Health claims in foods

Consumers are increasingly concerned with their health and are taking more responsibility for their own health through their diet.  As a result they are seeking more information on the health functionality of foods.  In the highly competitive market place for functional foods there will be foods that have health claims backed up by scientific research that will attract added value.  Many food manufacturers are now looking at how they can add value through promotion of health functionality or modify formulations or processes to optimise health benefits and bioavailability.

Health claims in foods are the subject of new regulations.  The regulations vary from country to country.  Usually health claims are categorised by the degree of scientific efficacy data i.e.;

1. anecdotal evidence (lowest level)
2. in vitro evidence (e.g. bioassay)
3. in vivo evidence  (e.g. small animal)
4. human trial evidence
5. clinical trial evidence

HortResearch is able to help food manufacturing (and natural product) companies to add value to their products through development and substantiation of health claims.  For example;

HortResearch can recommend the bioassay that will give you results on the specific health claim you wish to make.  We have particular expertise in antioxidants and can offer a range of biochemical assays including total phenolic-compound quantification, HPLC-based component analysis, and several antioxidant activity assays, like FRAP, ORAC and LPIC.  We can help you with sophisticated in vitro assays using human or animal cell lines to test the effects of your products on living cells.  These assays provide the first step in building the evidence base for health claims of functional foods, food ingredients, dietary supplements, cosmetics and other products.

Cell parameters that can be investigated in the bioassay laboratory include integrity of DNA, oxidative status of the cells, inflammatory responses, immuno-modulatory responses, toxicity, induction of cell death and cell-protective effects of substances from insults like UV, irradiation or other oxidative stresses.  Measuring technologies used to determine these parameters include flow cytometry, ELISA based assays, single cell agarose-gel electrophoresis (Comet Assay) and more.  Many of the assays can also be used for ex vitro samples, such as blood from animal model studies or human trials.