Business Opportunities Expanding with the Food Functional Claims System (Part 3) ~Prospects and Challenges for the Functional Claims Food Market Under the New System~ Part 2

On April 1, Japan's new functional food labeling system came into effect. This major revision, the first in 44 years, raises questions: How will the Japanese market change? What new business opportunities will emerge? Members of Dentsu Inc. Healthcare Team interviewed experts.

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How should related industries like food, beverages, and distribution approach the new functional food labeling system? Furthermore, with consumers' health awareness growing ever higher, what should communication strategies and business directions look like? We asked Kunihiro Nishizawa of Nikkei BP, former editor-in-chief of Nikkei Health and an expert on the functional food labeling market, about future prospects and challenges.

Urgent Need for Training PR and Sales Personnel

Takizawa: It still seems challenging for consumers to fully understand the functional claims. How should manufacturers and sellers provide information?

Nishizawa: Under this new system, the Consumer Affairs Agency requires applicants to communicate information to consumers as clearly as possible. Therefore, the role of the PR sections within manufacturers and retailers becomes extremely important. For example, last year, a paper was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). It reported findings from a detailed examination of press releases issued by 20 UK universities in 2011, the research papers they cited as evidence, and the articles written based on those releases. It found that when press releases contained inappropriate exaggerations, many media outlets directly adopted the emphasized language. Notably, press releases that exaggerated the potential effects on humans—despite lacking human trials—were 56 times more likely to have exaggerations included in the resulting articles compared to releases without such exaggerations.
The issues highlighted in this paper are by no means someone else's problem. When companies provide media with information based on their product's functionality, leading to misleading reports or unforeseen consumer incidents, the company bears significant responsibility. To prevent such problems, companies must implement strict and rigorous information management and risk management while simultaneously devising communication strategies that effectively convey the effects and efficacy of functional foods. In this sense, it becomes a highly sophisticated public relations matter. Training PR personnel who possess a solid understanding of the evidence and can communicate it accurately and clearly will become an urgent priority. Beyond PR staff, the need for company-wide employee education will also increase, including sales personnel who are likely to explain functional claims during sales pitches.

Prioritize communicating points where effects and efficacy can be felt as quickly as possible

Takizawa: While ensuring the rigor of evidence, marketing strategies for functional foods will also be a major challenge. From a media perspective, do you have any advice?

Clear communication holds the key to growth

Takizawa: So strong support from women has sustained the magazine until now.

Nishizawa: Yes. Nikkei Health initially targeted male readers, but later shifted its readership entirely to women. In 2008, while searching for simpler, more accessible ways to prevent postprandial hyperglycemia—which contributes not only to diabetes but also to obesity and skin aging—we drew inspiration from the concept of "ladies first" and coined the term "Vegetable First." This approach suggests that even when eating the same meal, instead of starting with white rice or bread, which cause blood sugar to rise quickly, begin with vegetables rich in dietary fiber that help prevent sharp spikes. You can start doing this today, right?
When I introduced this method in magazines and other publications, women responded immediately. Simply stating "post-meal hyperglycemia is dangerous" likely wouldn't have resonated as much. However, when backed by supporting evidence about the risks and presented in clear terms showing how a simple eating approach can reduce that risk, people definitely respond. Based on this experience, I believe the functional food market will also see steady, stable growth going forward. This will happen by translating robust evidence into easy-to-understand stories about how to consume foods, how to structure meals, or how to combine them with complementary health practices for synergistic effects. For example, research will likely advance rapidly, showing not just how to consume a single food type, but how eating meals with specific balances can effectively maintain physical health and improve bodily functions. We may enter an era where multiple companies propose combinations of foods and dietary approaches, rather than a single company promoting its own product in isolation.

The functional properties of food are also closely linked to "preventive medicine."

Nishizawa: Additionally, I believe dietary fiber will likely see growing interest over the next 10 to 20 years. Recent TV programs covering gut microbiota have generated significant buzz, and I've received many inquiries asking, "Can we develop products targeting the gut?" We're now understanding how gut microbiota composition deeply influences everything from lifestyle diseases and weight management to mental health, and even the future health of children born to pregnant women. Dietary fiber serves as food for beneficial bacteria within the gut microbiota, such as lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria. This means insights into which carbohydrates containing dietary fiber promote a healthy gut microbiota should form a foundational health strategy. Numerous research papers on gut bacteria have already been published in authoritative journals. This gut microbiota research will also yield significant results for "preventive medicine," which identifies diseases with high future risk and prevents their onset. Preemptive medicine, highlighted as a key concept at the 29th General Assembly of the Japan Medical Association held in April, represents a concept that goes a step further than preventive medicine.
This field of preemptive medicine must be developed to reduce annual healthcare costs, which amount to 40 trillion yen, and to change the current situation where, despite having the world's longest life expectancy, there is a gap of 12.4 years between average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (for Japanese women). Food is deeply involved in this. The evolution of the functional food labeling market is likely to drastically transform food-related business over the next 10 to 20 years.

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What is the Food Functional Claims System?

The Food Functional Claims System commenced in April. Under this system, if scientific data substantiating safety and functionality exists, manufacturers can declare functional properties on their products "under their own responsibility" by notifying the Consumer Affairs Agency. Functional claim foods will begin appearing on store shelves as early as June.

<Key Points of the New System>
1. Unlike Tokuho (Health Foods), the government does not review safety or functionality. The responsibility for the content and explanation of scientific evidence, as well as ensuring no discrepancy between the scientific evidence and the labeling claims, lies with the manufacturer.
2.Notification to the Consumer Affairs Agency must be made at least 60 days prior to the sales date. Except for certain parts, all submitted materials will be disclosed on the Consumer Affairs Agency's website, allowing other businesses and consumers to verify the content.
3.All food products, including fresh foods, are covered. Therefore, participation is expected not only from food and beverage manufacturers but also from functional ingredient manufacturers, trading companies, farmers, and various other industries.

*Excludes beverages containing alcohol and foods that may lead to excessive intake of lipids or sodium.

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<Key Points of Functional Claims>
Claims can be made about the effects on maintaining or promoting health.
For example, claims can be made for specific body parts, such as "maintains eye health" or "supports quality sleep." However, expressions implying treatment or prevention of diseases, such as "for people with diabetes" or "for people with high blood pressure," or expressions exceeding the scope of health maintenance and promotion, such as "hair growth" or "skin whitening," are not permitted.

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