Health claims on food products are often used as a means to highlight scientifically proven health benefits associated with consuming those foods. But do consumers understand and trust health claims? This paper provides an overview of recent research on consumers and health claims including attitudes, understanding and purchasing behaviour. A majority of studies investigated selective product–c...

Functional foods are defined as foods that provide health benefits in addition to their basic nutritional value. These additional health benefits form the basis for producers’ health claims on foods. Legislation demands that health claims should be based on and substantiated by generally accepted scientific evidence. The main topic of this presentation will be how the European Food Safety Autho...

The editorial by Jeremy Shiffman, “Knowledge, moral claims and the exercise of power in global health”, highlights the influence on global health priority-setting of individuals and organizations that do not have a formal political mandate. This sheds light on the way key functions in global health depend on private funding, particularly from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Health claims in the United States have been a topic of intense controversy since the mid-1980s. Three categories of claims can currently be used on food and dietary supplement labels in the United States: 1) health claims, 2) nutrient content claims, and 3) structure/function claims. Structure/function claims were authorized under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act and describe th...

AIM To determine whether enterprises belonging to the Bank of Models of Good Practice were more successful than average Norwegian enterprises in the reduction of sickness absence, promotion of early return to work, and prevention of early retirement. METHODS In 2004 we selected 86 enterprises with a total of approximately 90000 employees from the Inclusive Working Life (IWL) Bank of Models of...