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SciPoll 893: Infant Nutrition Science Coalition (INSC) Roundtable Discussion #2: Followup Poll

Select all areas where you believe the term 'bioactive' is helpful in discussion:

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Results
(13 Answers)

Experts show divided opinions on where the term 'bioactive' is most helpful, with notable patterns emerging:

Broad utility (majority view): Six experts selected all four areas (safety, benefit, human milk components, and infant formula ingredients), viewing 'bioactive' as a useful conceptual bridge across compositional biology, functional outcomes, and regulatory evaluation.

Key disagreements:

  • Safety relevance: Some experts include safety discussions, while others explicitly exclude it, noting the term is "too general to provide clear direction" for safety substantiation or that "safety standard has been met" separately from bioactivity considerations.
  • Formula ingredient labeling: Strong caution emerges about using 'bioactive' for infant formula ingredients, particularly in marketing contexts. Multiple experts warn it implies benefit without substantiation, functioning as a "marketing tool" that sidesteps discussing actual benefits.
  • Terminology preference: One expert dislikes the term entirely, suggesting "suitable nutrients" as more appropriate than "bioactive" for formula ingredients.

Areas of agreement: Most experts (11 of 13) find the term helpful for discussing human milk components. There is consensus that bioactivity describes biological effect but doesn't inherently indicate safety or benefit—it can describe both beneficial and harmful products.

Emerging concern: Several experts emphasize the term should be "applied consistently and supported by evidence" rather than used loosely in commercial contexts.

Summary Generated by AI

Answer Explanations

  • Ingredients in infant formula
    user-641377
    I don't like the term "bioactive", but I think the concept could be helpful in describing why ingredients are being added to formula. Meaning it would be helpful to categorize infant formula ingredients into three groups:
    1. Essential nutrients
    2. Technological additives (effect in the product itself)
    3. Suitable nutrients (a more appropriate term than "bioactive")
  • Safety Benefit Components of human milk Ingredients in infant formula
    user-487133
    The term is most useful when it serves as a conceptual bridge between compositional biology, functional outcomes, and regulatory evaluation, provided it is applied consistently and supported by evidence.


  • Safety Benefit Components of human milk Ingredients in infant formula
    user-801459
     The term helps frame both mechanistic research (human milk components) and applied decision-making (formula ingredients), while anchoring safety and benefit discussions without conflating bioactivity with essential nutrition. 
  • Benefit Components of human milk
    user-804372
    I assume the safety standard has been met.  Bioactivity implies benefit to the infant.  HM researchers will continue to refer to these components as bioactive components.  I think that we should be careful in referring to the ingredient in infant formula as bioactive, particularly in marketing or on labels. 
  • Benefit
    user-519519
    Implied benefit in marketing without going to next step to talk about the benefit.
  • Benefit
    user-457378
    Bioactivity can be a general term that can be used in various contexts, one of which being a marketing tool to imply benefit.  
  • user-113927
    I don't think the term is very helpful being that the definition is pretty involved and still being worked out. It is challenging as consumer understanding will vary and once we start using it actively it will be very difficult to keep out of marketing use.
  • Components of human milk Ingredients in infant formula
    user-808679
    In general scientific discussion, it seems as though bioactive is a helpful term to classify ingredients that don't fall into the macronutrient or vitamin/mineral buckets, if they are known to also possess some bioactivity. The term is somewhat irrelevant to a safety discussion, however, because it is too general to provide clear direction in terms of how safety (or health benefits) should be substantiated with actual data.
  • Benefit Components of human milk
    user-886637
    In this context, Bioactive should target 2 important points to be a correct description of the product: 
    - Bio: in reference to biology, which in this case should be similar to a substance produced by the human body
    - Active: should have an effect not inert.
    In this context the word bioactive can correctly describe both a beneficial and a harmful product so there is no link to safety.