French Food Safety Agency adds weight to inulin claim potential

The AFSSA says that the claim: “Native inulin from chicory is bifidogenic (stimulation of the growth of intestinal bifidobacteria) at the daily dose of 5g,” is scientifically substantiated.

The French Food Safety Agency (AFSSA) has added weight to the potential for marketing inulin by recently publishing an official opinion with the conclusions that the daily consumption of 5g of native inulin from chicory is bifidogenic. The AFSSA says that the following claims: “Native inulin from chicory is bifidogenic (stimulation of the growth of intestinal bifidobacteria) at the daily dose of 5g,” “Native inulin from chicory stimulates the growth of intestinal bifidobacteria at the daily dose of 5g,” and “Native inulin from chicory is prebiotic at the daily dose of 5 g” are scientifically substantiated.

While products are popping up all around the world with a prebiotic claim, claims for this are actually not allowed, particularly in Europe, Kristof Werbrouck at inulin producer Cosucra told FoodIngredientsFirst. Legislation for the approval of health claims is taking a very long time to materialize in Europe, but Werbrouck is hoping that the new French recommendation will add weight to the hope for health claims.

Cosucra said that this official opinion is very important in view of the European proposal for a Regulation of claims (COM 2003/0424), which is under discussion at the Parliament at the moment. Indeed in the proposal, a category of health claims defined as “describing a generally accepted role of a nutrient or other substance in growth, development and the normal functions of the body” should be listed by each Member State and sent to the Commission for the creation of a list of permitted claims (after EFSA evaluation). The process of evaluation of claims by AFSSA is one of the most developed in Europe and the French list will probably be based on the AFSSA opinions.

Last year Cosucra conducted a study about the prebiotic effect of native inulin from its commercial product Fibruline Instant at the dose of 2.5 g twice a day. This placebo controlled, parallel, randomised, double-blind study has been conducted in France by the Pr Bouhnik and involved 39 healthy adults. A significant effect of native inulin at this dosage on the growth of bifidobacteria was demonstrated. This study is at the moment submitted for publication.

Prebiotics were defined in 1995 as “non-digestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria already present in the colon, improving host health.” Today chicory inulin and oligofructose can be considered as successful prebiotics, both in clinical research as in terms of market reality.

Prebiotic related Claims such as "improves intestinal health" or "for a healthy digestion" pop up on various products and in multiple countries worldwide. A prebiotic effect of a compound needs to be related to a daily dose to express such effect. Cosucra propose that the 5g daily dosage of inulin or oligofructose could be applied in the following sources: 2 glasses of milk, 1 bottle of high fiber, fat-free smoothie, 1 galss of fresh juice, 2 portions of yogurt, 3 slklices of high fiber white bread, 1-2 sugar free cookies and 1-2 pieces of high fiber cake. 

The company says that these amounts are in line with the Proposal for the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims made on foods (COM/2003/0424), which states (article 5, General Conditions) that "the substance for which the claim is made is contained in the final product in a significant quantity as defined in Community legislation or, where such rules do not exist, in a significant quantity that will produce the nutritional or physiological effect claimed as established by generally accepted scientific data." This means that the claim can only be made if the active compound is sufficiently present in the final product.

Another approach might be to define a necessary dose per portion. In the US for instance specific health claims on psyllium husk and oat fibre can be made on a food containing only 25% of the effective dose per reference amount (FDA Ch 1, sec. 101.81). In Europe however, no such "reference amount" or "serving sizes" have been defined so far, making this approach difficult to implement.

Until the legislation takes its final shape, the best way to use the claim "Prebiotic" is to clearly indicate the content of the prebiotic ingredient in the food and the necessary daily dose to get the claimed effect. This amount of food as well as the incorporation ratio of the prebiotic ingredient should be reasonable. This is the case for inulin and oligofructose where both the incorporation level as the amount of food expected to be consumed is realistic in order to get the prebiotic claim.

www.cosucra.com