Food health claims hard to understand: FTC staff

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The disease-reduction claims on a
number of foods are confusing to consumers and could be
improved with better wording or graphics, staff of a government
agency that monitors deceptive advertising said.

The language approved by the Food and Drug Administration
“does not communicate the intended levels of scientific
certainty to consumers,” the staff of the Federal Trade
Commission said this week.

Makers of foods containing tomatoes, calcium, barley and
other ingredients have won FDA permission to advertise the
products as helpful for reducing risks of diseases such as
heart disease, cancer or osteoporosis.

If the claims are not supported by “significant scientific
agreement,” they come with one of three disclaimers about how
solid, or weak, the evidence is behind the statement.

The disclaimers explain that the evidence is “promising but
not conclusive,” “limited and inconclusive” or “very limited
and preliminary.”

In a study by the International Food Information Council,
only 22 percent of people surveyed could sort the levels of
evidence in the correct order, FTC staff said. Other research,
including FDA surveys, also showed many consumers could not
tell which statements suggested the highest level of evidence.

“In short, these results suggest that the current FDA
language for qualified claims does not distinguish adequately
between the levels of science supporting these claims,” the FTC
staff said in comments submitted to the FDA, which is deciding
whether the health claims should be revised.

The FDA will review the comments from the FTC and others
before deciding whether to make modifications, FDA spokeswoman
Kimberly Rawlings said.

It is possible to improve consumer understanding of the
claims by adjusting the wording or using a graphical “report
card” to show whether strong, moderate, some or little evidence
backs a statement, the FTC staff said.