Because of increasing interest in the concept of "Functional Foods" and "Health Claims", the European Union set up a European Commission Concerted Action on Functional Food Science in Europe (FUFOSE). The program was coordinated by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe and the aim was to develop and establish a science-based approach to the evidence needed to support the development of food products that can have a beneficial effect on an identified physiological function in the body, that can improve an individual's state of health and well-being and/or reduce the risk of disease. The FUFOSE project looked at six areas of science and health: growth, development and differentiation, substrate metabolism, defense against reactive oxidative species, functional foods and the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal physiology and function, and the effects of foods or behaviour and psychological performance. The final document was published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

 

 

The report takes the position that functional foods should be in the form of normal foods and they must demonstrate their effects in amounts that can normally be expected to be consumed in the diet. A functional food can be a natural whole food, a food to which a component has been added, or a food from which a component has been removed by technological or biotechnological means. It can also be a food in which the nature of one or more components has been modified, or a food in which the bioavailability of one or more components has been modified, or any combination of these possibilities. A functional food may be targeted at the whole population or for particular groups, which may be defined, for example, by age or by genetic constitution.

 

 

The EU Concerted Action supports the development of two types of health claims relevant to functional foods, which must always be valid in the context of the whole diet and must relate to the amounts of foods normally consumed.

These are:

1. TYPE A: "Enhanced function" claims that refer to specific physiological, psychological functions and biological activities beyond their established role in growth, development and other normal functions of the body. This type of claim makes no reference to a disease or a pathological state, e.g. certain non-digestible oligosaccharides improve the growth of a specific bacterial flora in the gut; caffeine can improve cognitive performance.
   
   
   
2. TYPE B: "Reduction of disease-risk" claims that relate to the consumption of a food or food component that might help reduce the risk of a specific disease or condition because of specific nutrients or non-nutrients contained within it (e.g. folate can reduce a woman's risk of having a child with neural tube defects, and sufficient calcium intake may help to reduce the risk of osteoporosis in later life).

 

 Useful Links:

EUROPA

• Food Safety - From the Farm to the Fork
  

European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (ephm)

• Health Claims
  

the European Food Information Council

• www.eufic.org
  

EUROPEAN FOOD SAFETY ASSOCIATION (EFSA)

•  www.efsa.eu.int

DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO THE U.S.A.

•  www.eurunion.org
  
  

FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY

• www.food.gov.uk
• European Legislation
  

THE HISTORY OF THE EU: THE EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP

• Treaty of Rome
  
  

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY

• EU Internet Resources

World Institute of Natural Health Sciences

• Legislation