Nutraceuticals: opening the debate for a regulatory framework

Currently, nutraceuticals do not have a specific definition distinct from those of other food-derived categories, such as food supplements, herbal products, pre- and probiotics, functional foods, and fortified foods. Many studies have led to an understanding of the potential mechanisms of action of pharmaceutically active components contained in food that may improve health and reduce the risk of pathological conditions while enhancing overall well-being. Nevertheless, there is a lack of clear information and, often, the claimed health benefits may not be properly substantiated by safety and efficacy information or in vitro and in vivo data, which can induce false expectations and miss the target for a product to be effective, as claimed. An officially shared and accepted definition of nutraceuticals is still missing, as nutraceuticals are mostly referred to as pharma-foods, a powerful toolbox to be used beyond the diet but before the drugs to prevent and treat pathological conditions, such as in subjects who may not yet be eligible for conventional pharmaceutical therapy. Hence, it is of utmost importance to have a proper and unequivocal definition of nutraceuticals and shared regulations. It also seems wise to assess the safety, mechanism of action and efficacy of nutraceuticals with clinical data. A growing demand exists for nutraceuticals, which seem to reside in the grey area between pharmaceuticals and food. Nonetheless, given specific legislation from different countries, nutraceuticals are experiencing challenges with safety and health claim substantiation

Can we define a level of protection for allergic consumers that everyone can accept?

Substantial progress has been made in characterising the risk associated with exposure to allergens in food. However, absence of agreement on what risk is tolerable has made it difficult to set quantitative limits to manage that risk and protect allergic consumers effectively. This paper reviews scientific progress in the area and the diverse status of allergen management approaches and lack of common standards across different jurisdictions, including within the EU. This lack of regulation largely explains why allergic consumers find Precautionary Allergen Labelling confusing and cannot rely on it. We reviewed approaches to setting quantitative limits for a broad range of food safety hazards to identify the reasoning leading to their adoption. This revealed a diversity of approaches from pragmatic to risk-based, but we could not find clear evidence of the process leading to the decision on risk acceptability. We propose a framework built around the criteria suggested by Murphy and Gardoni (2008) for approaches to defining tolerable risks. Applying these criteria to food allergy, we concluded that sufficient knowledge exists to implement the framework, including sufficient expertise across the whole range of stakeholders to allow opinions to be heard and respected, and a consensus to be achieved

Plant addition impact on aflatoxin B1

Aflatoxin B1 is a mycotoxin that can be present in peanut-based products, such as fried peanut biscuits, if Good Agricultural Practices are not respected. Impact of plant powder presence on aflatoxin B1 levels was investigated in contaminated peanut biscuits. It was observed that adding 2% of Moringa oleifera powder led to a significant (p < .05) reduction of the toxin after 3 hr of contact time in the dough before the frying step. The toxin level reduction was estimated at 17%. The addition of moringa powder can also have some nutritional benefits. It doubled the content of iron and calcium in the biscuits, leading to products that could bear a claim “source of” for 100 g of biscuits. There was almost no loss of those minerals during the frying step. β-carotene content is a nutrient present in moringa powder, unfortunately the losses during the frying step were estimated at 78%, probably due to the molecule migration from the biscuit to the frying bath. Adding 2% moringa powder in fried peanut biscuit could present safety and nutritional benefits, however, consumer acceptance should be studied as the color as well as the peanut smell and flavors were significantly impacted (p < .05). It is recommended to pursue the investigation of the role of moringa powder onto the toxin degradation to understand the mechanism behind and assess the toxicity of the secondary molecules generated