Most requests for authorization to bear health claims under Articles 13(5) and 14 related to blood glucose and insulin concentration/regulation presented to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) receive a negative opinion. Reasons for such decisions are mainly ascribable to poor substantiation of the claimed effects. In this scenario, a project was carried out aiming at critically analysing the outcome variables (OVs) and methods of measurement (MMs) to be used to substantiate health claims, with the final purpose to improve the quality of applications provided by stakeholders to EFSA. This manuscript provides a position statement of the experts involved in the project, reporting the results of an investigation aimed to collect, collate and critically analyse the information relevant to claimed effects (CEs), OVs and MMs related to blood glucose and insulin levels and homoeostasis compliant with Regulation 1924/2006. The critical analysis of OVs and MMs was performed with the aid of the pertinent scientific literature and was aimed at defining their appropriateness (alone or in combination with others) to support a specific CE. The results can be used to properly select OVs and MMs in a randomized controlled trial, for an effective substantiation of the claims, using the reference method(s) whenever available. Moreover, results can help EFSA in updating the guidance for the scientific requirements of health claims.
Keywords: Blood glucose; Claimed effect; Diabetes; Insulin; Measurement method; Outcome variable.