EFSA rejects skin hydration claim of wheat lipid extract
The food constituent that is the subject of the health claim is Wheat Polar Lipid Extract, and the Panel considered that Wheat Polar Lipid Extract is sufficiently characterised.
The claim was submitted by Extraction Purification Innovation France (EPIF) for "an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim related to Wheat Polar Lipid Extract and protection of the skin against dehydration."
Uncontrolled and unreliable
The scope of the application was proposed to fall under a health claim based on newly developed scientific evidence and including a request for the protection of proprietary data.
The target population proposed by EPIF is healthy adults with skin dryness, with EPIF submitting one published and two unpublished human intervention studies as being pertinent to the health claim.
However, EFSA’s Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) said one of these was uncontrolled and therefore not reliable. The published study did also not use ‘Wheat Polar Lipid Extract’.
No conclusions to be drawn
‘Wheat Polar Lipid Extract’ is a powder composed of more than 95 per cent lipids like glycosyl ceramides and ceramides, digalactosyldiglycerides (DGDG), phospholipids, monogalactosyldiglycerides (MGDG) and glycosylated sterols.
"The Panel considers that no conclusions can be drawn from one uncontrolled pilot study nor from one study which was not carried out with the food which is the subject of the claim,” said the NDA.
“In weighing the evidence, the Panel took into account that one human intervention study reported an effect of consumption of Wheat Polar Lipid Extract on trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) and skin water-holding capacity, but that the outcome of the study lacked plausibility given the limitations in the study design, and that the evidence provided in support of a mechanism was weak."
The full scientific opinion published by EFSA can be found here.
