Purdue-UAB Botanicals Center for Dietary Supplements Research
"Polyphenols and Age-Related Diseases"

Because of unprecedented use of botanicals-based dietary supplements by the American public in recent years following the 1994 DSHEA Act, the National Institutes of Health mandated rigorous scientific study of botanicals-based dietary supplements. In 2000, NIH through the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) established a Botanicals Research Centers program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of ODS, in 2020 NCCAM and ODS have compiled a summary of the research developed in the program during each five year period since then.

One of these Botanical Research Centers was the Purdue-UAB Botanicals Center for Age-Related Disease which was directed by Dr. Connie Weaver from Purdue University from 2000-2010. Dr. Stephen Barnes from UAB was the Associate Director. The mission of the Purdue-UAB Center was to study the efficacy and mechanisms of action of those botanicals-based dietary supplements enriched in polyphenols, which have been shown to have anti-oxidant activities generally beneficial for human health. Polyphenols are compounds such as the soy isoflavones in soy and in kudzu root and the proanthocyanidins enriched in grape seed preparations, three common types of dietary supplements already marketed.

Links to additional information about the Purdue-UAB Botanicals Center for Age-Related Disease are provided in the sidebar (Pilot Projects, Symposia, Workshops and Training). A recent mini-symposium on polyphenols concerned their potential value in the prevention, treatment and consequences of coronavirus infection in the COVID-19 pandemic.