Weighty debates
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) rejection of BASF and Stepan Lipid Nutrition’s conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)-weight loss claim saw sparks flying in January.
Eric Chappuis said it showed the importance of mechanisms of action in EFSA’s evaluations of benefits but also raised questions on where EFSA’s health claim mandate stopped.
“Can safety be included when dealing with the benefit for health?”
EFSA said body fat reduction was not beneficial when accompanied by an increase in lipid peroxidation and in markers of inflammation associated with CLA consumption.
Together with the limited data available on the effects of CLA on vascular function, this could indicate a potential for “vascular damage in the longer term”, it said at the time.
It therefore stopped evaluation of the application at this safety point.
The companies appealed the rejection, claiming EFSA had failed to fulfil its task of evaluating submitted efficacy data.
Yet EFSA’s Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) panel stuck to its guns in July.