The 143rd Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (Sapporo)

Organizer: Hiromi Takano-Ohmuro, Michiko Yamamoto

Foods with health claims (FHC) play an important role in self-care. Although the choice and use of foods for self-care should be based on product information and at one's own risk (informed decision making), at present, product information is not fully utilized. What may happen when consumers do not read product information is the occurrence of health problems due to the belief that the food is safe because it is food, or the worsening of symptoms due to the delay in visiting a medical institution because of the expectation of a drug-like effect in the food, etc.
In order for consumers to make appropriate use of FHC for Self care, the content of the food package label, which is the health information material, must be appropriate and must be understood by consumers and lead them to take action. In order to examine these points for the materials of "Foods with Functional Claims (FFC)," one of FHC, this research group conducted an evaluation using the Clear Communication Index (CCI), an indicator for appropriate preparation of the materials, modified for FFC. In addition, the "user test" (in the form of an interview) was conducted to verify whether consumers understand the content of materials.
In this symposium, we would like to deepen the discussion on these results and other aspects of labels that contribute to the utilization of FFC.