EU Officials: Don't claim water prevents dehydration

[kirant]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...hydration.html

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.
Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

[...]

German professors Dr Andreas Hahn and Dr Moritz Hagenmeyer, who advise food manufacturers on how to advertise their products, asked the European Commission if the claim could be made on labels.

They compiled what they assumed was an uncontroversial statement in order to test new laws which allow products to claim they can reduce the risk of disease, subject to EU approval.

They applied for the right to state that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration” as well as preventing a decrease in performance.

Glad to see taxpayer money is being used for all the right reasons.

[ken0042]

Do you have a link to the article? It sounds like it has been taken out of context; almost as if they had been putting something on the label talking about how the bottled water prevents disease. Now they are being told they can only say it prevents dehydration.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Do you have a link to the article? It sounds like it has been taken out of context; almost as if they had been putting something on the label talking about how the bottled water prevents disease. Now they are being told they can only say it prevents dehydration.

Added.

[ken0042]

Thanks- that actually makes it even more silly.

[HPLovecraft]

The argument they put forth defending their decision is so strange.

“regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration”

That's what they wanted to say.

Then this:

Prof Brian Ratcliffe, spokesman for the Nutrition Society, said dehydration was usually caused by a clinical condition and that one could remain adequately hydrated without drinking water.

He said: “The EU is saying that this does not reduce the risk of dehydration and that is correct.

“This claim is trying to imply that there is something special about bottled water which is not a reasonable claim.”

If you play sports on a hot summer day, and you don't take in any fluids, do you not run the risk of dehydration? And if you take in a whole lot of water, does it not reduce that risk?

It's like the EFSA just wanted something to do for 3 years (3 years!), so goofed around with a team of scientists until they came up with this mincing of words.

[TorqueDog]

I could see if they were trying to pitch that bottled water has additional properties that prevent hydration versus sticking the garden hose to your face, but this just sounds like reminding people that "Hey, if you drink water, there's a better chance you won't become dehydrated... and this bottle has water in it, so yeah".

[octothorp]

So if I was packaging a typical food product and wanted to put a label on it saying, "regular consumption of food can prevent starvation", I assume that would be found to be an unreasonable statement as well.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by octothorp

So if I was packaging a typical food product and wanted to put a label on it saying, "regular consumption of food can prevent starvation", I assume that would be found to be an unreasonable statement as well.

Come back in 3 years for an answer.

[Regular_John]

[Azure]

Why do they even spend money on crap like that?

Not even sure what point they are even trying to make. Water DOES and CAN prevent dehydration. I thought that was proven fact.

[onetwo_threefour]

I don't know, if drinking water can only prevent certain types of dehydration but not others, the idea is that it may be misleading to those for whom consuming more water won't help the condition. As it says in the article, dehydration can be associated with a clinical condition to which consumption of fluids has no relation.

Do we really need to argue so passionately for corporations to be able to make claims on their packaging?