Resources to educate patients on probiotics

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) has unveiled an education campaign, “Probiotics: What’s Inside is Alive.”

The new initiative, which educates retail buyers and customers about the intricacies of these living organisms, helps retail buyers better curate their offerings, improves retailer handling of probiotics, and informs customers about the benefits of these products.

”Probiotics supply a wide variety of health benefits,” said Jeremy Bartos, Ph.D., chair of CRN’s Probiotics Working Group (PWG) and senior vice president of research and development at MeriCal. “Emerging science is revealing how different probiotic species and strains perform unique biological activities that affect different systems in the body, including digestive, cognitive, immune, and cardiovascular, among others.”

CRN developed the campaign in collaboration with its PWG to help retail buyers not only understand the differences between probiotic products offered in their stores but also to show retailers how to purchase high-quality probiotics from responsible manufacturers. The education program provides information about how these live organisms require different labeling practices, have unique storage and handling requirements, and how they offer a variety of health benefits to consumers.

Initial assets include the “Retail Buyer’s Guide to Probiotics,” along with an educational infographic and video specially designed for retail buyers. The buyer’s guide provides information about labeling probiotic identity, quantity and viability; best practices for storage and handling; and various benefits of probiotics, consumer usage data and other need-to-know information. The educational infographic and video summarize aspects of the buyer’s guide to help retail buyers understand at a glance how probiotics are different from other dietary supplements and how to make smart choices about which products to offer their customers.

“CRN is an industry leader for advancing education around dietary supplements,” said Andrea Wong, Ph.D., senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at CRN. “As these live organisms continue to grow in popularity, CRN will expand educational resources for the retail community to ensure consumers have access to high quality and beneficial probiotics.”

For more information, visit www.crnusa.org/probiotics.