Functional Foods, Ageing and Degenerative Disease

C Remacle, B Reusens

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9781855737259
• eBook ISBN: 9781855739017
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Degenerative diseases linked to ageing populations are a growing problem for the developed world. Edited by two authorities, this important collection reviews the role of functional foods in helping to prevent a number of such degenerative conditions, from osteoporosis and obesity to immune system disorders and cancer.The book begins with a number of introductory chapters which discuss the regulation of functional foods in the EU, the role of diet generally in preventing degenerative disease. Part one then examines bone and oral health with chapters on the use of diet to control osteoporosis, the use of functional ingredients to improve bone strength, and ways of maintaining dental health. Part two discusses how obesity can be controlled, whilst part three looks at gut health and maintaining the immune function using functional ingredients such as probiotics and prebiotics. The final part of the book reviews research on functional foods and cancer with chapters on synbiotics, anti-angiogenic functional foods, glucosinolates, dietary fibre and phytoestrogens.Functional foods, ageing and degenerative disease is a standard reference for all those concerned with the role of functional foods in the prevention and control of degenerative disease. - Explores diet strategies for preventing diseases including osteoporosis - Summarises key management techniques for obesity, irritable bowel syndrome and oral health - Presents the role of functional foods in promoting good health

1

Regulatory context in the EU

P. Berry Ottaway Berry Ottaway and Associates Ltd, Hereford, UK

1.1 Introduction: the EU and food legislation

The European Union (EU) has been evolving since March 1957 when the Treaty of Rome was signed by six states. At an early stage it was accepted that differences in the approaches to food legislation between the member countries of the European Economic Community (EEC), as it was first called, formed a significant barrier to free trade within the Community. At the beginning of the 1960s there was an ambitious programme to harmonise the food laws across the Community. The focus was on the development of compositional criteria (recipes) for a diverse range of product categories such as cocoa and chocolate products, fruit juices, jams, jellies and marmalade. Progress was slow and by the beginning of the 1980s much of the planned legislation had not been completed.

In 1985 a new initiative was adopted. This was based on a concept of five horizontal, or framework, directives designed to incorporate identified requirements of public health and safety, consumer information and general food control measures. It was agreed that the legislation should be developed around these five framework directives, which were:

• food labelling and presentation

• food additives

• materials and articles in contact with foods

• foods for particular nutritional uses

• official control of foodstuffs.

The idea was that these framework directives would lay down the general principles for control, and specific technical directives and regulations would be developed as adjuncts to the framework directives where necessary.¹ However, even with the more simplified system introduced after 1985, much of the proposed legislation was not in place when the Single Market officially came into existence in January 1993.

Seven years later, in January 2000, the European Commission published its White Paper on Food Safety.² This included details of 84 pieces of food legislation that were still outstanding and a revised timetable for completion was included in the paper. All but two items were given completion dates between July 2000 and December 2002. However, by the end of 2002 many of the deadlines had not been met, including those for legislation on food claims and the micronutrient fortification of food.

Until the middle of the 1990s, the principal aim of the European food law was to harmonise the existing laws of the member states to enable free and unrestricted trade between the countries. From about 1995 onwards there has been an increasing proportion of new legislation that was not previously on the statutes of any of the member states. A number of laws affecting functional foods fall into this category. Until European legislation is adopted and comes into force, the member states of the EU are allowed to retain their national laws. This means that although the harmonisation of European food law has been in progress for over forty years, there are some aspects of the legislation that are still regulated by disparate national legislation.

1.1.1 Member States of the EU

Since the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, membership of the EU has increased in stages to a total of 15 member states in the 1990s. The 15 states covered almost all Western Europe from Northern Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, with the exception of Norway and Switzerland who voted not to join. Within the 15 member states there are disparate cultures, dietary habits and different approaches to food legislation. It is this disparity that often makes it difficult to achieve unanimity on legislative proposals relating to food and is the main reason that some legislation has taken many years before agreement is reached.

From May 2004 the EU will further enlarge to include another ten states, bringing the total membership to 25, with a combined population of over 450 million (Table 1.1). The new entrants will include a number of states formerly in the Soviet sphere of influence. As part of the condition of entry, each new state will have to work to the European food legislation already adopted and, to this end, some of the countries have for some years been adjusting their new food laws to harmonise with those of the EU.

Table 1.1

Membership of the European Union

EU member states prior to May 2004	Additional EU member states from May 2004
Austria	Czech Republic
Belgium	Cyprus
Denmark	Estonia
Finland	Hungary
France	Latvia
Germany	Lithuania
Greece	Malta
Ireland	Poland
Italy	Slovakia
Luxembourg	Slovenia
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

1.1.2 Food safety and its assessment

The EU has adopted a number of principles in relation to food safety. These are laid down in law and form the basis of specific food safety legislation. The cornerstone of these principles is that a high level of protection of human health and life should be assured in the pursuit of Community policies. To this end, all food safety policy should be based on a comprehensive integrated approach, not only on an EU basis between member states, but also internationally. In its White Paper on Food Safety published in early 2000, the European Commission introduced the concept of control from ‘farm to table’ covering all sectors of the food chain.

The Commission believes that a successful food policy demands that foods and their ingredients are fully traceable and that procedures are in place to facilitate traceability and to permit effective recalls. This requirement has been incorporated into the law that becomes fully effective on 1 January 2005. The other key aspect of the food safety policy is risk analysis, with food safety legislation being based on a risk analysis and not on general conjecture.

Risk analysis is seen as being comprised of three components: risk assessment based on information analysis and scientific advice; risk management by regulation and control; and risk communication. This is considered to be capable of providing a systematic methodology for the determination of effective, targeted and proportionate measures to protect health. There is a need for the risk assessments to be undertaken in an independent, objective and transparent manner and on the basis of the best available scientific data and information. It is, however, recognised that in some cases, scientific risk assessment on its own cannot provide all the necessary information for a risk management decision and that other relevant factors may have to be taken into consideration. Such factors may include societal, economic, ethical and environmental aspects and the feasibility of controls.

In cases where it is found that the scientific evidence is inconclusive, uncertain or insufficient, and where a preliminary objective scientific evaluation indicates that there may be possible unacceptable effects on human health and safety, or on the environment, the precautionary principle may be applied. The precautionary principle was introduced in 2002 as part of European general food law. Its introduction follows a judgment from the Court of Justice in 1998 that stated ‘where there is uncertainty as to the existence or extent of risks to human health, the (European) institutions may take protective measures without having to wait until the reality and seriousness of these risks have become fully apparent’.

Risk management measures taken on the basis of the precautionary principle are regarded as provisional and are expected to be kept under review while the relevant scientific evidence is being obtained. The law requires that the review should be conducted within a reasonable period of time. This requirement will be governed by the nature of the possible risk to life and health and the type of scientific information required to clarify the areas of uncertainty that would allow a more comprehensive risk assessment to be conducted.

Within the EU there has been a long history of risk assessment and risk management, particularly with respect to the evaluation of food additives. The Scientific Committee for Food of the European Commission (SCF) first issued its guidelines for the safety assessment of food additives in 1980. This document has since been superseded, but most of the original principles remain today.³

1.2 The regulation of novel foods and novel ingredients in the EU

Towards the end of the 1980s the European Commission and a number of member state governments became concerned at the lack of control over the introduction of new ingredients, other than food additives, into the food chain. Ingredients made from genetically modified organisms were just beginning to emerge and this heightened the concerns. In an explanatory memorandum, which accompanied the first proposals for the regulation of new ingredients in early 1989, the Commission stated that the existing situation was acceptable when food technology and ingredients were based on a long tradition of safe use. However, developments in new raw materials and ingredients, and new food production processes, which led to fundamental changes in food components, were rapidly evolving from the research stage to the market-place. These novel food components, which were often present in food in much larger quantities than additives, were at the time not required to be subjected to any scientific assessment at European Community level. The Commission proposed that novel foods and ingredients should be examined for safety and subject to authorisation before being offered for sale.

The draft proposal for a European Council regulation on novel foods and novel food ingredients was revised 12 times between 1989 and July 1992, when the formal proposal was presented by the Commission. This proposal became controversial and debate and discussion between the European Parliament and the Commission continued over the following 18 months, with a considerably amended proposal being circulated in December 1993. Agreement could still not be reached and eventually, after further debate, a Common Position was released in September 1995. This was not adopted and the proposal went to the Conciliation Committee with a final text being agreed in December 1996. A few months earlier, in September 1996, the European Commission had discovered that soya and maize supplies en route from the USA to Europe had been contaminated with varying amounts of genetically modified material. As neither the soya nor maize constructs had been approved for food use in the EU the Commission was faced with a dilemma as there was no formal requirement for authorisation of such food ingredients. This accentuated the need for regulation.

The Regulation on Novel Foods and Novel Ingredients was finally adopted on 27 January 1997 as Regulation (EC) N^o 258/97 and it came fully into effect on 15 May 1997.⁴ The scope of the regulation is very broad and it applies to all foods and food ingredients that ‘have not hitherto been used for human consumption to a significant degree in the [European] Community’. The six categories of foods and ingredients that fell under the control of the regulation were given as:

(a) foods and food ingredients containing or consisting of genetically modified organisms within the meaning of Directive 90/220/EEC;

(b) foods and food ingredients produced from, but not containing, genetically modified organisms;

(c) foods and food ingredients with a new or intentionally modified primary molecular structure;

(d) foods and food ingredients consisting of or isolated from micro-organisms, fungi or algae;

(e) foods and food ingredients consisting of or isolated from plants and food ingredients isolated from animals, except for foods and food ingredients obtained by traditional propagating or breeding practices and having a history of safe food use;

(f) foods and food ingredients to which has been applied a production process not currently used, where that process gives rise to significant changes in the composition or structure of the foods or food ingredients which affect their nutritional value, metabolism or lev...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright page
• Contributor contact details
• 1: Regulatory context in the EU
• 2: Diet and the prevention of degenerative disease
• 3: New functional foods for age-related diseases
• Part I: Bone and oral health
• Part II: Obesity
• Part III: Gut health and immune function
• Part IV: Cancer
• Index