EFSA considers health claim for creatine and elderly muscle function

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is reviewing a health claim application for creatine and muscle function in the elderly following an application from German chemical company AlzChem AG.

According to EFSA’s register of questions, the 13.5 health claim application was under consideration but a deadline was yet to be given. The dossier was forwarded by the Austrian authority.

Under the European Union’s 2006 nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR), products providing a daily intake of 3 g of creatine could already claim to “increase physical performance in successive bursts of short-term, high intensity exercise”. 

Yet this claim could only be used for foods targeting adults performing high-intensity exercise. 

AlzChem, headquartered in Trostberg, has over 1,400 employees and annual revenue of over €295m across the fields of nutrition, renewable energies, fine chemicals, agriculture and metallurgy. 

Article 13.5 claims relate to proprietary and emerging science.