Nutraceutica: definizione e normative

A food can be regarded as “functional” if it can demonstrate a beneficial efficacy on one or more target functions in the body in a convincing way. Beyond adequate nutritional qualities, functional foods should either improve the state of health and well-being and/or reduce disease. Thus, functional foods marketed with specific health claims must demonstrate their activity. For example in case of heart disease reduction the focus is primarily on the major risk factors, i.e. cholesterol, diabetes, and hypertension. Some of the most innovative products in this area are designed to be enriched with ‘protective’ ingredients, believed to reduce risk. They may contain for example soluble fibre, phytosterols/stanols, soy protein n-3 fatty acids, and polyphenols (1). Another main area is that of probiotics, the beneficial microbes found in many products in the market today, which are most commonly consumed as fermented dietary products or as dietary supplements. Their use is based on the activity on the immune function, the beneficial activity in gastroenteritis, and the antimicrobial properties against pathogenic microorganisms. Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 harmonises the provisions that relate to nutrition and health claims and establishes rules governing the Community authorisation of health claims made on foods. As foreseen in the Regulation, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) issued an opinion in 2007 providing scientific and technical guidance for the preparation and presentation of the application for authorisation of health claims. Currently, the application of this new regulation is representing a big challenge to companies, since most of the opinions released until now have been negative being the substantiation of the health claims very weak. 1) Sirtori C. R., Galli C., Anderson J. W., Sirtori E., Arnoldi A. Functional foods for dyslipidaemia and cardiovascular risk prevention. Nutrition Research Reviews, 2009, 22, 244–261.