EU-backed metabolic syndrome project has health claim wins in sight

He tells us of the project’s multiple aims that include bridging a perceived gap in data and guidelines to win health claims in the European Union for three selected ingredients: Omega-3 form docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), beta-glucan and anthocyanins.

“A key output is providing a set of guidelines that will potentially help food companies when they are wanting to prepare health claims…this is one of the difficulties that has cropped up in recent times – the difficulty of presenting data to the EFSA [European Food Safety Authority] committee that is effective in generating an approved claim,”​ Henson said.

Market-viable ‘Bioactive-enriched foods (BEF)’ in broad food categories like bakery and dairy are the goal for the 5-year project via a better understanding of the mechanisms of action of the nutrients in question.

IFN will be looking to extend their work at Vitafoods in Geneva, Switzerland, next week.

Partners include the University of Bologna, the French Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), the Max Rubner-Institut (Germany), the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University of Leeds, the University of Southern Denmark, Campden BRI Hungary, the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), Lebensmittelversuchsanstalt (Austria), the European Commission Joint Research Centre-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), Giotto Biotech (Italy), NGB Genetics (Italy), Applications Santé des Lipides (France), Abro Biotec (Spain), Swedish Oat Fiber and ADEXGO Ltd (Hungary).

Metabolic syndrome refers to a range of maladies including coronary artery disease, stroke and Type-2 diabetes.