Abstract
Nutrition claims (NCs) on food packaging are, from one side, an informative tool about the nutritional characteristics of the product. From another side, they could bias the consumer in perceiving such products as healthier than those without claims. In order to investigate whether products with NCs have a better nutritional composition that those without claims, the present study aimed to compare the nutrition facts of 376 breakfast cereals, with and without fibre-related NCs, available in 13 Italian retailer online stores. Among these products, 73 items claimed to be a “source of fibre” and 109 “high in fibre”. In addition to a higher fibre content, products “high in fibre” showed higher protein and fat contents but lower carbohydrate, sugar and salt contents compared to both “source of fibre” and without fibre-related NC items. Overall, a high variability in nutritional values was also observed within products with the same type of fibre-related NC. In conclusion, the results suggested that fibre-related NCs should not be considered as a marker of a better nutritional composition of breakfast cereals, and thus consumers should be educated to carefully read the entire nutritional information reported in the food labelling.
Highlights
Dietary fibre is defined by the European Food Safety Authority as “non-digestible carbohydrates plus lignin, including non-starch polysaccharides—cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectins, hydrocolloids, resistant oligosaccharides, fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, other resistant oligosaccharides, resistant starch— consisting of physically enclosed starch, some types of raw starch granules, retrograded amylose, chemically and/or physically modified starches, and lignin associated with the dietary fibre polysaccharides” [1].A large body of evidence suggests that an adequate intake of fibre is inversely associated with the risk of many non-communicable diseases, including intestinal bowel disease [2] and some types of cancer [3,4]
For all the 376 breakfast cereals included in the present analysis, the fibre content was present in the nutrition declaration and in 336 items it was ≥3 g/100 g that would allow them to bear a fibre-related Nutrition claims (NCs)
A similar percentage of products carrying claims related to fibre, i.e., 50 and 48%, were found in gluten free (GF) and gluten-containing products, respectively, despite the large difference in terms of numbers of items
Summary
Dietary fibre is defined by the European Food Safety Authority as “non-digestible carbohydrates plus lignin, including non-starch polysaccharides—cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectins, hydrocolloids (i.e., gums, mucilages, glucans), resistant oligosaccharides, fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, other resistant oligosaccharides, resistant starch— consisting of physically enclosed starch, some types of raw starch granules, retrograded amylose, chemically and/or physically modified starches, and lignin associated with the dietary fibre polysaccharides” [1].A large body of evidence suggests that an adequate intake of fibre is inversely associated with the risk of many non-communicable diseases, including intestinal bowel disease [2] and some types of cancer [3,4]. In Italy, a daily reference intake of 12.6–16.7 g fibre/1000 kcal is recommended (8.4 g/1000 kcal during childhood), with a suggested dietary target of at least 25 g/day for the prevention of chronic diseases [6]. 1924/2006 [9], when a nutrition claim (NC) and/or health claim (HC) is made for a nutrient, the amount of that nutrient must be declared This Regulation declares that two different claims specific to fibre can be used: “source of fibre” for products containing at least 3 g of fibre per 100 g or at least 1.5 g of fibre per 100 kcal, and “high in fibre”, for 6 g of fibre per 100 g or at least 3 g of fibre per 100 kcal [9]
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