Becel
Becel is a brand for various food products from Upfield . The name Becel is derived from the sequence of letters BCL, which stands for "Blood Cholesterol Lowering".
On December 15, 2017, Unilever announced the sale of its spreads division to the financial investor KKR , since then their brands, which include Rama and Lätta, have been combined in Upfield Holding.
Becel
The Becel product range includes spreadable fats and sausages as well as cooking fats and oils that contain polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids . These fatty acids are said to have beneficial effects on blood lipids and cholesterol levels , which is said to reduce the risk of hardening of the arteries and heart attacks .
Becel pro.activ
The Becel pro.activ product range includes various foods that are fortified with plant esterols (as sterol esters ). Plant sterols (also called plant sterols) are said to have a lowering effect on cholesterol levels. Becel pro.activ belongs to the so-called functional food category and is accordingly advertised by the manufacturer with health-promoting properties. The Becel pro.activ semi-fat margarine, which was launched on the market in 2000, had to be approved as a novel food for the EU because of the unusual additives in normal margarine . The Becel pro.activ brand has now been expanded to include low-fat milk and yoghurt drinks. The manufacturer recommends a daily intake of 20 to 25 grams of the margarine, but now also the additional consumption of the corresponding other products in order to reduce the risk of a heart attack and hardening of the arteries.
Unilever aggressively advertises Becel pro.activ with statements about the cholesterol-lowering and health- promoting effects of the product.
criticism
safety
As early as 2002, Stiftung Warentest criticized the fact that the medical effect of Becel pro.activ was intensively advertised and that it was de facto a drug without undesirable side effects having to be mentioned on the packaging , as is the case with real drugs on the package insert . The evaluation of Becel pro.activ says: “While side effects and contraindications have to be specified in detail on the instruction leaflet for drugs, there is no corresponding duty to inform about the novel food margarine. The packaging only states in general terms that consumption for pregnant women, breastfeeding women and small children under 5 years of age is “under certain circumstances not appropriate”. The advice that users of cholesterol-lowering medication should discuss the consumption of Becel pro-activ with their doctor is non-binding. These hints sound harmless. The assessment of the Federal Institute for Consumer Health Protection and Veterinary Medicine , however, is critical. It had spoken out against approval as a functional food because some studies documented side effects: influencing the intestinal flora , effects on sex hormones , gastrointestinal problems, headaches . "
The successor institute of the former Federal Institute for Consumer Health Protection and Veterinary Medicine, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), assessed the current data situation on the safety of foods fortified with plant sterols in 2008 and came to the conclusion that there were basically no new risks, but for the first time In animal experiments, signs of vascular damage were found within a few weeks after consuming large amounts of plant sterols. In its statement, it recommended “... to ensure through management measures that foods with added phytosterols are only consumed by people who have been shown to have a high cholesterol level. The BfR advises not to allow any other types of food with added phytosterols. "
In 2012, the consumer organization Foodwatch filed for an injunction to prohibit Unilever from spreading the statement that from a scientific point of view, there was no evidence of side effects from the consumption of foods fortified with plant sterols. The lawsuit was dismissed on December 14, 2012.
effectiveness
There is also criticism from nutritionists and medical professionals with regard to the presentation of the alleged health risks due to high cholesterol levels (e.g. the cardiac age test developed by Unilever in which the risk factors are related to one another according to the Framingham Risk Score) and the promised benefits of lowering cholesterol. The physician Peter Sawicki , then head of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care , who reviewed 14 meta-studies on cholesterol and myocardial infarction, explains in an interview about Becel advertising: “The effect of lowering cholesterol has been researched better than anything else in medicine . It can be said that healthy people do not benefit from it in terms of life extension ” ; This only applies to people who have already had a heart attack or are suffering from a disease of the coronary arteries , but statistically only two percent.
Health claim
Of phytosterols, the use of the reduction of disease risk in question, health claim (was health claimsoft ) "Plant sterols reduce / shown to reduce cholesterol levels. A high cholesterol level is one of the risk factors for coronary heart disease. ” Approved by the European Commission in October 2009 and entered in the EU community register. This was preceded by a positive assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The agency recommends limiting the daily consumption of plant sterols and stanols to three grams. In December 2011, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment recommended that EFSA be commissioned with a reassessment of phytosterols as food ingredients and reaffirmed its recommendation from 2008 to take appropriate measures to ensure that the consumption of phytosterol-enriched foods is limited to people with high cholesterol levels. Healthy people, especially children, should not consume these foods regularly.
Individual evidence
- ↑ trademark register BECEL
- ↑ Unilever to sell its Spreads business to KKR for € 6,825 bn
- ↑ a b SWR television: Mythos Cholesterol , from the broadcast on February 16, 2006, 10 p.m.
- ^ Stiftung Warentest: Becel pro-activ - Medicine on Bread , May 2002
- ↑ People with normal cholesterol levels should refrain from consuming foods with added plant sterols (PDF; 72 kB), BfR Opinion No. 042/2008 of September 3, 2008
- ↑ foodwatch sued Unilever over Becel pro.activ , February 7, 2012.
- ↑ Foodwatch's lawsuit against Unilever dismissed
- ↑ EU Register on Nutrition and Health Claims
- ↑ Foods with plant sterol and plant stanol additives: Evaluation of a new study from the Netherlands (PDF; 63 kB), BfR opinion 006/2012 of December 1, 2011