Foods with Health Claims in Japan

Pharmaceutical Food Science: Search for Bio-Functional Molecules Obtained from Natural Resources to Prevent and Ameliorate Lifestyle Diseases

“…[47][48][49][50] We found that a methanol extract of "Everlasting Flower," the flowers of Helichrysum arenarium (L.) Moench (common names; dwarf everlasting and immortelle) was found to inhibit Toshio Morikawa blood glucose elevation in sucrose-loaded mice as well as the enzymatic activity against DPP-4 (IC 50 = 41.2 µg/mL). 51,52) During the MONOTORI study of the extract, [53][54][55] we obtained new compounds having unusual structures for natural products, e.g., everlastosides A ( 5) and B ( 6), megastigman glycosides having a γ-lactone linkage between C-5 and C-12, 54) and arenariumoside VI (7) and related analogs (arenariumosides V and VII), dimeric dihydrocalcone glycosides 51) (Fig. 3).…”

“…According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan, the foods labeled "so-called health food" are not defined by law but refer to food that is widely sold or used as food contributing to health conservation and enhancement. 4) Among the "food with health claims," Food for Specified Health Use (FOSHU) and Food with Function Claims (FFC) are widely used for self-care/ prevention and health maintenance/enhancement practices, which may contribute to reducing the burden on limited medical resources [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] (Fig. 1).…”

A review of antidiabetic active thiosugar sulfoniums, salacinol and neokotalanol, from plants of the genus Salacia

“…In Japan, the government can label two types of food products with certain health claims: Foods for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU) and Foods with Function Claims (FFC) [75][76][77][78][79][80][81]. Due to the increasing interest in plants of the genus Salacia as a possible food product with health claim for individuals with prediabetes and/or those with high blood glucose levels, we examined the suppressive effects of the hot water extract from the stems of S. chinensis (SCE).…”