Annual bibliography of significant advances in dietary supplement research

Abstract

For the ninth consecutive year, the Offi ce of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is pleased to offer you the Annual Bibliography of Signifi cant Advances in Dietary Supplement Research. This publication contains annotations of 25 original papers 1 selected from over 400 related to dietary supplements that appeared in more than 80 scientifi c publications in 2007. The bibliography provides a snapshot of basic, observational, clinical, and translational research published on dietary supplements, citations where these papers appeared, and funding sources. Among the fi ndings reported in the 2007 bibliography are the role of vitamins in the management of risk for venous thromboembolism, folic acid on hearing loss in adults, omega-3 fatty acids in the management of risk for type 1 diabetes, genistein on bone mineral density, and botanicals in the management of risk factors for diabetes. A multi-step process was used to identify the 25 papers. First, peer-reviewed journals publishing original research concerning dietary supplements are identifi ed. Next, colleagues at the National Agricultural Library, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducted a targeted literature search of each journal to identify original papers concerning dietary supplements. A search of press releases, news stories, and recommendations from scientifi c reviewers were also used to identify original papers. For 2007, this process yielded 437 papers from 83 journals. These studies were then manually reviewed before identifying the 223 papers that were sent to an external team of internationally recognized scientists for evaluation. At least two scientists scored each paper independently. Scientists were provided with scoring sheets to ensure uniform scoring. The scores received were tallied to identify the top scoring 25 papers. The 25 papers selected through this process were annotated and sent for internal review and clearance before appearing in the fi nal annual bibliography. The annotations are written from information contained in the original papers, related press releases, commentaries, editorials, and reviewer comments. This project is the result of the continued efforts of many individuals whose contributions and combined efforts make it possible for us to bring you this publication each year. These individuals include the scientifi c reviewers, journal editors, and staff at ODS and the National Agricultural Library, USDA. These individuals are identifi ed in the acknowledgements section.