Body shaping ingredients prepare for EU entry

Functional foods on a body-shaping platform could hit European supermarkets next year now that fat-busting ingredient conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has passed the first stage of the Novel Food Regulation.

Weight management ingredients work through a variety of mechanisms, some by suppressing the appetite, some by helping the body burn more energy, and others by affecting the way the body metabolises fat.

One of the better-researched weight management ingredients, CLA, is claimed to influence enzymes involved in fat metabolism and activate receptors associated with fat storage in the body. In simple terms, it can help prevent new fat from being stored and accelerate the breakdown of fat already in the body. The result is an overall reduction in fat mass and an increase in lean muscle mass.

Given that CLA is a naturally occurring fatty acid found in beef and dairy fats, which have been consumed for thousands of years in Europe, the companies behind the Novel Food applications (Dutch healthy oils firm Lipid Nutrition and German chemicals and nutritional ingredients firm Cognis) had argued that their CLA should not be subject to the Regulation as it is derived from safflowers.

However, the European Commission disagreed and both companies were forced to lodge applications last summer in a bid to gain regulatory clearance to extend CLA’s application beyond dietary supplements into mainstream foods and drinks.

Now that Cognis has received the green light from the Spanish authorities and Lipid Nutrition has the thumbs up from the Irish authorities, both applications will now be reviewed by the other Member States. If there are no major objections, EU-wide approval could come by the end of this year, enabling manufacturers to start experimenting with functional food and drink products containing CLA.

Tonalin CLA from Cognis and Clarinol CLA from Lipid Nutrition are both produced using proprietary processes using linoleic acid from safflowers. Both are available in oil and water-dispersible powder forms, enabling them to be used in a wide variety of applications from milk drinks, fruit juices, yoghurts and yoghurt drinks to baked goods, salad dressings and breakfast cereals.

A series of human clinical studies on CLA have demonstrated its ability to help people achieve significant fat loss independent of physical exercise or dieting, with fat reduction primarily occurring in the places that improve overall body shape and health most: the abdomen and - in women - the legs.