can functional foods claim to be healthier?
by Jenny Bryan
An unseemly spat between two margarine makers over the cholesterol-lowering powers of their spreads couldn't have come at a better time for the fledgling Joint Health Claims Initiative (JHCI) – a group set up to validate the healthy living claims of a growing number of the foods that go into our shopping trollies.
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In the summer, the manufacturers of Flora pro-activ and Benecol fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority which ruled that their claims for reducing cholesterol were misleading. But now, for £7,000, food manufacturers can send their proposed claims to the JHCI, together with all their scientific evidence, and get them vetted by a panel of leading nutritional and health experts.
As Melanie Ruffell, from the JHCI points out, such rulings can harm a company's reputation with consumers.
'If our system had been up and running, we might have been able to prevent this from happening,' she says.
Flora pro-activ and Benecol are just two brands of so-called 'functional foods' – dietary ingredients designed to have a specific benefit on our health, in addition to their nutritional value. It's a large and growing market, already estimated to be worth over £1 billion worldwide, and predicted to grow to at least £3 billion by 2005.
what's on offer?
Functional foods include margarines and snack bars enriched with plant substances (see abc of food under 'stanol', 'sterol') that reduce cholesterol absorption, breads with added plant oestrogens, calcium and evening primrose oil aimed at women buyers, and milk products topped up with 'friendly' bacteria aimed at helping digestion and protecting against harmful infections (see abc of food under 'probiotic'). Some products have added carbohydrates, in the form of sugars called oligosaccharides, for friendly bacteria to feed on (see abc of food under 'oligosaccharide', 'prebiotic').
Functional foods are not new, many of the substances being added to packaged foods are found naturally in our cereals, fruit and vegetables. But the sweeping claims being made for some of the newer additions to the supermarket shelves have led nutritionists to ask whether they shouldn't be subject to scientific testing comparable to that required of medicines.
'Clinical trials investigating the potential effects of functional foods or ingredients should be conducted in a similar manner to drugs trials, where risk versus benefit is an important consideration,' concluded the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) after reviewing the evidence.
a sobering lesson
The BNF used beta carotene to illustrate their concerns. Beta carotene is a plant pigment which makes carrots orange and is converted into vitamin A in the body. It is also classed, like vitamins C and E, as an anti-oxidant (see abc of food under 'anti-oxidant') which protects cells from free radicals generated by normal metabolism. Some years ago, healthy people consuming a small amount of beta carotene in their diet were found to have a low risk of lung cancer. But when high doses of beta carotene were tested in a clinical trial, the death rate from lung cancer actually increased.
What if the same turned out to be true of other ingredients in the new generation of functional foods?
John Young, chairman of the functional foods working group at Leatherhead Food RA – a company which carries out research for food manufacturers – believes that firms making claims for functional foods would be foolish not to carry out clinical trials before going to market. Studies may not have to reach the level required for medicines, he says, but they should provide evidence that functional foods do indeed reduce the risk of the health problems they are claiming to help.
Interestingly, a growing number of food manufacturers are forging links with pharmaceutical companies for the development of so-called nutriceuticals.
checking up on staple foods
In addition to its service to food manufacturers, the JHCI has embarked on a programme for assessing the claims of unbranded, so-called 'generic' foodstuffs. To test their system, they started with an easy one – the widely agreed view that lowering your intake of saturated fat promotes a healthy heart and healthy cholesterol levels.
By early 2002, they hope to have assessed the value of fruit and vegetables, calcium, wholegrain foods, folic acid (see the big folic acid debate) and soya protein (see soya). Oily fish, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, fibre and iron will come later, followed by some harder ones such as potassium, sterols and stanols.
If much of the list sounds rather tame (who would disagree that it's better to use mono and polyunsaturated than saturated cooking oils), Melanie Ruffell stresses the value of clarifying how claims should be made:
'Olive oil contains monounsaturated fat and that is seen to be better for the heart than saturated fat, but if you promote it as being good for heart disease you may encourage people to use large amounts instead of maintaining a balanced diet. People need to understand the pros and cons of any food,' she points out.
voluntary controls or legislation?
If the JHCI isn't going fast enough for some people, it's well ahead of EU legislation on food labelling and health claims which is progressing slowly towards the statute books. Until EU legislation is in place to prevent firms exaggerating the health claims of their products, it remains up to trading and advertising standards authorities to ensure that food manufacturers don't step over the mark. And, as the manufacturers of Flora pro-activ and Benecol have found, such organisations can still bite.
help and info
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organisations
British Nutrition Foundation
52-54 High Holborn
London WC1V 6RQ
Tel: 020 7404 6504 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
E-mail: postbox@nutrition.org.uk
Website: www.nutrition.org.uk
Offers impartial nutritional advice based on the latest scientific findings and has considerable influence over all bodies involved in UK food production and distribution, including the government.
Food Standards Agency
Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London WC2B 6NH
Switchboard: 020 7276 8000 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
Website: www.foodstandards.gov.uk
The Food Standards Agency is there to make sure the food you eat is safe, and to offer independent, balanced advice. Website contains a range of useful information and news and links to the Agency's new website, Eatwell.
Nutritional Therapy Council
PO Box 6114
Bournemouth BH1 9BL
Website: www.nutritionaltherapycouncil.org.uk
The Council is the regulatory body for nutritional therapy. It has just launched a new national register which will allow the public to access a single register of licensed practitioners.
websites
Advertising Standards Authority
www.asa.org.uk
The ASA is the independent, self-regulatory body for non-broadcast advertisements in the UK. ASA administers the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion to ensure that ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful.
Codex Committee on Food Labelling
www.codexalimentarius.net
Website of the Codex Alimentarius, a regulatory body for the FAO/WHO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the World Health Organisation), containing information concerning their official guidelines on food safety and quality.
Food and Drink Federation
www.fdf.org.uk
The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) promotes the food and drink manufacturing industry's views and works to build consumer confidence in the food chain as a whole. This site has information about the FDF, latest news, details of publications and links.
Joint Health Claims Initiative (JHCI)
www.jhci.co.uk
Offers pre-market advice and a Code of Practice for the food industry, enforcers and consumers, to ensure that health claims on foods are both scientifically truthful and legally acceptable.
Leatherhead Food International
www.lfra.co.uk
Independent food research institute providing food information to the international food and drinks industry. Website contains useful information, such as food law, plus details of products and services.
Benecol
www.benecol.co.uk
Website featuring Benecol products, information about cholesterol, and how to lower it by incorporating the Benecol range into your diet.
Flora pro-activ
www.floraproactiv.co.uk
Looks at Flora proactive and its health claims. Has information about the importance of lowering cholesterol and keeping your heart healthy.
reading
'Functional foods: health boon or quackery?' by Michael Jacobson and Bruce Silverglade in British Medical Journal 1999 (vol 319), pages 205-206. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/ ..
(October 2001, resources updated March 2005)
