Promotion of Fruit Consumption Using Nutrition and Health Claims: Sufficiency of Available Data on Nutrition Composition †
1
Nutrition Institute, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
2
German Institute of Food Technologies, 49610 Quakenbrück, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023, Belgrade, Serbia, 14–17 November 2023.
Proceedings 2023, 91(1), 129; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091129
Published: 29 January 2024
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023)
Abstract
:Fruits constitute a dietary source of many essential nutrients and other bioactive substituents. Unfavorable trends in the consumption of fruits can be addressed with increased promotion and also using nutrition and health claims because an important segment of consumers is sensitive to health-related communications. The regulation on the use of nutrition and health claims only allows the use of claims when the product is a relevant source of the nutrient referred to. Food composition databases (FCDBs) offer such data, but it should be highlighted that, in practice, the composition of fruits can vary notably due to the variety, agricultural practices, soils, and climatic conditions. The objective of the present study was to investigate data on the nutritional composition of selected widely available apple varieties in Europe for health promotion purposes. We focused on samples available to consumers at the end of the season (winter). The comparison of existing data from FCDBs with new nutritional composition data from laboratory analyses for health promotion purposes was performed for four studied apple varieties (Golden Delicious, Gala, Idared, and Braeburn). The amount of vitamin C in the observed samples varied up to 15.3 mg, and the dietary fibres varied from 3.3 to 5.5 g in 100 g of apple in laboratory testing. Only the Braeburn variety contained a sufficient amount of vitamin C for the use of nutrition and health claims, while the content of dietary fibre was sufficient for all varieties. The data from laboratory testing differed from the data from FCDBs, which are not specific to the variety. The findings indicate a moderate acceptability of data on nutritional composition from FCBDs for the use of nutrition and health claims for apples, especially when the content of nutrients is on the borderline of the conditions for the use of claims, as in the case with vitamin C. Consequently, additional research on the variability of vitamin C in apples is needed, especially in relation to the variety and storage conditions/duration. The amendment of FCDBs with composition data at the level of fruit variety would present an important aspect for the nutrition and health promotion of fruits.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, A.K.; methodology, A.K. and I.P.; investigation, A.K.; resources, I.P. and K.P.; data curation, A.K.; writing—original draft preparation, A.K.; writing—review and editing, A.K.; supervision, I.P. and K.P.; project administration, A.K.; funding acquisition, I.P. and K.P: All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 817683.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
The data supporting the reported results can be found by contacting the authors.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Kušar, A.; Pasch, K.; Pravst, I. Promotion of Fruit Consumption Using Nutrition and Health Claims: Sufficiency of Available Data on Nutrition Composition. Proceedings 2023, 91, 129. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091129
AMA Style
Kušar A, Pasch K, Pravst I. Promotion of Fruit Consumption Using Nutrition and Health Claims: Sufficiency of Available Data on Nutrition Composition. Proceedings. 2023; 91(1):129. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091129
Chicago/Turabian StyleKušar, Anita, Kerstin Pasch, and Igor Pravst. 2023. "Promotion of Fruit Consumption Using Nutrition and Health Claims: Sufficiency of Available Data on Nutrition Composition" Proceedings 91, no. 1: 129. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091129
