Heinz Applauds FDA's Approval of Qualified Health Claim on Tomatoes and Tomato Sauces; Highlighting Protective Benefits on Prostate Cancer
Business Wire
11-10-05
PITTSBURGH, Nov 09, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), the world's largest producer of processed tomato products, applauds the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for granting approval today for the use of a Qualified Health Claim for raw, cooked, dried or canned tomatoes.
The request for a Qualified Health Claim was submitted because of the growing body of scientific evidence that the consumption of tomato products may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths for adult males in the United States.
The petition was submitted by an H.J. Heinz Company-led consortium of the principal processed tomato organizations and a major health advocacy foundation.
"We're delighted with the FDA's announcement, reinforcing what Heinz has long believed about the health benefits of tomatoes," said F. Kerr Dow, Ph.D., vice president and chief technical officer for Heinz. "It validates Heinz's long-term support of tomato research and our ongoing education program. As the FDA confirmed, research findings are still limited and scientific studies must continue on tomatoes and their link to preventing disease and enhancing well-being."
Dr. Dow noted: "Based on health claim guidance provided by the FDA, the risk of prostate cancer may be reduced by eating just 1/2 to 1 cup of tomatoes and /or tomato sauce - such as a single serving of Classico(R) pasta sauce - per week."
Members of the consortium are:
-- H. J. Heinz Company, Pittsburgh, the world's largest producer of processed tomato products, including Classico(R) Pasta Sauce, Heinz(R) Ketchup and other tomato-based soups, juices and sauces;
-- Heinz Seed Company, Stockton, Calif., the world's largest producer of tomato seeds for the processing industry;
-- Lyco Red Natural Products Industries, Ltd., Beer Sheva, Israel, the leading research and development company marketing natural products based on the phytonutrients in tomatoes;
-- The Morning Star Company, Los Banos, Calif., the world's largest packer of bulk processed tomatoes; and
-- Prostate Cancer Foundation, Santa Monica, Calif., the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research.
The nearly 1,700-page proposal was developed in collaboration with the Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy (CFNAP) at University of Maryland - College Park (formerly known as the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at Virginia Tech). CFNAP created an extensive, third-party review panel to evaluate the large volume of scientific literature, including more than 42 core studies. CFNAP evaluated the strength of numerous research findings related to the health benefits of tomato products.
"The new 2005 Dietary Guidelines encourage Americans to eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Approval of this Qualified Health Claim allows Heinz and others to further educate consumers about the health benefits of eating tomatoes and tomato products," said Maureen Storey, Ph.D., director of CFNAP. "The Qualified Health Claim gives consumers another important piece of information when they are trying to include more fruits and vegetables in their diets."
Participating in the petition also provided a significant opportunity to further the Prostate Cancer Foundation's mission to promote research, better treatments and dietary approaches for preventing and treating prostate cancer. "Prostate cancer attacks more than 230,000 men each year in the U.S., and claims more than 30,000 lives. This FDA decision will help educate the general public about the potential health benefits of tomatoes," said Leslie D. Michelson, CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
"Both fresh and processed tomatoes are treasures of nutrients, with processed tomatoes having higher levels of nutrients simply because the vegetable is concentrated," explained Ida Laquatra, Ph.D., R.D., director of nutrition for Heinz. "In the American diet, tomatoes and tomato products are among the top food sources of Vitamins C, A and E; potassium; and fiber. Plus, tomatoes are an excellent source of other phytochemicals, including the powerful antioxidant lycopene. These nutrients work in combination to offer health benefits which we are just now beginning to understand."
Well, I don't care for Heinz or other companies, but I am a tomato eater.
Anyway, I much prefer fresh tomatoes or canned peeled whole tomatoes to "industrial" foods like tomato catsup, aka ketchup, which seems to be stuffed with salt and sugar...
Good question, Mad Scientist, but the rationale behind Qualified Health Claims is grounded in commerce. The organizations that produce and distribute natural foods pretty much control the specific fruit/vegetable/grain/nut, etc. for which they lobby, and they're capable of moving a lot of "product." The California Walnut Industry, for example, is huge! Near where I live, there used to be huge piles of ground up walnut shells not far from the freeway that were processed for a variety of uses. (My facial scrub contains crushed walnuts.)
The FDA doesn't want the California Walnut Commission or the Florida Citrus Growers Association to go around saying, "A handful of walnuts per day will cure prostate cancer," or "Drinking two glasses of orange juice per day will cure arthritis" (or something equally dramatic and potentially life affecting). So it's not that the FDA gives its blessing to natural foods--that would be ludicrous--but they require that in order to claim that a fruit or a vegetable (or, in the case of walnuts, seeds) do this or that specifically, the Florida Citrus Council must prove that a glass of orange juice, beyond being generally healthful, does this or that. In this respect, a handful of walnuts is no different than a statin manufactured by a pharmaceutical company.
Example: The English walnut was given Qualified Health Claim status as the consumption thereof relates to coronary heart disease. If the California Walnut Commission--the party that sought Qualified Health Claim status--had simply advertised, "Walnuts are a healthy part of your diet," the FDA would not have had anything to say about that. But the California Walnut Commission believed--and apparently proved--that eating walnuts mitigates coronary heart disease. In this respect, the California Walnut Commission's "product" is no different than Glaxo/Smith/Kline's Vioxx (or whatever it is GSK claims mitigates coronary heart disease).
You can bet that Big Pharma had a lot to do with requiring natural foods--and the organizations that promote them--being required to submit to the same rigorous testing that pharmaceuticals undergo, but only when it comes to specific health claims.
The Almond Board of California, Almond Hullers and Processors Association, Blue Diamond Growers, Dried Fruit Association of California, Northern Nut Growers Association, Inc., etc. got around this by advertising, "A can a week. That's all we ask." It was a cute and effective campaign and they spent no money trying to get the FDA to approve a health claim. (Personally, I think almonds are inordinately healthy [Vitamin B-17], but that's another thread entirely.) :wink:
You can bet that Big Pharma had a lot to do with requiring natural foods--and the organizations that promote them--being required to submit to the same rigorous testing that pharmaceuticals undergo, but only when it comes to specific health claims.
Of course we don�t want you to go out and buy a hand full walnuts when you could be buying a hand full of expensive pills. :wink:
Now.. if they could just figure out a way to eliminate the rat turds and bugs, that the FDA allows in ketchup, we'd have it made..
But the FDA allows the ketchup companies and canned food companies to include a little extra protein in your meal.. Bugs, mice/rat turds, a ground up rabbit or two.. maybe some snakes or birds..
I just can not pull myself to eat ketchup. And.. if you look at the ingrediants... it ain't jest tomatos...
and Ruby.. this might interest you.. check out what the Red Raspberry growers association is sayin about Elagic Acid.. (from the seed of a raspberry).. within 24 hours after it is taken into the body, it will find the mutant or malignet or bad cell, 48 it will surround it so it can not duplicate or multiply or replicate, and within 72 hours. causes cell aptosis.. (cell death) .. but only to bad cells!!!!
I'll bet Ruby, if you put Elagic Acid, graviola, tumric, lycopene(tomato stuff), green tea, calcium, grape seed extract, Pau D'Arco tea, Cat's Claw
and some other 'good' stuff in an old brown jug, mix it up real good.... you'd have a pretty good Cancer Fighter?
What do you think? Just curious
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If you have any questions about any product that I mention, please PM me. I'm not a doctor. Just someone who cares and that has seen some incrediable results. Now.. go take some MSM and Vit C.
Well, pepawbear, there are thousands of natural compounds in the organic world, as you know. If one or several of these were shown by an analysis of the scientific--not anecdotal--evidence to cause apoptosis, I'd sure throw them in a blender. I'd have nothing to lose and quite possibly my life to gain.
I'd research every compound to determine if the source of the evidence is credible, unbiased--that is, no financial interest in the outcome--and reliable. In this way, I could be fairly confident that I was taking organic compounds into my body that had a better than even chance of actually helping me.
What I got from the blending of these natural, organic, non-toxic and, hopefully, effective healing compounds would probably not be fit for human consumption, but that's not what you asked.
I presently do not have cancer (that I know of) but, if I did, I would consume elagic acid via many times the amount of whole berries (with fresh cream, please) that I eat now. I see no value in elagic acid supplementation.
I would not add calcium, nor would I add turmeric (although I would add curcumin, which is the effective compound in turmeric). And I would not add graviola.
I suppose one could take every darn thing that ever hinted of being capable of causing apoptosis, but then you'd end up with a veritable mud-like concoction (in a brown jug, no less) that, on your way to dying, would make you wish you were already dead.
Hey, I'm just amazed, but pleased that the FSA
approved a natural food product instead of just
drugs, for a change.
I love tomatoes and use almost as many tomato
products as I do onions and garlic. I now feel SOooo
much better knowing they're FDA approved! :wink: If they're not careful, I may be forced to
change my opinion of them. :P
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May you always have..Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends that Care!
Tomatoes are not "FDA approved." The health claims made for them have been shown to contain some TRUTH so that consumers can make better nutrition choices.
I'm not defending the FDA; I'm merely pointing out that making better nutrition choices is made possible when companies that claim their product--yes, food is a product--cures everything from baldness to cancer are required to prove it.
Quote:
Consumer Health Information for Better Nutrition Initiative
Task Force Final Report
Report on how the agency can improve consumer understanding of the health consequences of their dietary choices and increase competition by product developers in support of healthier diets, including how the agency should apply the "weight of the evidence" standard established under the consumer health information initiative for qualified health claims in order to achieve these goals.
The agency [FDA] seeks to help consumers improve their understanding of how their dietary choices may influence their health, to promote competition among product developers to find better ways to help improve health through better diets, and ultimately to prevent serious and life-threatening diseases through better dietary choices by Americans.
FDA approves qualified health claim for tomatoes
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