NUTRITION LEGISLATING NUTRITION
Nutritional supplements are potentially a great revenue stream for gyms, but new European legislation is going to make it harder to promote them. Kath Hudson reports
W 62
ithout taking a protein drink, my husband fades away to nothing when he’s exercising. Using one on a
regular basis has helped him build lean muscle and made recovery much faster. I’ve also found that drinking a protein drink after exercise stops me feeling ravenous and picking at naughty food. If I wasn’t aware of these benefi ts,
it might be helpful if my gym were to tell me. However, if they did so while standing in front of a shelf full of nutritional products for sale, they would be contravening new European guidelines. They could tell me that “protein contributes to growth and the
maintenance of muscle mass” – but specifying lean muscle and talking about recovery would stray into murky areas.
NHCR guidelines The European guidelines, Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, came into force in December 2012 after a six-year period during which the claims being made by products were assessed. Prior to this, food legislation only defined the mandatory information required on labels, and prohibited misleading or false claims. The new guidelines now clearly state that only certain health and nutrition claims can be made about food, thereby harmonising the rules on claims across the 27 EU member states. The burden of proof has changed.
Previously, when a claim was challenged, a business had to prove it was true. Now the business has to get authorisation before being able to use the claim. The aim is, of course, to protect
consumers by stopping false claims from being made. However, the move
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
deals something of a blow to the sports nutrition and food industry as a whole, by requiring incredibly robust scientifi c studies to back up the sort of claims that have traditionally been widely used by nutritional supplements, such as “contributes to the growth in muscle mass”. Only authorised claims can now be used in commercial communication. Dr Adam Carey, chair of the
European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), explains why the legislation has been introduced: “Health and nutrition claims made in relation to food products require authorisation before they can be used in the labelling and marketing of food products. “Within the context of a rather
complex procedure, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is responsible for verifying the scientifi c basis of claims. Under old legislation, the burden of proof was different and EFSA did not assess claims – it was a national competence. This legislation has been adopted to protect the public from
June 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84