The Food and Drug Administration will allow certain olive, sunflower, and canola oils to carry labels saying that their products could help to avoid heart disease, but only if they replace other types of fat in a person’s diet.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb cautioned in a blog post Monday that the evidence about the oils wasn’t yet conclusive, but called it “promising.” The government is allowing such health labels in the hopes that people will buy and eat more nutritious foods, driving down rates of chronic illnesses such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer.
The health claims on the oil packaging will only be allowed if the products have at least 70 percent of oleic acid, a type of fat that’s been shown to have improve cholesterol levels when it replaces saturated fats such as those found in butter, cheese, and fatty beef.
Under the new guidance, certain oil manufacturers can choose to add a health claim on their label stating that “supportive but not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that daily consumption of about 1.5 tablespoons of oils containing high levels of oleic acid may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.”
The claim will also need to make it clear that to have this kind of benefit a person would need to “replace fats and oils higher in saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day.”
The oils did not meet another labeling category allowed under the FDA known as “significant scientific agreement.” To receive that label, its health claims would need to be supported by a range of publicly available scientific evidence.
The FDA looked at seven small studies to make its determination about oils. Six of the studies showed a lower cholesterol level and one showed little difference.
“Importantly, and as noted in the health claim, none of the studies found that eating oleic acid-containing oils had beneficial heart effects unless they replaced other types of fats and oils higher in saturated fats in the diet,” Gottlieb wrote.
