Health Products Lead Rapidly Expanding Nanotechnology Product List

Vitamins, supplements and other health and fitness products dominate the landscape of nano-engineered consumer products, according to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, a program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

According to PEN's latest inventory released Aug. 25, the number of nano-engineered consumer products available worldwide has reached 1,015, up from 803 in its 2008 report.

The number of nano products has grown nearly five-fold since PEN's first inventory in early 2006, which tallied 212 products.

PEN says 605 products on the new list are marketed for health and fitness. In addition to vitamins and supplements, the category includes sunscreens, cosmetics and other personal care products.

The next largest category - home and garden - totals 152 products, according to the report.

The most common material in the inventory is nano-scale silver, which occurs in 26 percent of the products. In health products, marketers often make antimicrobial claims for the substance.

New supplement products in the inventory include three oral sprays: Mercola Advanced Nutrition's Sunshine Mist Vitamin D Spray, Life Enhancement's NanoResveratrol and Nutrition by Nanotech's B-12 Energy Booster.

Revive Health's liquid supplements for pain reduction, glycemic balance and cellular immunity also are new.

The current inventory includes 30 sunscreens, but none was identified as new since the previous list.

According to PEN's inventory, RBC Life Sciences markets the largest number of nano products. The inventory includes eight nano products offered by the supplement manufacturer.

Revive, of American Fork, Utah, launched in January and made its three nanoproducts available online in June, President and CEO Steve Dayhuff said.

Revive's products use technology from manufacturing partner Nano Nutrients, also of American Fork, that replaces the center of the chemical structure of water with nanoscale nutrients. This design helps deliver the nutrients more rapidly to the cellular level while also avoiding degradation of the substance caused in the digestion process, the firm claims.

"At the nanoscale, you don't have these great big pills that have to be broken down by digestion just to get down to the size the body can absorb," Dayhuff said.

Because of the nano delivery, 1-oz. doses of Revive supplements provide users with the same amount or more of a substance that the body actually absorbs than pills or capsules, said Dayhuff. "In essence, we developed a better delivery system at a level people can get a better product."

Nano In Name

Many products in health, fitness and other categories likely are nano in name only, says Natural Products Association executive Daniel Fabricant.

For example, the use of nanotech manufacturing capabilities does not mean that products contain nanomaterials, and in some cases, companies may simply be making false claims.

"There are a lot of reasons why a product might be called a nano product," said Fabricant, NPA's interim executive director. While manufacturers or marketers might use nano references to boost consumers' interest in products, the products' costs would be higher if they actually are made with nanomaterials.

Fabricant said nano-engineering is "pretty expensive," and would be prohibitive for most firms even in more robust economic times.

PEN's Science Advisor Andrew Maynard allows some products may sneak into the inventory that are not truly nano, but notes the group does vet the products. "We don't delve into the science behind the products listed, but we do apply a rough and ready reality check - if something clearly isn't based on nanotechnology, or it is hard to see how it could plausibly be based on nanotech, it isn't included.

"Where the term 'nano' is clearly just a marketing ploy, has nothing to do with nanotechnology, or is not associated with nanotechnology by the manufacturer, the product is generally excluded," he says. "This in no way means that every product listed uses nanotechnology - it just means that they could plausibly be based in some way on nanotechnology."

PEN Director David Rejeski says nanotechnology's rapid growth will create "significant oversight challenges for agencies like [FDA] and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which often lack any mechanisms to identify nanotech products before they enter the marketplace."

Safety And Regulatory Questions

Other researchers and food and drug industry stakeholders have questioned the safety of nano-engineered products and FDA's capacity to regulate the field (see story p. 12).

William Schultz, a partner at Washington-based law firm Zuckerman Spaeder and former FDA deputy commissioner for policy, co-authored a report published in January that said ground rules on regulating the use of nanoscale materials in dietary supplements and other consumer products are urgently needed with the nascent technology exploding in the marketplace (¹ (Also see "Nanotech Growth Means Shrinking Window For Enacting Effective Regulation" - Pink Sheet, 19 Jan, 2009.)).

FDA officials said in March that the agency is considering guidance on the regulatory implications of reformulating supplements with nanomaterials and will look at whether firms should be required to submit new drug applications if they alter approved formulations with nanomaterials (² (Also see "FDA Considers Guidance For Nano-Engineered Supplements" - Pink Sheet, 2 Mar, 2009.)).

Additionally, the agency's National Center for Toxicological Research announced Aug. 27 a ³ memorandum of understanding for sharing nanotoxicology information and coordinating research with an Air Force Research Laboratory division studying human performance. This research reflects recommendations by FDA's Nanotechnology Task Force in 2007 (⁴ (Also see "FDA Eyes Nanotech Standards Process With More Unknown Than Known" - Pink Sheet, 10 Mar, 2008.)).

Dayhuff acknowledged concerns about nanoparticle safety could dissuade some consumers from buying nanoproducts. "That is exactly what my challenge is in marketing. People just don't understand it," he said.

He maintains that nano safety depends on whether ingredients delivered in nanoform are substances that the human body will naturally absorb.

While the ingredients in Revive's products occur naturally in the body, some other nano-substances may not, and if those materials are absorbed, they could cause health problems for the users, he said.

"The question is, are you introducing something that the body doesn't recognize?" Dayhuff said.

- Malcolm Spicer ( ⁵ [email protected] )