Neutraceuticals entry for Sage Encyclopedia of Food Issues

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Nutraceuticals

participate, accounting for 90% of Florida’s tomato production. Similar campaigns have been launched in Canada in association with the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. A growing number of consumer groups is working on issues of food safety, obesity, and diabetes in all three NAFTA countries. Finally, cooperatives such as Blue Corn Alianza are working to link immigrant communities in the United States and Canada with peasant communities at home, through fair-trade initiatives that preserve traditional foodways and agricultural practices. Analiese M. Richard See also Chemical Fertilizers; Commodity Chains; Factory Farming; Family Farms and Rural Depopulation; Farmworkers; Fast Food; Food Insecurity; Food Sovereignty; Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs); Imported Food; Intellectual Property Rights; Soil Degradation and Conservation; Supply and Distribution Networks; Tariffs; World Trade Organization

Further Readings Barndt, D. (2008). Tangled routes: Women, work, and globalization on the tomato trail. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Fitting, E. (2011). The struggle for maize: Campesinos, workers, and transgenic corn in the Mexican countryside. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Grandin, G. (2006). Empire’s workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the rise of the new imperialism. New York, NY: Henry Holt. Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Mattei, H., & Nader, L. (2008). Plunder: When the rule of law is illegal. Malden, MA: Blackwell Press. Otero, G. (Ed.). (2008). Food for the few: Neoliberal globalism and biotechnology in Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press. Public Citizen. (2014). NAFTA’s 20-year legacy and the fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Retrieved from http://www.citizen.org/documents/NAFTA-at-20.pdf Wise, T. (2010). Agricultural dumping under NAFTA: Estimating the costs of U.S. agricultural policies to Mexican producers (Mexican Rural Development

Research Report No. 7). Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Retrieved from http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/ AgNAFTA.html

NUTRACEUTICALS Nutraceutical is a term commonly used to refer to a variety of foods, beverages, dietary supplements, herbal supplements, and other substances that are to be ingested with the purpose of improving health, or treating or reducing risk of disease. There is no legal or medical definition of the term, although some industry proponents use nutraceutical to refer to food products taken in the form of pills, capsules, liquids, and so on, and use functional foods to refer to food products that are consumed in food form. This entry will use the term nutraceutical throughout, but the following information applies to both terms. According to industry sources, the market for nutraceuticals is booming (http://www.nutraceuti calsworld.com/issues/2013-01/view_editorials/ top-10-trends-for-2013/). Sales of fortified breakfast cereals, energy drinks, and yogurt products have all increased significantly in the past 5 years. One industry group predicts that U.S. dietary supplement sales could reach $15.5 billion by 2017. In addition to increasing sales in the United States and Europe, nutraceuticals are becoming more popular in China and Latin America. This entry discusses health claims, oversight by the U.S. government, and ethical issues regarding nutraceuticals. It begins with a look at the types and uses of nutraceuticals.

Types and Uses of Nutraceuticals Nutraceuticals encompass a wide variety of foodbased products, primarily designed and marketed for health promotion and disease prevention or risk reduction. They include herbal supplements, diet aids, energy drinks, botanicals, amino acid, or probiotic-based extracts as well as a panoply of other food-based substances. Nutraceuticals are

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Nutraceuticals

commonly marketed by emphasizing their claims to health benefits and health risk reductions. Their uses span the health spectrum. Some of the most common uses of nutraceuticals include weight loss, cardiovascular health (e.g., through lowered serum cholesterol or blood pressure), mental health (e.g., through reduction of stress, anxiety, depression, or increased alertness or concentration), antiaging (e.g., reduction of symptoms of conditions ranging from osteoarthritis to memory loss), reproductive health, and gastrointestinal health.

Nutraceuticals, Health Claims, and Scientific Evidence There is an enormous amount of scientific research done to identify the potential health benefits of nutraceuticals. Much of this research is industry funded. The studies vary in type—some of them are in vitro or cellular-level studies, while others perform animal studies, often with megadoses of the relevant substance. For instance, the claim that the antioxidant reveratrol in red wine is good for health is based in part on studies in which mice were given a dosage equivalent to 1,000 liters of red wine a day for humans. Unlike drugs, which go through a long process involving multiple stages of human clinical trials, nutraceuticals are not subject to regulation that mandates rigorous scientific testing. Scientists and public health experts have called for development of clearer and more precise scientific standards of evidence for nutraceuticals as well as more regulation to motivate such development processes.

Regulation and Oversight of Nutraceuticals In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates three types of claims for food and dietary supplements. The first type— health claims—describes a relationship between some food substance and a health-related disease or condition. An example of a health claim is “adequate calcium throughout life may reduce the risk of osteoporosis.” The second type—nutrient content— describes the amount of some nutrient in the food

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substance (e.g., fat free, high in omega-3 fatty acids, low sodium) or may give the amount on the label (e.g., “only 200 milligrams of sodium”). The third type—structure or functional claims—describes the role of a nutrient or dietary ingredient that is designed to improve the structure or function of the human body (e.g., “calcium builds strong bones”). The FDA imposes requirements for making these types of claims. However, critics of nutraceuticals argue that there is not enough scientific consensus on what counts as substantive evidence in favor of these health claims to be confident in the effectiveness of nutraceuticals. Another criticism made is that because of FDA budgetary limitations and the vast, varied, and expanding market of nutraceuticals, these products are difficult to regulate. Since nutraceutical is not a legal term (unlike prescription or over-the-counter drugs), the regulatory structures that apply are designed for food regulation, not for drug regulation. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has jurisdiction over advertising claims for products in the United States once they are on the market, and it has successfully charged producers of some food products with advertising false or misleading health claims. In a case against Dannon, the company was made to drop its claim that Activia yogurt relieves irregularity and that DanActive helps prevent colds and flu. Kellogg’s was ordered to cease making claims that its Rice Krispies cereal improves children’s immunity. According to the FTC, such claims require scientific evidence, usually in the form of multiple human clinical trials. In 2009, new guidelines were issued restricting the use of testimonials or endorsements accompanying health claims on products; previously, it was sufficient for a manufacturer to add “results not typical” on packaging as a disclaimer, but the FTC found that consumers interpreted the claims as typical despite the message.

Ethical Issues Surrounding Nutraceuticals Because nutraceuticals are imprecisely defined, commonly used by consumers for health purposes, and largely unregulated, consumer groups, public

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health experts, and bioethicists have issued warnings and concerns about their uses. David Kaplan argues that more attention should be paid to three potential concerns about nutraceuticals. First, their health benefits may be exaggerated or fabricated. Second, nutraceuticals blur the food/drug distinction, causing confusion for consumers and regulatory agencies. Third, the food industry largely markets and distributes nutraceuticals, using marketing techniques that may not be in the best interests of consumers; this implies the need for increased government regulation and oversight to help protect the health of its citizens. The American Bar Association’s committee on food, cosmetics, and nutraceuticals argues for more clarification in both the definition of nutraceuticals and in the jurisdiction for their regulation by the FDA and the FTC. As of 2013, the European Union developed guidelines for the implementation of specific requirement, for foods making health claims. Given that nutraceuticals are a varied, global, and flourishing business, the need for more research, regulation, and consumer education is a view shared by many stakeholders. Catherine A. Womack See also Advertising and Marketing of Food; Antioxidants; Cancer-Fighting Foods; Functional Foods; Labeling, Nutrition; Lactobacilli; Organic Foods and Health Implications; Soy and Phytoestrogens

Further Readings American Bar Association. (2014). Food, cosmetics and nutraceuticals committee newsletter 2(1) [Online]. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://apps. americanbar.org/dch/committee.cfm?com=ST103010 Consumer Reports.org. (2011). Food, supplement or drug? What to make of nutraceutical claims [Online]. Retrieved from http://www.consumerreports.org/ cro/2012/04/food-supplement-or-drug/index.htm Hasler, C. (Ed.). (2005). Regulation of functional foods and nutraceuticals: A global perspective. Ames, IA: Blackwell. Kaplan, D. (2007). What’s wrong with functional foods? Journal of Philosophical Research, 32(Suppl.), 177–187.

Katan, M., & de Roos, N. (2003). Public health: Towards evidence-based health claims for foods. Science, 299(5604), 206–207. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2013). Label claims for conventional foods and dietary supplements [Online]. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/Food/ IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ ucm111447.htm

NUTRIENT DENSITY “Nutrient density” is an expression used by nutritional scientists and dieticians to describe foods that are high in nutrients relative to the number of calories (or energy) provided by that food. This entry discusses nutrient density and Westernized diets and the challenges to classifying foods.

Defining Nutrient Density Some contention exists regarding the best method to define and calculate the nutrient density of a food, and no scientifically valid definition exists. In general, however, a nutrient-dense food is one that provides a significant amount of vitamins and minerals and relatively few calories from protein, fat, and carbohydrates. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans identifies nutrient-dense foods as the following: Nutrient-dense foods and beverages provide vitamins, minerals, and other substances that may have positive health effects, with relatively few calories. The term “nutrient dense” indicates the nutrients and other beneficial substances in a food have not been “diluted” by the addition of calories from added solid fats, added sugars, or added refined starches, or by the solid fats naturally present in the food. Nutrient-dense foods and beverages are lean or low in solid fats, and minimize or exclude added solid fats, sugars, starches, and sodium. Ideally, they also are in forms that retain naturally occurring components, such as dietary fiber. All vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seafood, eggs, beans and peas,