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Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to Levisticum officinale W.D.J. Koch and improvement of diuretic function (ID 2292, 3420) pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006

EFSA Journal 2009; 7(9):1297 [11 pp.]. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2009.1297
  EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies Panel Members Jean-Louis Bresson, Albert Flynn, Marina Heinonen, Karin Hulshof, Hannu Korhonen, Pagona Lagiou, Martinus Løvik, Rosangela Marchelli, Ambroise Martin, Bevan Moseley, Hildegard Przyrembel, Seppo Salminen, Sean (J.J.) Strain, Stephan Strobel, Inge Tetens, Henk van den Berg, Hendrik van Loveren and Hans Verhagen Contact nda@efsa.europa.eu
Type: Opinion of the Scientific Committee/Scientific Panel On request from: European Commission Question number: EFSA-Q-2008-3025 , EFSA-Q-2008-4149 Adopted: 02 July 2009 Published: 01 October 2009 Last updated: 25 November 2009. This version replaces the previous one/s. Affiliation: European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy
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Abstract

No abstract available

Summary

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was asked to provide a scientific opinion on a list of health claims pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation 1924/2006. This opinion addresses the scientific substantiation of health claims in relation to Levisticum officinale W.D.J. Koch and improvement of diuretic function. The scientific substantiation is based on the information provided by the Member States in the consolidated list of Article 13 health claims and references that EFSA has received from Member States or directly from stakeholders.

The food constituent that is the subject of the health claim is Levisticum officinale W.D.J. Koch. The Panel considers that Levisticum officinale W.D.J. Koch has been sufficiently characterised with the following conditions of use: dried root: 4-8 g/day, and equivalent quantity in extract.

The claimed effect “renal elimination/organism draining” is not sufficiently defined but from the proposed wordings the Panel assumes that the claimed effect relates to improvement of diuretic function. The Panel considers that no evidence has been provided to establish that improvement of diuretic function is beneficial to human health of the general population.

The Panel notes that the reference cited did not provide any scientific data that could be used to substantiate the claimed effect. The Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of Levisticum officinale W.D.J. Koch and improvement of diuretic function.

Keywords

Levisticum officinale W.D.J. Koch, diuretic function, health claim

See also