Disease Risk Reduction Claims

Disease risk reduction claims are generally statements that link a food or a constituent of a food to reducing the risk of developing a diet-related disease or condition (e.g. osteoporosis, cancer, hypertension) in the context of the total diet. The composition of a food that carries the claim must contribute to a dietary pattern associated with the claimed benefit. Currently, there are several disease risk reduction claims permitted on food in Canada. Therapeutic claims, on the other hand, are claims about treatment or mitigation of a health-related disease or condition, or about restoring, correcting or modifying body functions. At present, no therapeutic claims have been approved for food in Canada.

Most disease risk reduction and therapeutic claims are drug claims. A drug claim is a claim that suggests that the product has the properties of a drug (e.g., the treatment, mitigation or prevention of a disease, disorder or abnormal physical state or its symptoms) or that the product has an effect on the body that is beyond that which is normally associated with a food (e.g., restoring, correcting or modifying organic functions in the body).

Disease risk reduction claims and therapeutic claims are allowed on food only where specifically permitted by the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR; the Regulations).

Requirements

Some Examples of Non-Permitted Drug Claims for Foods

Other Related Information