Vitafoods Europe Conference to Explore the Nutraceutical Revolution

March 1 2012 --- Geneva conference will present debates about the regulation and global performance of functional and nutraceutical ingredients.

Dr Stephen DeFelice, renowned for coining the term ‘nutraceutical’ back in 1989, will chair the 15th Vitafoods Europe Conference where he will discuss the past, present and future of the nutraceutical revolution.

 

The Founder & Chairman of The Foundation of Innovation for Medicine will join a host of international scientists, business leaders and research teams at the annual conference, taking place in Geneva from 22 – 24 May.

 

This year’s conference agenda has been shaped and peer reviewed by the new Vitafoods Europe Conference Executive Advisory Board. Speakers over the three days include representatives from Coca-Cola Europe, the European Food Information Council, Leatherhead Food Research, Solae Europe, Vital Solutions GmbH, Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) and Stratum Nutrition.

 

Chris Lee, Event Director of Vitafoods Europe, said: “The conference has built an international reputation within the nutraceuticals industry, delivering a unique programme that explores market expansion, new innovations and scientific discoveries. Not only will it provide new insight into product development, but it will also help companies to better market their products globally.”

 

More than 40 conference presentations will discuss consumer trends, global performance of functional food and drink, health claims, clinical trials and human testing, brain and mind health and regulation. Delegates will be able to learn about essential nutrients and cognitive function, generating food structures to aid consumer weight management and how to better measure food quality.

 

Danilo Casadei Massari, President and Founder, CM&D Pharma Ltd, A Nestle' Health Science Company will investigate the ‘Rules, cages and structures of the medical health system and pharmaceutical industry’. He will look in particular at access to market, pricing and regulatory status and players and forces of the drug prescription reimbursed model versus the prescription non-reimbursed model of dietary supplement/medical food.

 

Delegates will also be able to discover the challenges for developing personalised nutrition when Tim Adetona, Director, Nutritionals & Nutraceuticals, Voisin Consulting Life Sciences and Sylvie Le Gledic, Director, IVD/Medical Device, Voisin Consulting Life Sciences will co-present a session on ‘Personalised nutrition: Parallels from personalised medicine’. The session will explore validated biomarkers and subsequent diagnostic development - new concepts for the nutraceuticals industry.

 

The regulatory issues that continue to dominate the sector will also be discussed within the conference. Greer Deal, Director of Global Regulatory Services, will present a session on ‘EU Regulations: compliance and enforcement – the reality’ which will provide visitors with details of the large number of regulations applicable to products containing plant actives, an overview of some of the regulatory pathways available to companies and statistics on the impact of the EU’s Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive.

 

Within the conference there will also be a focus on how nutraceutical companies can expand their market reach, with a case study discussion on ‘Bringing new food products from the EU to the USA and Brazil’. Panellists, including representatives from RNI Consulting and Burdock Group USA, will walk the audience through regulatory strategies and considerations requires for an EU based company looking to expand their market reach.