Health Claims
Functional food products typically include health claims on their label touting their benefits: for example: "Cereal is a significant source of fiber. Studies have shown that an increased amount of fiber in one's diet can decrease the risk of certain types of cancer in individuals."
Some countries, such as Canada, Sweden, the United States and the European Union, have specific laws concerning the labeling of such products. In the United States, the kinds of claims which are allowed are overseen and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, some claims will fall outside of the purview of the FDA and be accompanied by the disclaimer: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
Such a disclaimer typically accompanies supplements rather than foods, but since the definition of functional food is still evolving and somewhat amorphous, a functional food may find itself bearing the warning.
Read more about this topic: Functional Food
Famous quotes containing the words health and/or claims:
“Even though I had let them choose their own socks since babyhood, I was only beginning to learn to trust their adult judgment.. . . I had a sensation very much like the moment in an airplane when you realize that even if you stop holding the plane up by gripping the arms of your seat until your knuckles show white, the plane will stay up by itself. . . . To detach myself from my children . . . I had to achieve a condition which might be called loving objectivity.”
—Anonymous Parent of Adult Children. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, ch. 5 (1978)
“Every man finds a sanction for his simplest claims and deeds, in decisions of his own mind, which he calls Truth and Holiness.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)