EFSA Panel Rejects Health Claim for Cranberry Products
The European Food Safety Authority’s Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) has rejected a health claim dossier submitted by Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., that sought to link consumption of its products to a reduced risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) in women. Ocean Spray asserted that dried cranberries and juice drinks containing 80 milligrams of cranberry proanthocyanidins (PAC)
lessened UTI risk in women older than age 16 by “inhibiting the adhesion of certain bacteria in the urinary tract.”
Although NDA acknowledged that some in vitro trials have supported this claim, the panel ultimately cited a lack of convincing clinical trials and ruled that the evidence failed to establish “a cause and effect relationship” between the product and the purported health benefit. Of the 12 studies presented by Ocean Spray, NDA dismissed six because they did not involve normal populations; one because it referenced a higher PAC dosing; and five because they did not provide adequate randomization, statistical power or trial length. Ocean Spray has since vowed to
meet the panel’s requirements, noting that its dossier relied on studies which had been “well received, and published in respected, peer-reviewed journals including JAMA.” See FoodNavigator-USA.com, February 17, 2009.
