Press Release

KGK Science Inc., a leading contract research organization offering human clinical trials and regulatory services to the health nutrition industry, is pleased to announce the publication of their Global Index for Cognitive Function. As the number of adults who take supplements for brain health has continued to rise, the researchers at KGK Science saw the need to better understand whether existing tools and biomarkers can confidently support the efficacy of nootropics in the nutraceutical industry. After finding little to no comprehensive measures that capture the multitude that is cognitive function, the concept of the Global Index for Cognitive Function was born.

“The gold standard randomized controlled clinical trials provide the casual inference necessary to define the efficacy of emerging nutraceuticals," stated Dr. Mal Evans, Scientific Director of KGK Science. "Our industry should focus on controlled studies that step away from the one-drug-one-disease concept of the pharmaceutical model to one that better encompasses multiple positive effects elicited by dietary supplements. Global indices of health may be appropriate in capturing the positive effects of dietary supplements and functional foods, and give a study the best chance at receiving favorable results,” stated the Authors of The Essentials of a Global Index for Cognitive Function.

Cog-GI (Cognitive Global Index), proposed in the publication, describes the use of several outcomes for a global index based on capturing individual responses to a supplement intervention on cognition. The goal of the index is to shift to a concept that is more encompassing of several outcomes rather than with single tests alone to be able to provide better results longitudinally and identify and track cognition improvement. By combining endpoints to form a global index, it is possible that it will help in scientifically validating claims to provide accurate science behind supplements while meeting the regulatory requirements for their substantiation.

"Our team has been working hard for the past year on developing this index,” said Najla Guthrie, President, and CEO of KGK Science. "With our speciality being in the supplement, functional food, ingredient, and cosmetic industry, we understand that one of the best chances to achieving statistical significance in a study is to have clinically relevant endpoints. As we know from our 20 years of experience, this comes with its challenges in nutraceutical research.  We see this Global Index as the starting ground to changing how our industry looks at nutraceutical research. KGK is at the forefront of nutraceutical research and we are dedicated to continuing to grow our industry’s research knowledge with each clinical trial we conduct.”

To download the publication, please click here.