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Relevance
Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of a health claim related to a combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts and reduction of body weight pursuant to Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006
Carlo Agostoni, Roberto Berni Canani, Susan Fairweather-Tait, Marina Heinonen, Hannu Korhonen, Sébastien La Vieille, Rosangela Marchelli, Ambroise Martin, Androniki Naska, Monika Neuhäuser-Berthold, Grażyna Nowicka, Yolanda Sanz, Alfonso Siani, Anders Sjödin, Martin Stern, Sean (J.J.) Strain, Inge Tetens, Daniel Tomé, Dominique Turck and Hans Verhagen.
Acknowledgment
The Panel wishes to thank the members of the Working Group on Claims: Carlo Agostoni, Jean-Louis Bresson, Susan Fairweather-Tait, Marina Heinonen, Ambroise Martin, Hildegard Przyrembel, Yolanda Sanz, Alfonso Siani, Anders Sjödin, Sean (J.J.) Strain, Inge Tetens, Dominique Turck, Hendrik van Loveren, Hans Verhagen and Peter Willatts for the preparatory work on this scientific opinion.
Contact
nda@efsa.europa.eu
Following an application from Nutrilinks Sarl, submitted pursuant to Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 via the Competent Authority of Cyprus, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim related to a combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts and reduction of body weight. The Panel considers that the food constituent which is the subject of the health claim is sufficiently characterised. The claimed effect, reduction of body weight, is a beneficial physiological effect for overweight subjects. One human intervention study from which no conclusions could be drawn for the scientific substantiation of the claim was provided by the applicant. The Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of a combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts and a reduction in body weight.
© European Food Safety Authority, 2012
Following an application from Nutrilinks Sarl, submitted pursuant to Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 via the Competent Authority of Cyprus, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim related to a combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts and reduction of body weight.
The scope of the application was proposed to fall under a health claim based on newly developed scientific evidence.
The food constituent that is the subject of the health claim is a combination of guarana and green tea extracts, which are respectively standardised by their content of caffeine and epigallocatechin-3-gallate. The Panel considers that the food constituent, a combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts, which is the subject of the health claim, is sufficiently characterised.
The claimed effect proposed by the applicant is “helps to burn fat”. The target population proposed by the applicant is overweight healthy adults in the general population. Upon EFSA’s request for clarification, the applicant stated that the claimed effect to be evaluated was “helps to improve weight loss”, and that “helps to burn fat” was meant for use in the wording for consumer communication. The Panel considers that a reduction of body weight is a beneficial physiological effect for overweight subjects.
One human intervention study, which was undertaken with a green tea extract, was identified by the applicant as pertinent to the health claim. EFSA noted that the food constituent used in this study was not complying with the characterisation of the food for which the claim was requested. The Panel considers that no conclusions can be drawn from this study for the scientific substantiation of a health claim on the combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts.
The Panel notes that no studies from which conclusions could be drawn for the scientific substantiation of the claim were provided by the applicant.
The Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of a combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts and a reduction in body weight.
Paullinia cupana, guarana, green tea, Camellia sinensis, body weight, health claims
