News

EFSA declines to authorise GlycoLite claim

17 Jun 2019

The EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim related to GlycoLite.

The claimed effect proposed by the applicant was that it ‘helps to reduce body weight’.

Following an application from analyze & realize, submitted for authorisation of a health claim pursuant to Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 via the Competent Authority of Ireland, the EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim related to GlycoLite.

The panel said that it considers that the food, an aqueous extract from white kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) standardised by its in vitro α‐amylase inhibitory activity (GlycoLite) which is the subject of the health claim, is sufficiently characterised. The claimed effect proposed by the applicant was that it ‘helps to reduce body weight’.

The proposed target population was described as ‘overweight people from the age of 18 years who want to lose or manage their weight’.

The panel considered that a reduction in body weight is a beneficial physiological effect for overweight individuals.

Two human intervention studies, carried out in the same centres and by the same research group, showed an effect of 3 g of GlycoLite on body weight when consumed daily for 12 weeks in the context of an energy restricted diet. The results have not been replicated in a different setting. One study of short duration and methodological limitations showed an effect of GlycoLite on body weight when eating ad libitum. No evidence for a plausible mechanism by which GlycoLite could exert a reduction in body weight in vivo in humans was provided.

The Panel concluded that the evidence provided was insufficient to establish a cause and effect relationship between the consumption of an aqueous extract from white kidney bean (P. vulgaris L.) standardised by its in vitro α‐amylase inhibitory activity (GlycoLite) and a reduction of body weight either under energy restriction or when eating ad libitum.