CRN Presses for Innovations in Nutrition Research

WASHINGTONVarious nutrition experts are encouraging other members of the scientific community to consider the full spectrum of scientific research methods for garnering results in food and dietary supplement trials. Because dietary supplements can provide benefits outside of randomized clinical trial (RCT) parameters, scientists emphasized the importance of observational studies, among other research techniques.We cannot ignore all the other researchcase-control and cohort studies, and other epidemiological dataas these studies often point us in the direction indicating where further research should be focused, said Steve Mister, president and chief executive officer (CEO), Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), at a recent scientific symposium presented by CRN. The research community needs to re-evaluate how to most efficiently and productively conduct nutrition research. Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at TuftsUniversity, commented on the situation during this years SupplySide East trade show: As with each research approach, there are inherent limitations to the use of RCTs, particularly when testing the effectiveness of preventive nutrition. Blumberg added most RCTs test very specific and narrow questions under a particular set of conditions, making it difficult to tie results to the general population. Robert P. Heaney, M.D., of CreightonUniversitys OsteoporosisResearchCenter, and a speaker at The Workshop symposium, said though RCTs rank highest among different research methods for studying efficacy, they are typically limited in their relevance to the general population and may impose many constraints that are ill-suited to testing nutrients, including vitamins. With these and other demonstrated shortcomings of RCTs and other EBM methodologies, the most efficacious approach seems to be a rounded consideration of all trial data.