"Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, and Natural Health Products: From Research and Innovation to Policy and Regulation"

The Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals and Natural Health Product workshop was a two-day event held in Montreal on October 3rd and 4th and included HQP and guest speaker presentations, as well as round table discussions. This conference was co-hosted by the HQP Association and a sub-group of the GE3LS theme, led by Heather Boon (University of Toronto) and Timothy Caulfield (University of Alberta).

Presentations provided a good overview of current research in the areas pertaining to Functional Foods and Natural Health Products (NHP), as well as an opportunity for sharing information and getting feedback from leaders in the field. The regulatory aspect of the workshop offered researchers information about the new Health Canada regulations applied to Natural Health products. It also allowed the audience to voice its concerns regarding these regulations and their impact on functional food research.

The first day of the workshop was devoted to a variety of presentations, many by HQP, that highlighted innovative research work related to functional foods and nutraceuticals being carried out within AFMNet. Dr. Peter Jones, Professor, School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University, and Dr. Yulai Jin, Principal Research Scientist at Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd., provided informative keynote presentations. Dr. Jones cast an eye to the future with an insightful presentation titled "The future horizon for functional foods: Sow's ear or silk purse?" and Dr. Jin provided a comprehensive analysis of microencapsulation of functional food ingredients.

Day two of the workshop focused on GE3LS-theme presentations on policy and regulatory issues related to natural health products (NHPs). In addition to presentations from AFMNet investigators and HQP, the second day featured three invited guests, Mary-Anne Kent from the Natural Health Products Directorate of Health Canada, Sunita Vohra from the Complementary & Alternative Research & Education Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta, and Joan Gilmour, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. Dr. Kent discussed regulatory requirements for conducting clinical trials with NHPs, Dr. Vohra highlighted key features of her research with NHPs in pediatric populations, and Dr. Gilmour explained legal and ethical issues relevant to children and complementary and alternative health care. The workshop ended after a group discussion chaired by Heather Boon where important issues were raised such as the need to inform and educate the public about natural health products and the impact of the scientific community on the NHP regulation process.

Enjoying a warm evening in the Old City of Montreal was also on the agenda of the workshop; Dinner at the Italian restaurant Georgio's located near the Old Port was followed by a scary ghost hunt in the dark narrow streets of the city.

The AFMNet Workshop Funding Support Program, the HQP Association and Ocean Nutrition Canada supported this workshop. Several papers based on presentations at this workshop will appear in a forthcoming edition of the Health Law Review, published by the University of Alberta Health Law Institute.