FDA Authorizes Qualified Health Claim for Oleic Acid
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
  • A health claim characterizes the relationship between a substance and its ability to reduce the risk of a disease or health-related condition (see 21 CFR 101.14). A health claim must contain the elements of a substance and a disease or health-related condition. In addition, health claims are limited to claims about disease risk reduction, and cannot be claims about the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, or treatment of disease. Health claims are required to be reviewed and evaluated by FDA prior to use via a petition process. There are two types of health claims that can be approved by FDA : (1) authorized health claims that meet the standard of significant scientific agreement (SSA) and (2) qualified health claims. A “qualified health claim” must be accompanied by qualifying language or a disclaimer communicating the level of scientific evidence supporting the claim.

  • On November 19, 2018, FDA announced that it intends to exercise enforcement discretion for the use of a qualified health claim suggesting that consuming oleic acid in edible oils, such as olive oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Responding to a petition filed by Corbion Biotech, Inc., the Agency noted that while there is credible evidence to support a qualified health claim for oleic acid, the evidence does not meet the more rigorous “significant scientific agreement” standard required by an authorized health claim. Therefore, FDA stated that it intends to exercise enforcement discretion for the following qualified health claims:

    • “Supportive but not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that daily consumption of about 1½ tablespoons (20 grams) of oils containing high levels of oleic acid, when replaced for fats and oils higher in saturated fat, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. To achieve this possible benefit, oleic acid-containing oils should not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day. One serving of [x] oil provides [x] grams of oleic acid (which is [x] grams of monounsaturated fatty acid).”

    • “Supportive but not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that daily consumption of about 1½ tablespoons (20 grams) of oils containing high levels of oleic acid, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. To achieve this possible benefit, oleic acid-containing oils should replace fats and oils higher in saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day. One serving of [x] oil provides [x] grams of oleic acid (which is [x] grams of monounsaturated fatty acid.”

  • In a statement about the qualified health claim, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb explained that “modernizing and prioritizing new claims on food labels” is part of the Agency’s Nutrition Innovation Strategy. (For more information on FDA’s Nutrition Innovation Strategy, click here.)

 

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