Translating Bioactive Research into Recommendations for Consumers

Translating Bioactive Research into Recommendations for Consumers
Virtual, Event
October 28, 2026
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Bioactives

Translating Bioactive Research into Recommendations for Consumers 


Interest in dietary bioactives is growing rapidly, but the translation of emerging evidence into guidance has not kept pace. For consumers, health professionals, researchers, and industry to appropriately interpret and apply this science, clearer guidance is needed. At the same time, bioactives face unique regulatory challenges because many do not fit neatly within existing Dietary Reference Intake, labeling, or health-claim frameworks. This can create added uncertainty around responsible communication and application. 

This webinar will explore how scientific evidence can be translated into evidence-based bioactive intake recommendations and, importantly, how those recommendations can then be translated into meaningful, responsible applications for companies, health professionals, researchers, regulators, and consumers.

The webinar will set the stage by exploring why bioactives are becoming an increasingly important focus in nutrition science and among consumers, how they differ from traditional vitamins and minerals, and why establishing evidence-based intake recommendations for bioactives is important. It will then explore practical applications, including how companies may use these recommendations to support product communication and help consumers better understand potential benefits. The webinar will also introduce a new framework for bioactive supplements designed to help map the research landscape and assess whether the evidence is sufficient to support future recommendations. The program will conclude with an expert panel discussion that will focus on the challenges and opportunities involved in translating scientifically supported bioactive intake recommendations into practice, including how regulatory uncertainty, research gaps, consumer interest, and commercial considerations may influence adoption.

Objectives:
  • Explain how scientific evidence is translated into evidence-based bioactive intake recommendations and demonstrate how existing frameworks can be applied.
  • Discuss how bioactive recommendations can be responsibly translated into product development, formulation, scientific communication, consumer education, and marketing.
  • Clarify the role of bioactive recommendations within a regulatory environment in which recommendations may be scientifically supported without being formally required or adopted.
  • Compare considerations for naturally occurring bioactives with those relevant to bioactives delivered through supplements.
  • Identify practical barriers, evidence gaps, communication challenges, and opportunities that may affect implementation.

Webinar Speaker Bios

Chair: Johanna Dwyer, DSc, RD - Jean Mayer USDA HNRC on Aging at Tufts and Professor of Medicine, Tufts Medical School, USA 

Johanna Dwyer D.Sc., RD is Professor of Medicine (Nutrition) and Community Health at the Tufts University Medical School, Adjunct Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Senior Scientist at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University where she works at the Tufts Medical Center. For the past 30 years her research has focused on nutrition across the life cycle and nutrition policy. Her current research involves population-based studies on intakes of various bioactives in foods and supplements and their effects on health outcomes. She is the author or coauthor of more than 300 research and 400 review articles and three books, and editor of Nutrition Today. Dr. Dwyer has served on many committees, including the 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Scientific Advisory Committee. She is an elected member of the Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Engineering, Medicine and Sciences, and a past president of both the Society for Nutrition Education and the American Society of Nutrition (then the American Institute of Nutrition). In the past few years she received the Trailblazer Award of the IFT / AND, the Excellence in Nutrition Education Award from the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), and gave the WO Atwater Award lecture. She received her DSc and MSc from the Harvard School of Public Health, MS from the University of Wisconsin, and a BS with distinction from Cornell University.