posted 01/02/03
Food manufacturers will for the first time be
allowed to tout the health benefits of their products even if there is no
scientific consensus as to the foods' benefit, under a plan announced last week
by Bush Administration officials.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials also
announced that they would step up enforcement against several categories of
dietary supplements where misleading claims about health benefits are rampant.
The change in food labels allows manufacturers to
make health claims as long as the "weight of scientific evidence" supports the
claim. Up until now, such claims were barred unless manufacturers could show
that they were supported by complete agreement among scientists. For example,
oatmeal makers could advertise the cholesterol-lowering properties of their
product because there was scientific consensus on the subject.
Administration officials said that the plan would
promote public health by attracting consumers to healthier foods when most of
the evidence supports their benefits. "Our goal is to help consumers make sound
decisions," said Dr. Mark B. McClellan, commissioner of the Food and Drug
Administration.
Dr. McClellan said that the program would also
spur competition among manufacturers to produce more nutritious products.
Food manufacturers praised the move, saying that
it would give shoppers better information about which foods are best for their
health. But the plan drew harsh criticism from one consumer group, which argued
that it would only serve to encourage food companies to produce junk science in
support of the claims.
Under the plan, food manufacturers will submit a
proposed health claim and scientific data supporting it to FDA for a food
ingredient such as omega-3 fatty acids. The compound, found in oily deep-sea
fish like salmon, has been shown in some studies to reduce the risk of heart
disease.
FDA regulators will review the science supporting
the claim and will approve its use on product labeling if the "weight of the
scientific evidence" supports it, according to FDA documents. Dr. McClellan said
that the lower scientific burden would allow consumers to benefit from healthier
foods even when "it's not a completely settled scientific issue."
The FDA has yet to finalize the process it will
use to review the claims, or exactly how it will define the amount of scientific
evidence needed to make a claim legal, officials said. The agency has set up a
task force to establish a review process and recommend final regulation that
will govern the process, they said.
Larry Sasich, a research analyst with the Public
Citizen health research group, attacked the program, saying it would allow
companies to plant low-quality studies in research journals and then submit them
as scientific proof of a food's health benefits.
"What is going to be fostered is spurious and
unreliable studies," Sasich said. "No matter how bad the science is, if the guys
that wrote it are persistent enough, they're going to get it published somewhere
in the medical literature."
Officials also announced a move to crack down on
unsubstantiated health claims made by dietary supplements makers. Regulators at
both FDA and the Federal Trade Commission have become increasingly concerned
about supplements makers who claim health benefits on product labels without
scientific backup.
Dr. McClellan said that FDA planned to step up
scrutiny of supplements in 9 major categories, including supplements that claim
to treat life-threatening diseases like cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and lupus,
as well as weight loss products and autism treatments.
Supplements claiming to treat mental retardation,
to prevent Alzheimer's disease and to prevent hangovers could also be targeted,
he said.
Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com.
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