Following a national press ad stating, “Diabetone comprehensive nutritional support for people with diabetes shown to help maintain wellbeing in UK nutritional research”. The ASA reviewed the product claims following a complaint. In defence of the product Vitabiotics Ltd stated the product was a food supplement as stated on the packaging and not a medicine. Furthermore, they said they had research to support their claims surrounding each nutrient within the product as well as a trial on the whole product. However, following a review of the data the ASA drew the following conclusions: The...

With EFSA rejecting almost 80% of health claims submitted under article 13.1, industry is rightly concerned. However, these opinions are not yet law. Although EFSA has given its opinion and the commission intends to publish the list, the European parliament has still 3 months to look at the opinions and their implementation through the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, which could in theory mean a potential chance to block their adoption into law. If parliament finds that the legislation and its implementation is not inline with the mother regulation then they can veto it, essentially blocking...

Gaining a health claim is one thing but gaining one that makes sense to the general public is another. As part of the general conditions of article 13 claims (Art 13(1)ii) a health claim must be ‘well understood by the average consumer’. Claims must also protect the consumer from being misled, and balancing these two issues is causing some difficulties when the Commission is to provide guidance on the flexibility of claim wording. In a recent meeting between the Commission and Member States (MS) on the 12th April 2010, the issue of how flexible EFSA approved claim wording could be was discussed....

According to a publication in the Journal ‘Food Policy’ researchers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland have shown that certain health claims can negatively influence the perception of a functional food. The researchers initiated a 30 minute online questionnaire, which was subsequently completed by 4612 respondents (All from Nordic countries). [An audio discussion about the research available on the link below] Online participants were shown four product descriptions. One of these had no health claim, and the other three carried claims that differed on structure, active ingredient,...

In the latest batch of 31 opinions (grouped from 416 submissions) from EFSA’s NDA panel we can see that this process of assessment is setting a precedent for the acceptance of only vitamins and minerals. The big losers are not unexpected antioxidants and probiotic based claims which have been rejected across the board. For the industry this is scary especially for the likes of the superfruit / smoothie market and giants such as Innocent, known for their use of the term Antioxidant on marketing materials and commercial communications. The opinions relate not only to the lack of characterisation...

Following the significant damage of the first wave of article 13.1 opinions by EFSA and subsequent 70% rejection rate, what can industry do now given EFSA will not re-assess these claims via the 13.1 process, even if new or additional data is available? Well there are potentially 2 routes, firstly is article 13.5 for newly developed scientific data (submitted via the procedures under art 15-18), or secondly via Article 13.4 for claims which meet generally accepted scientific evidence. Article 13.4 of the health claims directive (1924/2006) should be adopted in accordance with article 24(2) relating...

A recent research trial carried out at the University of Exeter (UK) has suggested that dietary supplementation with beetroot juice reduces the oxygen cost of exercise and ultimately extends the ability of athletes to exercise for longer. However, despite multiple functional food and scientific journals reporting with glowing recommendations on the trial, are there some errors in the design of the trial, which mean its conclusions are critically flawed? The trial was based on the premise that beetroot juice is a rich nitrate source and as such could provide nitrate anion’s, which convert...

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program. Its guidance influences international regulations from the EU to the US and following a recent meeting for the Codex decision-making body in ROME, have adopted the Recommendations on the Scientific Substantiation of Health Claims, the Nutritional Risk Analysis Principles recommended by International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations’ (IADSA). The implications of this mean that  the Scientific Substantiation...

The Committee on Toxicity (COT) has today published its view on whether glucosamine, a popular food supplement, can be linked to hepatitis. This follows a small number of case reports, including one that became the subject of a Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry (though it was later concluded that there was no link), the COT was asked to consider whether a causal association was plausible. The COT concludes that the available data on glucosamine does not indicate any adverse effects of glucosamine on the liver. Glucosamine occurs naturally within the human body and no plausible mechanism by which...

In the February issue of the Journal Nutrition, researchers from Provident Clinical Research, Bloomington, (IN, USA) have demonstrated that Green tea extracts can significantly reduce abdominal fat. 107 Participants where supplemented with either green tea extract (625mg catechins + 39mg caffeine) or control (zero catechins + 39mg caffeine) for 12 weeks whilst monitored (controlled) for nutrition intake and exercise. The results of the trial demonstrated although overall there was no difference between groups in relation to changes in fat mass, abdominal fat loss was 3.3% lower in the catechin...