplements Now Available

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed new standard reference materials (SRMs) that facilitate the measurement of the amounts of organic acids in dietary supplements formulated with Vaccinium berries—cranberries, blueberries, and bilberries.

This suite of SRMs can be used as quality assurance tools. Until now, analytical approaches for measuring organic acid ratios in supplements have relied on the use of pure organic acid reference standards which do not take into account the complexity of the whole berry. The seven new SRMs allow for precise measuring of organic acid ratios, which are specific to each type of berry.

These SRMs were created as part of an ongoing collaboration to develop dietary supplement SRMs between NIST, ODS, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Further details about the Vaccinium berry suite of SRMs are available on the NIST Web siteexternal link disclaimer. Specific purchasing informationexternal link disclaimer is available there also.
Oranges rich in vitamin C

The Scoop, a New ODS Newsletter for Consumers, Now Available

ODS has introduced a new online newsletter intended for consumers. The Scoop will help individuals navigate the always interesting but sometimes confusing world of dietary supplements. It is intended for health-conscious individuals who may use supplements or are curious about them but have questions. On a quarterly basis, The Scoop will provide information and news that consumers can use to make more informed decisions about taking dietary supplements.

The first issue, published online in February, responds to a few questions ODS has received. Among them: Should I take a vitamin D supplement? Can vitamin C prevent colds or decrease their duration? Future issues will continue to provide answers to questions and focus on topics of special interest such as multivitamins or dietary supplements and aging.

View the February issue of The Scoop and sign up on the ODS listserv (http://ods.od.nih.gov/News/ODS_ListServ.aspx) to receive the newsletter by email.

In addition to The Scoop, ODS offers two other electronic publications. ODS Update includes news about ODS programs and activities, while the Special Supplement provides occasional timely announcements from ODS.
Oranges rich in vitamin C

New Tool Available to Search PubMed for Dietary Supplement Literature

Searching PubMed for topics related to dietary supplements has been made easier by the addition of the PubMed Dietary Supplements Subset, which can be reached directly through a link on the ODS Web site.

Use this tool to search through more than 430,000 citations for research on dietary supplements pertaining to health and adverse effects, role and function, surveys of dietary supplement use, cultivation of botanicals used as dietary supplements, food fortification, and related areas.

ODS and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) jointly created this subset with a unique search strategy focused on significant dietary supplement-related content. The PubMed Dietary Supplements subset succeeds the International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) database, a project which was a collaboration between ODS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 1999–2010.
Oranges rich in vitamin C

Search for ODS-Supported Research on ClinicalTrials.gov

ClinicalTrials.govexternal link disclaimer is an online registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world. Entries provide information about a trial’s purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details.

It is now possible to see what trials ODS is cofunding. On the ClinicalTrials.govexternal link disclaimerexternal link disclaimer main page, click on the List Studies by Sponsor link in the column on the right titled, “Study Topics.” On that page, click on National Institutes of Health as the sponsor category. Finally, click the link Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) toward the bottom of this new page.

At the present time, ODS is providing financial support for more than three dozen trials listed in the ClinicalTrials.gov database.

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.

Highlight: A notice has been issued jointly by ODS and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): Availability of Administrative Supplements (Revisions) to NCCAM Grants for Validation Studies of Analytical Methods for Natural Products. This program, for which administrative supplements are being solicited, is intended to identify and quantify constituents (bioactives, other chemical marker constituents, adulterants, or contaminants) in products intended to be swallowed by humans. To receive these supplements, the methods must have been developed or be under development during the time the active parent grant is active.

ODS Staff News

Recent ODS Staff Publications

  • Camp KM, Coates PM, Groft SC. Nutritional interventions for inherited metabolic diseases: building an infrastructure to guide clinical practice through evidence-based research. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism 102(3):273–274; March 2011. 
  • Parisi M, Urv T, Howell RR, Camp KM, Coates PM, Groft SC. National Institutes of Health phenylketonuria scientific conference. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism 102(3):308; March 2011.
  • Coates PM, Dwyer JT. In memoriam: Mary Frances Picciano, PhD, 1946–2010. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 93(3):479–480; March 2011.
  • Bailey RL, Gahche JJ, Lentino CV, Dwyer JT, Engel JS, Thomas PR, Betz JM, Sempos CT, Picciano MF. Dietary supplement use in the United States, 2003–2006. Journal of Nutrition 141(2):171–176; February 1, 2011.

    Coates PM, Meyers CM. The National Institutes of Health investment in research on botanicals. Fitoterapia 82(1):11–13; January 2011.

Recent ODS Staff Presentations

  • 2011 Government Web and New Media Conference
    March 17–18, 2011, Washington, DC
    Jody Engel participated in the panel presentation, Real Time Mobile: Stories from the Trenches, on March 17. She gave a presentation titled, MyDS Mobile App: From Concept to the App Store and Beyond.
  • University of Maryland
    March 14, 2011, College Park, MD
    Jody Engel gave a lecture titled, A Snapshot of a Nutrition Career in the Federal Government, to senior dietetics students in their Core Capstone course.
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
    March 16, 2011, Bethesda, MD
    Paul Thomas gave a talk at NIH for the “Focus on You” Wellness Lecture Series titled, Dietary Supplements: What You Need to Know.
  • University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
    March 8–9, 2011, Peoria, IL
    Paul Thomas gave a Grand Rounds presentation to medicine residents titled, What Sup, Doc? Dietary Supplements and the Physician, on March 8 and a talk to consumers titled, Vitamins and Supplements: What Works and What Doesn’t?, on March 9.
  • Genetic Diseases of Children, Advancing Research and Care Conference
    March 8, 2011, New York, NY
    Paul Coates chaired and Kathryn Camp participated as a panelist in a session titled, Meeting Nutritional Needs, at this conference which was sponsored by the State of New York Department of Health Wadsworth Center. 
  • Society for Inherited Metabolic Disorders Annual Meeting external link disclaimer
    February 27–March 2, 2011, Pacific Grove, CA
    Kathryn Camp, Paul Coates, and Stephen Groft presented a poster titled, Nutritional interventions for inherited metabolic diseases: building an infrastructure to guide clinical practice through evidence-based research. In addition, Melissa Parisi, Tiina Urv, Rodney Howell, Kathryn Camp, Paul Coates, Stephen Groft, presented a poster titled, National Institutes of Health phenylketonuria scientific conference.
  • American Society of Nutrition (ASN) Conference: Advances and Controversies in Clinical Nutritionexternal link disclaimer
    February 25, 2011, San Francisco, CA
    Paul Coates presented Issues in the Use of Herbal Dietary Supplements and ASN president, Robert Russell, presented Dietary Supplements: Who Needs Them and When Are They Needed?
  • Washington DC Health 2.0 STAT Meetupexternal link disclaimer
    February 10, 2011, Bethesda, MD
    Jody Engel gave a presentation titled, Don't Worry, Be Appy!, for Health 2.0 practitioners.
  • NORD Medical Foods Conferenceexternal link disclaimer
    February 10, 2011, Washington, DC
    Kathryn Camp gave a presentation titled, Federal Perspectives on Medical Foods. The conference was sponsored by the National Organization of Rare Disorders.
  • U.S. Department of Commerce
    January 26, 2011, Webinar
    Jody Engel gave a presentation titled, Federal Mobile Apps: Lessons Learned and Best Practices, as part of a Federal Mobile Apps Webinar Series sponsored by National Technical Information Service (NTIS).
  • 8th Annual Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine Conference: Natural Supplements: An Evidence-Based Update
    January 14–15, 2011, San Diego, CA
    Joseph Betz presented Reviewing the Research and Literature: The Best of the Year on January 14. Rebecca Costello led a workshop, Dietary Supplements Resources: Point of Care Answers for the Busy Clinician, with Paula Gardiner, Boston University School of Medicine, on January 15.
  • USDA National Agricultural Library
    January 10, 2011, Beltsville, MD
    Jody Engel gave a presentation to area dietetic interns titled, The Social RD: Why You Should Tweet, Link, and Be Appy!
  • Tufts University
    December 7, 2010, Boston, MA
    Christopher Sempos gave a presentation titled, Vitamin D, PTH Suppression, and Mortality, as part of the Department of Endocrinology Seminar Series.
  • Morgan State University
    December 1, 2010, Baltimore, MD
    Christopher Sempos gave a lecture titled, Vitamin D and All-Causes Mortality— How To Do an Analysis of Prospective Data, to the PUBH 601 Research Methods 1 class.

Upcoming Events

ODS will have exhibit booths at the following conferences:

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.

To receive ODS Update via email, join the ODS listserv.

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.

About ODS

The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the principal biomedical and behavioral research agency of the United States Government. NIH is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Contact Us

Office of Dietary Supplements
National Institutes of Health
6100 Executive Blvd., Room 3B01
Bethesda, MD 20892-7517

Email: [email protected]
Web site: http://ods.od.nih.gov