The FDA has announced that supplements containing 500mg of whole fruit cranberry may now use a qualified health claim on their labels and marketing materials.
The FDA authorised three wording options including, “Limited scientific evidence shows that by consuming 500 mg each day of cranberry dietary supplement, healthy women who have had a urinary tract infection (UTI) may reduce their risk of recurrent UTI.”
“More companies are calling us looking to formulate with whole fruit cranberry powder because no one else has our level of expertise,” said Jean Leclerc, director of Sales and Business Development for Fruit d’Or.
Leclerc acknowledged that it’s possible to use the qualified health claim without demonstrating efficacy: “We still have to fight that battle. Clearly, those who want to differentiate themselves will also want to promote their cranberries’ anti-adhesion activity, standardization, purity, potency and quantifying the amount of soluble and insoluble PACs. Fruit d’Or is a pioneer and leader in each of those areas.”
Anti-adhesion assays by Rutgers University have shown that cranberry PACs may inhibit pathogenic E. Coli’s ability to adhere to epithelial cells in the urinary tract. Additionally, work conducted by Complete Phytochemical Solutions using Fruit d’Or Cran Naturelle, captured electron microscopic images of that specific cranberry ingredient’s PACs bound to pathogenic E. coli that showed how the anti-adhesion works.
Fruit d’Or is having its branded ingredients, organic Cran Naturelle and conventional Cran d’Or, tested by Amy B. Howell, PhD and her team at Rutgers University for this anti-adhesion activity.
In addition to the labeling option mentioned above, supplement manufacturers may use either of these qualified health statements:
“Consuming 500 mg each day of cranberry dietary supplement may help reduce the risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women. FDA has concluded that there is limited scientific evidence supporting this claim.”
“Consuming 500 mg [X capsules/tablets/soft gels] each day of [this identified cranberry dietary supplement] may help reduce the risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women. FDA has concluded that there is limited scientific evidence supporting this claim.”
