Trading regulations and health foods

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2408

Published 25 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2408
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2408

Editorials

Trading regulations and health foods

New legislation requires evidence for marketed health foods

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The European Union promotes a free market economy in Europe;however, the pursuit of profit sometimes has to be curtailedif consumers are injured or deceived. For example, the unregulatedmarketing of certain foods may include claims about effectson health that deceive patients. The EU Directive on UnfairCommercial Practices, enforced in the United Kingdom in May2008,¹ was designed "to plug gaps in existing consumer protectionlegislation" and "to protect vulnerable consumers who are oftenthe target of unscrupulous traders." It obliges businesses notto mislead consumers,² and this includes health claims for servicesor products.

The distinction between medicines and foods is sometimes unclearwhen they are marketed for health reasons, and consumers canbe misled. Medicines are licensed in Europe only after stringentexperimental research to establish safety and efficacy. In theUK, this process is regulated by the Medicines and HealthcareProducts Regulatory Agency. Food . . . [Full text of this article]

M E J Lean, professor of human nutrition

¹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Division of Developmental Medicine, Glasgow G31 2ER

lean@clinmed.gla.ac.uk