Health claims under the spotlight - marketing ethics of functional foods - Brief Article

Eurofood, July 19, 2001

Fresh calls for stricter rules regarding health claims made by food products have come from the Consumers' Association (CA). Having tested a number of functional foods available on the UK market, the CA said that food companies are not currently required to back up any health claims made by their products.

The rise of functional foods has been phenomenal, with increasingly health-conscious consumers wanting more from products. Some of the most significant functional food products that have come onto the market have been cholesterol-lowering margarine spreads.

The CA found that the & More range of functional foods sold by UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) claimed it contains extra soy protein, which helps to reduce cholesterol. However, the CA said that M&S has yet to publish any results from a trial which back up this claim. M&S is standing by its range, and said research was thoroughly carried out in a London hospital, as well as having been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

ASA ATTACK

Also under attack, but this time by the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), are the makers of pro.activ and Benecol. Van den Bergh Foods claimed Flora pro.activ could reduce cholesterol levels by 15 %. McNeil Consumer Nutritionals also said Benecol could reduce cholesterol, this time by 14%.

Despite both firms highlighting that such reductions could only be achieved in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle, ASA ruled that adverts for the products could imply that reductions were achievable by using the products alone.

Also, ASA said claims for the Benecol spread were based on three servings of 12g of the spread, which is considerably more than the average daily margarine consumption.