Diane Hoffmann, JD, director of the Law and Health Care Program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law has
called upon the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider the unique features of probiotics in regulating their use and marketing.
Probiotics
are bacteria that help maintain the natural balance of organisms in the intestines. Probiotics are types of "good" or "beneficial" bacteria. As well as aiding the immune system and digestion, scientists think that mixtures of pro biotic bacteria can help to reduce the growth of certain types of bacteria. Because of this, scientists are looking at the right types of probiotic bacteria.
Probiotics are commonly consumed as part of fermented foods with specially-added active live cultures, such as in yogurt, soy yogurt, or as dietary supplements.
Probiotics in the U.S. currently fall under a number of different categories, including probiotic foods, dietary supplements and dietary ingredients for which there is adequate evidence of safety in the target population; approved food additives and substances generally recognized as safe (GRAS).
Currently the FDA has no definition of probiotics and regulates them based on whether they fall into one of the existing regulated product categories. The report calls upon the FDA to have the means to assess the effectiveness of the probiotics claim and the safety of the preparation.
To put forward her argument, Diane Hoffmann has written
a report titled "Probiotics: Finding the Right Regulatory Balance” for the journal
Science.
