Stirring discussions in the health industry today is the recently reported dismissal of health claims for “probiotic” drinks and yogurts by a team of experts from the European Union. According to a BBC News report, their opinions will be voted on by EU committee which will outline a list of permitted health claims.
To be considered at a later stage are claims from manufacturers of best-selling yogurt drinks Actimel and Yakult.
Stated in the same report, Albert Flynn, chairperson at the EFSA panel which looked at these claims, said the first stage had been to look at general health claims for the products. "It’s been an issue for some time that general health claims are made about these products using the family name for the active ingredient and not saying which member of the family is in the pot,” said Flynn. "We expect the claims that will come now from the companies will be much more specific."
A Yakult spokesman said that Yakult submitted claims for Lactobacillus casei Shirota, a well characterised probiotic strain unique to Yakult. "Evidence for its health benefit is based on over 70 human studies and over 70 years of research,” the spokesman added. "Opinions on claims submitted for this strain are not expected until 2010."
