This was a point highlighted by Professor Che Hui Lian from the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University during her presentation “The Current Status and Prospect of International Health Claims in Food and Medicine Homology” at Foods Ingredient China (FI-China) held in Shanghai between March 17 and 19.
Moving into the future, a trend for the food and beverage products will be the ability to make health benefit claims, she pointed out.
However, scientific evidence around health benefit claims requires time to be accumulated and challenges would be abound.
“Especially if we want to establish health claims for foods that are traditionally used as medicines in China, then we would need to see how we can link traditional Chinese medicines’ understanding of these foods with modern scientific evidence.”
The ability to do so can potentially help companies that want to drive export of such products as well.
”Take Chinese yam as an example, if we want to recommend it to foreigners or to drive exports of this ingredient as a ‘food as medicine’, then we would first need to know how to translate the name of this ingredient into the English language and then explain to foreigners in modern scientific terms how should this ingredient be consumed.
“Making health claims for ‘foods as medicine’ is facing many challenges when it comes to international engagement,” she said.
She also highlighted the challenges that companies may face when it comes to building the scientific evidence through human clinical trials.
These include the high monetary costs involved, which she said could perhaps be tackled by tapping on existing clinical trial data from overseas studies.
The use of artificial intelligence to sieve for evidence from existing literature may also help with the process.
But before going onto the international stage, she highlighted three key elements that companies selling “foods as medicines” must take note of if they want to apply claims to their products sold within China.
The first is to specify the functional ingredient used in the product, the functional uses of the product, and how should consumers ingest the product - including the dosage and frequency of use.
China has approved 102 ingredients into the “List of Substances Traditionally Used as Both Food and TCM in China” as of August 2024.
The latest to be included were Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch (Dihuang or 地黄), Ophiopogon japonicus (L.f) Ker-Gawl (Maidong or 麦冬), Asparagus cochinchinensis (Lour.) Merr (Tiandong or 天冬); and Citri grandis exocarpium (Huajuhong or 化橘红).
Other more well-known ingredients are Angelica sinensis (Danggui or 当归）and Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi or 灵芝).
Products containing these ingredients can make functional claims so long as they fall within the dosage requirements stated by the authorities.
Overseas case studies
“Foods as medicine” is not a concept unique to China, overseas, authorities in the US and Europe have already established similar guidelines, Prof Che pointed out.
In the US for instance, the FDA has allowed a health claim between beta-glucan soluble fiber from whole oats, oat bran, and whole oat flour and reduced risk of coronary heart disease as early as 1997.
