Stratum Nutrition announced today that the Natural and Non-Prescription Health Products Directorate (NNHPD) of Health Canada recently reviewed and approved new claims for the company’s NEM brand eggshell membrane, making NEM the first product of its kind to be approved for strong joint health claims in the Canadian market.
 
NEM’s newest contingent of claims resulted in a one-day pain relief claim from NNHPD, which is “NEM helps provide relief from joint pain due to moderate intensity aerobic exercise as quickly as the first day.”
 
“The allowance of a pain claim after just one day of using NEM is a testament to the strength of science Stratum and ESM Technologies have put behind NEM,” Dr. Kevin J. Ruff, senior director of scientific and regulatory affairs at Stratum, said. “This approval is the culmination of more than 5 years of carefully designed research.”
 
NEM is one of the few joint health ingredients and is the only eggshell membrane ingredient that is supported by a full portfolio of 16 studies, including 4 randomized placebo-controlled trials, 4 open label clinical trials, veterinary trials including a canine study, and a wide range of supporting in vitro and in vivo mechanism of action studies, Stratum Nutrition said. In addition to the subjective endpoints like joint pain and stiffness, recent healthy population clinical trials have included objective endpoints via CTX-II, a cartilage degradation biomarker, to give the results additional credibility and substantiation. As a result, NNHPD also recently approved updated cartilage protection claims, including “NEM helps reduce levels of CTX-II, a biomarker of cartilage/joint degradation, due to moderate intensity aerobic exercise.”
 
“Canada’s scientific review process and subsequent strong claim allowances are a bellwether notification to anyone looking for an ingredient in the exercise/athletic supplement arena,” Chris Haynes, senior director of global sales, said. “NEM’s ability to help with workout recovery, post-workout pain related issues and cartilage preservation and even everyday aspects of joint related health is par excellence. NEM was initially developed for joint related support and has gone far beyond its goal to become the obvious choice for formulations dealing with periodic aches and pains, stiffness, inflexibility, and now sports/exercise formulations, too. The claims allowed by NNHPD are perfect for communicating to the consumer the benefits of NEM.”