Creatine health claim should be removed from positive list

The positive health claim for creatine and sports performance that was one of 222 that passed to the European parliament for writing into European law, should be put on ice, because it is confounded by conditions of use (CoU), a UK consultant has said.

Dr Mark J. Tallon, PhD, managing director of food law consultancy, Sports Legal Ltd, said the claim “should not move forward” because the CoU promoted an insufficient daily creatine dose.

“In its opinion EFSA highlights 4 papers (meta-analysis) as evidence demonstrating that the generally accepted science supports a COU of 3g per day as a means to increase performance drink short high intensity exercise,” Dr Tallon said.

“However, when you review these papers they do not support 3g as a performance enhancer but loading and maintenance dose of 5g> per day.”

“When we look at this opinion in detail it is a strong example of EFSA's failure to fully review the available evidence and apply it correctly in their suggested COU. We still await to here back from the Commission on this issue and will look at what legal options are open to us if this opinion is voted in law.”