On rise of functional food: 'Food supplements must be duly approved, acceptable'

CEBU, Philippines - Amid the rise of food supplement products in the market, the government is pushing consumers to take a serious look into their health-claim validity while stressing that they should be duly "approved and acceptable to the market."

The surge of food supplements has gained the attention of the government, especially now that many are taking advantage of the strong interest of customers on wellness-related food and beverage products.

In a statement, the Department of Science and Technology's Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) director Mario V. Capanzana said that global interest on functional foods or food supplements is ramping up and the Philippines is expected to catch on to this trend.

Capanzana revealed that functional foods, valued at US$ 168B in the global market, is part of the new "health and wellness" market segment which also includes fortified foods, organic foods, traditional herbal products, and slimming products, among others.

Also called nutraceuticals, functional foods, as defined by the International Life Sciences Institute-North America, are those containing physiologically active food components, thus providing health benefits other than basic nutrition.

Functional foods also refer to products isolated or purified from foods and generally sold in medicinal form like pills, or products that serve as supplement diets such as herbs.

Some examples are rice, sotanghon noodles, coconut, malunggay, bitter gourd, sweet potato, taro, fruits, nata de coco, achara, and legumes that exhibit anti-microbial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-allergenic properties.

According to Capanzana, what is currently lacking are regulations which will protect the public from false and misleading claims, but will  not put a dent on trade.

"We need to develop functional foods with acceptable health claims," said Dr. Capanzana.

To establish these health claims, he emphasized, clinical studies, biological or animal studies, in vitro studies which involve isolated cells, molecules and other organism components, and epidemiological studies which involve assessment of links between food and diseases, should be looked into.

According to the European Food Information Council, consumers must have a clear understanding of and a strong confidence level in the scientific criteria used to document health effects and claims.

Likewise, Jaime C. Montoya, executive director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, another DOST agency, echoed the same sentiment.

"There needs to be a global framework that cuts across countries," Montoya said, suggesting that before buying any functional food or product, consumers should get information on product safety, the amount of beneficial ingredients present in the food, whether the herbs and other ingredients were tested for government approval, and nutritional benefits, among others.

Global trends in regulations actually point to the necessity for a broad range of safe ingredients and sufficient information about the foods, as well as globally-recognized manufacturing standards and appropriate technical requirements, among others.

"We also need to look at the increasing number and variety of supplements in the market for over-the-counter purchase," added Capanzana.

"Let food be thy medicine," the FNRI head intoned as he expressed the need for government, the academe, and the local food industry to join hands in solving the issues related to functional food.

The current surge of interest in functional foods is driven by several factors. Among these are globalization, urbanization, science and emerging technologies, the global aging population, increased health care costs, changing regulations, and business opportunities provided by functional foods.

The new risk factors involved in strokes and heart attacks also contribute to this upward trend.

Around the world, guidelines and regulations on functional foods are now being developed, with Japan leading the way for such efforts. The others are China, Brazil, Brunei, Israel, Estonia, Vietnam, Laos, Russia, Thailand, Venezuela, Vietnam, UK, and Cambodia to name a few. /JMD (FREEMAN)