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In two work packages of the MARK-AGE project, 37 immunological and physiological biomarkers were measured in 3637 serum, plasma or blood samples in five batches during a period of 4 years. The quality of the serum and plasma samples was very good as judged by the low number of biomarker measurements (only 0.2%) that were rejected because of a high hemolysis, icteria or lipemia of the samples. Using quality control samples, day-to-day and batch variations were determined. The mean inter-assay variation of the five batches were all below 8%, with an average inter-assay coefficient of variation of all biomarkers of 4.0%.

Arthropathies present a major challenge for the public health system, both in terms of epidemiology and health economics, particularly against the background of demographic changes in the Western world. Much attention must be paid to prevention, because of the limited options and high technical and financial expenditure with respect to treatment. Among other factors, nutrition plays an important role.

Mit der VO (EG) Nr. 1924/2006 über nährwert- und gesundheitsbezogene Angaben über Lebensmittel (sog. „Health Claims Verordnung“ – HCV) wird Lebensmittelunternehmen die Möglichkeit eröffnet, Lebensmittel mit einer wirkbezogenen Aussage zu vermarkten. Acht Jahre nach dem Inkrafttreten der Verordnung sollen in der gebotenen Kürze regulatorische Entwicklungen in der Umsetzung der HCV nachvollzogen und Informationen zur Vorgehensweise bei der Zulassung von Health Claims gegeben werden. Darüber hinaus wird auf die Anforderungen an eine wissenschaftliche Absicherung von gesundheitsbezogenen Angaben und die dafür notwendigen Evidenzkriterien eingegangen. Von der EFSA wurden hohe Hürden für die wissenschaftliche Absicherung aufgestellt. Mit dem Artikel sollen Schwächen bei der bisherigen Vorgehensweise dargestellt werden, ein Überblick über die noch offenen Themen gegeben und Möglichkeiten zur Bewältigung der wissenschaftlichen Anforderungen aufgezeigt werden.

Many relevant EU projects were funded during last decade and MARK-AGE (European Study to Establish Biomarkers of Human Ageing) was the first focused on the identification of biomarkers connecting itself with a previous funded project, i.e. GEHA (Genetic of Healthy Ageing) that identified European families with longevity component (Franceschi et al., 2007). MARK-AGE was mainly a cross sectional study, based on definite assumptions and focused on an age range between 34 and 75 years, in order to identify early biomarkers of biological vs. chronological age, potentially capable of predicting the rate of ageing later in life.

Within the MARK-AGE project, a population study (3337 subjects) was conducted to identify a set of biomarkers of ageing which, as a combination of parameters with appropriate weighting, would measure biological age better than any single marker. The MARK-AGE project involves 14 European countries and a total of 26 research centres.

The aim of this paper was to provide an overview of the current knowledge and understanding of the potential beneficial physiological effects of glucosamine (GlcN) on joint health. The objective was to reach a consensus on four critical questions and to provide recommendations for future research priorities. To this end, nine scientists from Europe and the United States were selected according to their expertise in this particular field and were invited to participate in the Hohenheim conference held in August 2011. Each expert was asked to address a question that had previously been posed by the chairman of the conference. Based on a systematic review of the literature and the collection of recent data, the experts documented the effects of GlcN on cartilage ageing, metabolic/kinetic and maintenance of joint health as well as reduction of risk of OA development. After extensive debate and discussion the expert panel addressed each question and a general consensus statement was developed, agreeing on the current state-of-the-art and future areas for basic and clinical studies. This paper summarizes the available evidence for beneficial effects of GlcN on joint health and proposes new insight into the design of future clinical trials aimed at identifying beneficial physiological effect of GlcN on joint tissues.