Vuksan, Vladimir http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8541-4058
Xu, Zenith Zheng
Jovanovski, Elena
Jenkins, Alexandra L.
Beljan-Zdravkovic, Uljana
Sievenpiper, John L.
Mark Stavro, P.
Zurbau, Andreea
Duvnjak, Lea
Li, Michael Z. C.
Funding for this research was provided by:
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Chia-Na-Ta Corp.
Article History
Received: 16 October 2017
Accepted: 17 February 2018
First Online: 24 February 2018
Compliance with ethical standards
:
: VV currently holds grant support for ginseng research from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA), Canada and the National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, RDA, Korea. He also received a donation from BTGin co. Daejeon, Korea for a research on their proprietary Rg3 Korean red ginseng in diabetes. VV is holder of an American (No. 7,326,404 B2) and Canadian (No. 2,410,556) patent for use of viscous fibre blend in diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cholesterol lowering. At the time of the study, VV was a partial owner of Glycemic Index Laboratories (Toronto, ON, Canada) and has since retired from the organization (April, 2015). ALJ is part owner and Director of Research at GI Labs, a clinical research organization. JLS has received research support from the Canadian Institutes of health Research (CIHR), Diabetes Canada, PSI Foundation, Banting and Best Diabetes Centre (BBDC), Canadian Nutrition Society (CNS), American Society for Nutrition (ASN), Calorie Control Council, INC International Nut and Dried Fruit Council Foundation, National Dried Fruit Trade Association, The Tate and Lyle Nutritional Research Fund at the University of Toronto, and The Glycemic Control and Cardiovascular Disease in Type 2 Diabetes Fund at the University of Toronto (a fund established by the Alberta Pulse Growers). He has received speaker fees and/or honoraria from Diabetes Canada, Canadian Nutrition Society (CNS), Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Sprim Brasil, WhiteWave Foods, Rippe Lifestyle, mdBriefcase, Alberta Milk, FoodMinds LLC, Memac Ogilvy & Mather LLC, PepsiCo, The Ginger Network LLC, International Sweeteners Association, Nestlé Nutrition Institute, Pulse Canada, Canadian Society for Endocrinology and Metabolism (CSEM), and GI Foundation. He has ad hoc consulting arrangements with Winston & Strawn LLP, Perkins Coie LLP, and Tate & Lyle. He is a member of the European Fruit Juice Association Scientific Expert Panel. He is on the Clinical Practice Guidelines Expert Committees of Diabetes Canada, European Association for the study of Diabetes (EASD), and Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS), as well as an expert writing panel of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). He serves as an unpaid scientific advisor for the Food, Nutrition, and Safety Program (FNSP) and the Technical Committee on Carbohydrates of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI) North America. He is a member of the International Carbohydrate Quality Consortium (ICQC), Executive Board Member of the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DNSG) of the EASD, and Director of the Toronto 3D Knowledge Synthesis and Clinical Trials foundation. His wife is an employee of Unilever Canada. LD serves as a speaker or advisory Board member of NovoNordisk, Boehringer, Astra Zaneca, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Takeda, MSD, Merck, Amgen, Sandoz. ML was formerly employed at Chai-Na-Ta Corp. He is presently with Wellgenex Sciences Inc., Richmond, BC, Canada. None of the sponsors mentioned above had a role in any aspect of the present study, including design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, approval of the manuscript or decision to publish. ZX is presently with Pharma Medica Research Inc. EJ, UBZ, MS, and AZ have no declared conflicts of interest related to this paper.