http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodnatur/index_e.html
Natural health products (NHPs) have become an extremely important part of our self-care decisions. Over 50% of Canadians now consume natural health products in the form of traditional herbal products, vitamins and mineral supplements, traditional Chinese, Ayurvedic and other medicines and homeopathic preparations.
Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/branch-dirgen/hpfb-dgpsa/tpd-dpt/index_e.html
Responsible for the regulation of pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices and other therapeutic products available to Canadians. This includes evaluating and monitoring their safety, effectiveness and quality.
FDA - Food & Drug Administration - Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition, Dietary Supplements:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/supplmnt.html
The Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition is a branch of the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is a public health agency, charged with protecting American consumers by enforcing the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and several related public health laws. Stated most simply, the FDA's mission is to promote and protect the public health by helping safe and effective products reach the market in a timely way, and monitoring products for continued safety after they are in use. Their work is a blending of law and science aimed at protecting consumers. This specific branch is an overview of FDA regulation of dietary supplements.
The Canadian Naturopathic Association:
http://www.naturopathicassoc.ca/
The Canadian Naturopathic Association (CNA) is a not-for-profit professional association representing the interests of naturopathic doctors and promoting naturopathic medicine throughout Canada. Its membership consists of naturopathic doctors, naturopathic medical students, suppliers of natural remedies for professional use, and the provincial naturopathic associations.
The Flax Council of Canada is a trade organization that serves flax producers, shippers, and consumers with marketing services and crop promotions.
Their site endeavors to provide general flax facts of interest to consumers, as well as more specialized information for nutritionists, dietitians, food producers, manufacturers and flax growers. NIH - National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements:
http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/
The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) is a congressionally mandated office in the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ODS supports research and disseminates research results in the area of dietary supplements. The ODS also provides advice to other Federal agencies regarding research results related to dietary supplements.
NCCAM - National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine:
http://www.nccam.nih.gov/
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, training CAM researchers, and disseminating authoritative information.
QAI - Quality Assurance International:
http://www.qai-inc.com/
Quality Assurance International (QAI) is an independent third party certification of organic food systems. The QAI Certification Program is designed to certify every step of the organic chain. From the land on which the product is grown; to the post-harvest facilities preparing the product; to the processing and handling facilities transforming the product.
OTA - Organic Trade Association:
http://www.ota.com/
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is a membership-based business association representing the organic industry in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmer associations, brokers, manufacturers, consultants, distributors and retailers. Established in 1985 as the Organic Foods Production Association of North America, the Organic Trade Association works to promote organic products in the marketplace and to protect the integrity of organic standards.
NNFA - National Nutritional Foods Association:
http://www.nnfa.org/index.html
The National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA), founded in 1936, represents the interests of some 3,000 retailers and 1,000 manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of health foods, dietary supplements, natural ingredient cosmetics, and other natural products. The NNFA is the heart of a growing, vital industry committed to health, well-being, and a sustainable environment. NNFA promotes and protects the unique values and shared interests of retailers and suppliers in the natural nutritional foods and products industry.
CRN - The Council for Responsible Nutrition:
http://www.crnusa.org/
The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) is dedicated to helping to reduce health care costs and enhancing the public's health through good nutrition, including the appropriate use of dietary supplements. To fulfill this mission, CRN supports a science-based environment for the responsible marketing of dietary supplement products and provides its member companies with legislative guidance, regulatory interpretation, scientific information on supplement benefits and safety issues, and communications expertise.
IHA - International Herb Association:
http://www.iherb.org/
The International Herb Association (IHA) is a professional trade association providing education, services, and development opportunities for those in herbal endeavors.
AHPA - American Herbal Products Association:
http://www.ahpa.org/
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) was founded in 1983 by a group of companies active in the trade in botanicals. AHPA is now the national trade association and voice of the herbal products industry, which is comprised of growers, processors, manufacturers, and marketers of herbs and herbal products. AHPA's Mission is to promote the responsible commerce of herbal products. They invest all of their resources in herbs and herbal products, which is their area of experience and expertise.
HRF - Herb Research Foundation:
http://www.herbs.org/
The Herb Research Foundation (HRF) is the world's most comprehensive source of accurate scientific information on medicinal plants. Since 1983, HRF has been educating the public, health practitioners, legislators, and the media about the health benefits and safety of herbs, drawing on a specialty botanical library containing more than 300,000 scientific papers on thousands of herbs and multiple online sources of clinical, pharmacological, chemical, and horticultural information.
Flax Institute:
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/flaxinst
The Flax Institute website provides helpful information on the health benefits and nutrient content of flax seeds along with current purchasing sources and recipes. The Flax Institute members, who began meeting in 1931 to exchange ideas and discuss research results, were originally plant and soil scientists, oil chemists, and members of the paints and coatings industry, but recently and very rapidly their membership has included a growing number of food scientists and nutritionists, animal scientists, and some medical doctors.
