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Promises and problems of functional foods
Martijn B Katan1, Nicole M De Roos
1Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, Wageningen University, Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen, The Netherlands. wcfs1@wur.nl
Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
|November 16, 2004
Summary
Functional foods offer health benefits, but regulations on their claims are inconsistent. Current rules often allow unproven health claims while banning scientifically supported disease prevention claims.
Area of Science:
- Food Science
- Regulatory Science
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- "Functional" foods are marketed with explicit or implicit claims of improved health or well-being.
- These products often contain specific ingredients intended to provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review typical functional foods, their ingredients, efficacy, and safety.
- To analyze global regulations concerning health claims for foods.
- To advocate for evidence-based regulatory policies for food health claims.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of functional foods and their ingredients.
- Analysis of international regulatory frameworks for health claims.
- Evaluation of the scientific evidence supporting common food health claims.
Main Results:
- Regulations vary worldwide, with many allowing health promotion claims lacking robust scientific evidence.
- Existing regulations may prohibit disease prevention claims even when supported by scientific data.
- Inconsistent regulatory approaches create challenges in verifying the true health benefits of functional foods.
Conclusions:
- Current regulations for functional food health claims are often inadequate and inconsistent.
- There is a need for regulations that permit all health claims substantiated by the totality of scientific evidence.
- Regulations should ban claims suggesting unproven benefits to protect public health and ensure informed consumer choices.