The Claim Game Food or Quackery?
Friday, February 26th, 2010There’s no doubt that functional foods are changing the food supply with consumers enjoying the convenience of it all. It’s not just that no one has ever put natural soluble fibre from psyillium husks (which help lower cholesterol) in cereals or pastas, or memory boosters into gum before. It’s that companies are making during, often outrageous claims on their labels without anyone’s approval without solid evidence to back it up.
Until recently, America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibited labels from claiming that food could prevent disease. In 1993, the FDA started approving so-called “health claims” on labels, but those claims are tightly regulated. A label can say, for example, that a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol can reduce the risk of heart disease, but only if it has the FDA’s approval and only if the food isn’t unhealthy. But most functional food-makers have figured out how to short-circuit the rules.
Instead of making a health claim, which mentions a disease, companies make ‘structure-or-function claims’ that a food can affect the structure or function of the body. The FDA doesn’t have to approve them, and they can appear on any food, no matter how unhealthy. For example, a box of high sugar Fruit Loops cereal can’t say, “may reduce the risk of heart disease” or “lowers cholesterol,” but it can say “promotes a healthy heart” or “maintains healthy cholesterol.” Would you recognize the difference?
At least products like Kashi’s ‘Heart-to–Heart Oatmeal’ has evidence to show that soluble fibre lowers cholesterol, but 95 percent of functional foods sold in today’s market, haven’t been clinically tested and are making claims unsupported by clinical data. So are functional foods safe? Do they delivery what they promise? You’ve got to evaluate each one on its own merits and ask yourself the following four questions:
1. DOSE IT WORK?
The calcium in calcium-fortified orange juice helps build bone, the folate in enriched flour helps prevent birth defects – those are the easy ones. It’s much tougher of figure out whether the claims for other ingredients added to functional foods are backed by solid evidence. Take Celestial Seasonings St. John’s Wort Tea, whose label shouts “Mood Mender!” It doesn’t say a word about preventing or treating depression, since that would be an illegal health claim. So far, the only studies available show that the herb only ‘somewhat’ helped under half of all volunteers with clinical depression, course that means it didn’t help more than half the volunteers. What’s more, reliable research has never looked at whether St. John’s Wort can bounce you out of a bad mood if you aren’t clinically depressed.
2. HOW MUCH DOES IT CONTAIN?
If a food is fortified with vitamins or minerals, the label has to tell you exactly how much or how little, has been added. That’s not the case with herbs or other added ingredients. Snapple, for example, refuses to divulge the amount of ginseng it puts into its Ginseng Tea. And even when labels say how much is in each serving, most shoppers have no idea whether that’s a lot or a little. So how do companies decide how much herb or other “functional” ingredient to add to their foods? Do they evaluate the scientific literature to determine how much is effective and safe? Don’t bet on it.
3. IS IT SAFE?
Unlike food additives or drugs, the herbs and other ingredients in functional foods or supplements don’t have to undergo tests to see if they cause cancer, birth defects, liver toxicity, or any other serious problems later on. Also when you buy a drug, the label tells you not just how much to take, but for how long to take it and who shouldn’t take it. With functional foods, you’re almost always on your own. For example, most Echinacea supplement labels caution users not to take the herb for extended periods of time. You won’t find those cautions on Fresh Samantha Super Juice with Echinacea, or on most other foods that contain the herb.
4. THE BOTTOM LINE: IS IT HEALTHY?
Don’t assume that all functional foods are healthy. No matter how impressive-looking a functional food’s name or package claim – no, sorry but Echinacea dose not prevent colds – it’s all about marketing, not health. Check the nutrition facts label before deciding whether it’s good for you. Fortified junk foods are still junk.
And don’t forget nature’s functional foods. Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, and low-fat milk and yogurt are packed with nutrients or phytochemicals that may reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, eye disease, and other health problems. Crisps, candy bars, puddings, and biscuits (even if they’re fat-free, low salt, and contain no preservatives) can’t take the place of foods that come with no label, no advertising, and no gimmicks.
Exert from; Functional Foods, AsiaSpa January – February 2010, written by Gabrielle Tüscher