More heart healthy food products could be hitting the shelves soon following the claim from US healthy ingredients company Cargill Health & Food Technologies that it has helped trigger a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) action that will expand the use of the phytosterol heart-health claim to a broader range of foods and beverages.
Based on a letter sent to Cargill from the FDA, the agency will allow a broader range of food products and dietary supplements to bear the heart health claim in labelling when formulated with 0.65 grams of phytosterol esters or 0.4 grams free phytosterols per serving.
The letter was sent by FDA's Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling and Dietary Supplements within the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
"We appreciate the FDA's work on this matter given the other pressing issues it faces. This is a significant step toward propelling science-based functional foods and beverages into the mainstream," said Fred Shinnick, Cargill Health & Food Technologies' (H&FT) manager of regulatory and scientific affairs.
The FDA's action gives our customers more latitude in the types of products developed with phytosterols so that consumers can enjoy the benefits in applications that fit their lifestyle and expectations," said Cargill H&FT President, Ted Ziemann.
"We are excited about the prospect of helping our customers meet the pressing consumer demand for convenient, good-tasting heart healthy product solutions," he added. Cargill H&FT worked with the FDA for nearly two years on the issue.
There is a body of current scientific thought that suggests plant sterols are effective in lowering elevated cholesterol when incorporated into a variety of low fat foods.