The scientific substantiation of health claims must be based on a systematic and objective compilation of all scientific evidence available, according to the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA). Providing its comments on the Proposed Draft Recommendations on the Scientific Basis of Health Claims for the Codex Nutrition Committee meeting, IADSA said that while it welcomed several of the changes in the draft, the priority given to human intervention studies was in need of significant revision. The text—which was revised since it was sent back to the drawing board last year following concerns about the structure of the document and the weight given to different types of evidence required for scientific substantiation—stated that short-term human intervention studies in healthy subjects should be the prime source of evidence in claims substantiation. However, IADSA argued that the proposed draft must account for all sources of evidence in support of a claim, and that while short-term human intervention studies in healthy subjects are important, they are often not practical for food products and therefore should not automatically be taken as primary sources of evidence.

At a November meeting in Capetown, South Africa, the Codex Nutrition Committee finally agreed on most major points brought up during the last several months by IADSA. As a result, health claims will be scientifically evaluated through the systematic and objective compilation of all available scientific evidence rather than focusing on human intervention studies. “We are very pleased with the Codex Nutrition Committee’s decision,” said IADSA chairman Byron Johnson. “A number of different types of studies can show the relationship between a food constituent and a health outcome. A simple hierarchical approach to evidence on causal links cannot rely only on randomized, controlled human intervention trials, and each type of study can provide a different type of evidence.” The text will now be forwarded to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (the decision-making body in Codex) for its endorsement and final adoption, which is scheduled for next year.