In January 2017 guidelines were released urging parents to begin early introduction of peanut-containing foods to reduce the risk of peanut allergy. A new study shows those who are aware of the guidelines are still hesitant to put them into place and not everyone has heard of them.

Arjuna Natural Extracts Ltd. has been granted official recognition from the Belgian government to market its proprietary herbal blend for overall wellness, branded “Herbagut”, in Belgium. This notification is applied in conjunction with the name of Arjuna Natural Extracts Ltd., but can be used by Arjuna’s customers as a reference.
A pure selection of traditional Indian herbal ingredients are extracted and formulated according to an ancient Indian recipe and applied to a reliable, traceable, clean-label formulation. The blend consists of 14 herbal extracts, all approved as non-Novel Food by the European Commission, and accepted for use in food supplements. Key botanical ingredients in the formulation are curcumin, ginger, and pepper, along with other Ayurvedic ingredients. Herbagut, a popular and leading brand in EU for more than 10 years, is based on an all-natural extract blend formulated by a well-known Indian traditional medical practitioner. It has been in use for gut health and general well-being for decades.
“The recognition by Belgium Food & Safety authorities means acceptance throughout the EU”, explains Benny Antony, PhD, Joint Managing Director for Arjuna. “It’s also a natural step in our strategy to lead the market in Indian herbal ingredients—not only regionally but also in the EU market.”
Arjuna Natural opened an office in Brussels last year to better, and more quickly, help serve its customers. “We have a comprehensive understanding of the complex European food regulation,” adds Antony. “This places us in an excellent position to offer our European customers complete commercial, technical, and regulatory support.”
Herbagut is safe to use in food supplements and can offer a range of health benefits including: improving gut microflora, mitigating constipation, relieving heartburn, and other digestive health issues. A clinical study with Herbagut shows that it helps regular and easy bowel movement, significantly reduces straining during bowel evacuation and improves overall bowel health and wellbeing.
Arjuna’s production processes and products meet market-specific regulations worldwide. A GMP-certified, SAP-driven company, Arjuna has achieved international certifications including ISO22000, Kosher and Halal. Arjuna continues to engage in research and development, with continuing scientific validation of its novel product line through advanced clinical studies.

www.arjunanatural.com

Social media activity around avocado, almonds and quinoa far outstrips that of activated charcoal, collagen or pea protein – suggesting that consumers are more interested in foods that are easy to understand and naturally healthy, a social media analysis by New Nutrition Business reveals.

McDonald’s has announced it will partner with franchisees and suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to McDonald’s restaurants and offices by 36% by 2030 from a 2015 base year in a new strategy to address global climate change. Additionally, McDonald’s commits to a 31% reduction in emissions intensity (per metric ton of food and packaging) across its supply chain by 2030 from 2015 levels. This combined target has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

A team from Madrid University (Spain) has just published a multi-centre randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study regarding the safety and tolerance of three of LHS probiotic strains in healthy infants. The strains tested individually are Lactobacillus helveticus Rosell®-52, Bifidobacterium infantis Rosell®-33, Bifidobacterium bifidum Rosell®-71, all part of the ProbioKid® formula, previously shown to help prevent the reoccurrence of winter infections in children. The eight weeks intervention study involved a large population sample as 221 healthy infants (3-12 months of age) were recruited in total, divided between four groups (placebo and each of the three probiotic strains). No serious adverse events were reported and the Spanish authors concluded that the use of the three probiotic strains in infancy is safe, and well tolerated.
Bérengère Feuz, Marketing Group Manager, commented about the study: “We already have a track record of safe use of our Probio’Kid formula as it has been marketed for around 15 years around the world (e.g. China where it is a best-selling probiotic formula for children since 2003). This study reinforces the assurance we have in our product. Moreover, I must say that we are very impressed by the quality and impact of this very-well designed study as it involves a large population of healthy infants and assesses independently each of the individual strains of Probio’Stick.” She added: “The protocol allowed to go beyond the safety and tolerance assessment since many parameters were also included: this will be analysed in a second step and shall give us new information about each strain modes of action in healthy individuals such as interactions with the microbiota and immune system”.
Such safety study contributed to the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status recently obtained in the US for both ProbioKid® formula and its individual strains for infants and children, and the approval by Health Canada of the formula for children from 3 months old.

www.lallemand-health-solutions.com