Milk-and-Dairy-Products-in-Human-Nutrition-FAO

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Milk and dairy products in human nutrition
recently published a review of 129 policy interventions to promote healthy eating.
The report stated that “existing assessments of the impact of labelling on food intake
do not show conclusive results in terms of healthier purchasing choices” (Capacci
et al., 2012).
Complex, over-scientific wording of the claims may also deter consumers.
Singer et al. (2006) reported that splitting a claim (i.e. a brief claim at the front of
a package directing consumers to the full health claim at the back) produced more
positive responses.
How will health claims affect the dairy industry
Another aim of the EU legislation is to provide food producers and manufacturers
with clear, harmonized regulations and to support fair competition, where
companies can market equally on a level playing field over a large common
market, whilst also encouraging research and innovation based on science. Queries
addressed to DG SANCO have raised concerns that small and medium-sized
companies may not have the financial resources to conduct the necessary research
that would support a claim. The posted response states that “they may use health
claims approved through applications submitted by larger companies” provided
that they “can demonstrate compliance with the conditions of use for the claims”
(http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/claims/docs/20100503_collective_answer_en.pdf).
It would also appear that large multinationals are struggling to gain approval for
their claims. In 2010, Danone withdrew health-claim applications for its Activia and
Actimel yoghurts. Previously, Activia, which contains Bifidobacterium species, was
marketed as having a positive effect on the digestive system and Actimel as being
able to “reinforce an infant’s immune system”. The United Kingdom Advertising
Standards Authority recently ruled that an advertisement for Actimel that claimed
it “could support the defences of normal, healthy school-aged children against
common, every day childhood infections” was misleading (EUbusiness, 2010;
GRAIN, 2011). EFSA has also rejected applications from Yakult on probiotics
where there was inconclusive evidence regarding the cause-and-effect relationship
between Lactobacillus casei Shirota and the maintenance of defences against upper
respiratory tract infections via a boosted immune system. Interestingly, EFSA have
not accepted any of the health claims attributed to probiotic cultures. The rejections
of these claims stem from insufficient characterization of probiotic strains or poor
substantiation of cause-and-effect links (Guarner et al., 2011).
5.5 Conclusions
Social and technological developments of the past few decades have significantly
influenced the variety of dairy products available. In this chapter we have presented
some of the main components that can be altered during processes such as
fermentation and fortification. Dairy foods and their nutrients are not consumed in
isolation and no single food can supply all essential nutrients. When investigating
the relationship between dairy products and health, it is important to consider that
the human diet is complex and is not defined by the inclusion or exclusion of one
food, but is considered in totality (EUFIC, 1996; German et al., 2009; Kliem and
Givens, 2011). Although it is difficult to reach a firm conclusion about the health