Rita Johnson, Ph.D., RD, FADA, associate professor in the IUP Department of Food and Nutrition, joined more than eighty other professors and graduate students from universities throughout the U.S. and around the world to participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) course “Dietary Supplement Research Practicum 2009,” held on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., June 1–5, 2009.
The ODS offers this annual intensive course to provide essential knowledge of dietary supplements to academic faculty members and their doctoral or postdoctoral students with a serious interest in this subject. Experts from NIH, academic institutions, and federal regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration served as speakers.
The ODS practicum provides a thorough overview of issues, concepts, unknowns, and controversies about dietary supplements and supplement ingredients. It also emphasizes the importance of scientific investigations to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and value of these products for health promotion and disease prevention and treatment, as well as how to carry out this type of research.
On Wednesday, June 3, participants spent the day in Washington, D.C., meeting with representatives from the U.S. Congress, the dietary supplement industry, media, and consumer advocacy groups that study, advocate, regulate, or educate about dietary supplements.
