This week’s high headlines included Well being Canada calling for warnings on turmeric/curcumin complement labels, Australia’s TGA approving NMN, Zoe’s ‘breakthrough’ intestine bug rating analysis.
Turmeric- or curcumin-containing pure well being merchandise (NHPs) in Canada should replace their labels to warn in regards to the threat of hepatotoxicity, following a evaluation by Well being Canada of the accessible info.
In a current put up, Well being Canada acknowledged that the proof of hepatotoxicity related to turmeric- or curcuminoid-containing NHPs seems to be idiosyncratic, however the merchandise may, in uncommon circumstances, result in critical outcomes for liver well being.
The company famous it was updating its monographs accordingly.
“Well being Canada expects license holders to replace the danger info on product labels for all licensed turmeric- or curcuminoid-containing NHPs to: embody details about the warning indicators and signs of hepatotoxicity, together with yellowing of the eyes or pores and skin, darkish urine, nausea, vomiting and abdomen ache; advise shoppers to cease utilizing these merchandise and seek the advice of a healthcare skilled if signs happen; and advise shoppers to seek the advice of a healthcare skilled earlier than use if they’ve a liver dysfunction or are taking drugs,” the company acknowledged.
In response, Sonia Parmar, vice chairman of regulatory affairs and authorities relations for the Canadian Well being Meals Affiliation, informed NutraIngredients that Well being Canada’s turmeric security posting underscores a deepening transparency drawback.
“Well being Canada’s current posting of the Abstract Security Evaluation on turmeric and curcuminoids, launched in late 2025 however primarily based on alerts and case reviews relationship again years, highlights a critical and rising concern for Canada’s pure well being product (NHP) sector,” she stated. “At no level throughout this evaluation, nor previous to its publication, did the division have interaction with affected stakeholders. But the posting introduces necessary labeling necessities. Necessities utilized erratically to NHP, however not meals producers for merchandise containing equivalent concentrations of turmeric.”
Australia’s regulator, the Therapeutic Items Administration (TGA) has authorized nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) to be used in dietary dietary supplements for the primary time.
The ingredient, typically related to anti-aging and longevity, was added to the TGA’s Therapeutic Items (Permissible Components) Dedication (No. 4) 2025 on Dec. 10.
With this approval, dietary complement producers in Australia can now formulate NMN into their merchandise on the market inside Australia.
The NMN ingredient authorized by the TGA was sourced from Australian biotechnology firm Longevity Life Sciences Pty Ltd and manufactured by Shanghai-based SyncoZymes.
Commercially accessible as CellVive NMN, the ingredient will initially be bought in Australia.
Longevity Life Sciences has additionally developed a completed product containing the ingredient, which is slated for launch in Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong by way of e-commerce subsequent March, CEO Sally Panton informed NutraIngredients.
The product, named Elevate Cellvive NMN Advance, can also be listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Items (ARTG) database as of Dec. 11.
This can be a single-ingredient product, with every capsule containing 250 mg of NMN. Primarily based on info listed on the ARTG, the product is permitted to make indications reminiscent of “scale back free radicals fashioned within the physique”, “keep/help power manufacturing”, and “keep/help common well being and well-being.”
New analysis from customized vitamin platform Zoe claims to “advance the intestine well being subject dramatically” by rating greater than 100 species of intestine micro organism to assist scientists monitor intestine well being “higher than ever earlier than.”
Printed within the journal Nature, researchers from Zoe, the College of Trento, Italy and Kings Faculty London analyzed greater than 34,000 microbiomes (Zoe platform customers from the UK and US) to create a measure of intestine microbiome well being they’ve named the ZOE Microbiome Well being Rating 2025.
The rating has been made accessible for analysis scientists the world over as “a dependable and repeatable measure of microbiome well being.”
“It’s a large breakthrough discovery second for us and a real milestone in microbiome science,” Dr. Federica Amati, Zoe’s head nutritionist and research co-author, informed NutraIngredients. “We will now map the useful aspect of the microbiome with higher readability than ever earlier than, and it’s already evolving how we take into consideration intestine well being.”
She defined the rating has been validated towards a number of unbiased international datasets, and it seems to carry up throughout totally different populations and environments.
“By making the rating publicly accessible, we’re giving scientists a standard customary that they will use to benchmark microbiome well being in any cohort,” Dr. Amati stated. “Which means higher reproducibility, higher comparability throughout research and a a lot clearer understanding of how the microbiome pertains to metabolic well being.
“That stated, continued validation in much more numerous international teams is crucial and we’re very dedicated to that,” she added.
Whereas the rhetoric has at all times been that we have no idea what a wholesome microbiome seems to be like, the Zoe workforce believes this analysis offers that lengthy awaited reply.
“I believe that this research offers us a scientifically sturdy reply for the primary time,” Dr. Amati stated.
“We now have a transparent, evidence-based microbial signature that defines what a more healthy microbiome seems to be like. It’s not the ultimate phrase. The microbiome is advanced and ever-evolving, however this takes us to a deeper degree of understanding and measurement—which can in flip give us the information to enhance intestine well being at a worldwide scale.”
