Quality control of plant food supplements

It is essential to guarantee the safety of unprocessed plants and food supplements if consumers' health is to be protected. Although botanicals and their preparations are regulated at EU level, at least in part, there is still considerable discretion at national level, and Member States may choose to classify a product either as a food supplement or as a drug. Accurate data concerning the finished products and the plant used as the starting point are of major importance if risks and safety are to be properly assessed, but in addition standardized criteria for herbal preparation must be laid down and respected by researchers and manufacturers. Physiologically active as well as potentially toxic constituents need to be identified, and suitable analytical methods for their measurement specified, particularly in view of the increasing incidence of economically motivated adulteration of herbal raw materials and extracts. It remains the duty of food operators to keep up with the scientific literature and to provide sufficient information to enable the adaptation of specifications, sampling schemes and analytical methods to a fast-changing environment

Determinazione per cromatografia liquida dei residui di sulfamidici negli omogeneizzati a base di carne destinati all'infanzia

SIGLEITItal

Free amino acid content in standard infant formulas: comparison with human milk

To compare the concentration of non-protein nitrogen (NPN) and free amino acids (FAA) in powdered and liquid commercial formulas with that in human milk

Reliability of a Self-Administered Postal Questionnaire on the Use of Food Supplements in an Italian Adult Population

The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability of a self-administered postal questionnaire on the use of food supplements. The study was carried out in subjects representative of an Italian adult population. Eight thousand eight hundred twenty-three subjects received the questionnaire; 1723 subjects completed it of which 102 twice (baseline and 1-month re-administration). The latter 204 questionnaires were used to test reliability using Cohen’s kappa statistic (k) and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for categorical and quantitative variables, respectively. Subjects’ characteristics such as sociodemographic and physical data, lifestyles, dietary habits, and most health characteristics showed very good agreement (ICC or k 1.00 - 0.55) between questionnaires, with the exception of answers about the consumption of some medicines (k 0.37 - 0.40). The reliability concerning the use of food supplements was satisfactory on the whole (k 0.69) and fairly satisfactory for different categories of food supplements (k 0.83 - 0.41). With regard to additional information about users of food supplements, the reliability of responses was fairly satisfactory on the whole (k 0.93 - 0.41), with some exceptions. The concordance/correlation coefficient values generally showed that the questionnaire is fairly reliable over the entire sample for collecting information on the use of food supplements. </jats:p

The role of testosterone on the sleep related penile erections

In order to identify a possible threshold for a serum testosterone level below which sleep-related erections are impaired and to compare this threshold with the normal laboratory range of testosterone serum levels, we studied hypogonadal and eugonadal subjects by means of Rigiscan, a tool useful to monitor penile tumescence and rigidity during sleep

Free glutamine and glutamic acid increase in human milk through a three-month lactation period

Previous short observational studies on the free amino acid (FAA) content of human milk have shown that glutamine and glutamic acid increase in the first 4 to 6 weeks of life

Rassegna dei metodi per la ricerca e la identificazione dei sulfamidici negli alimenti

SIGLEITItal