1.5. Rye flour (ID 1266)

The food constituent that is the subject of the health claims is rye flour related to the following claimed effect: low glycaemic index.
Rye flour is obtained through milling of rye (Secale cereale L.) grain. Rye flour is typically used to prepare rye bread and sourdough bread, and other products that are generally darker and denser than other types of similar products made from wheat. The milling of rye results in rye flour of different extraction rates varying from around 65 to 100 % (whole grain).
The chemical composition of rye flour varies considerably with the extraction rate, and thus with the degree of milling. As the milling process advances, progressive decreases in starch, β-glucans (indicator of rye bran) and moisture content, as well as increase in protein content, are observed (Gómez et al., 2009). The content of rye dietary fibre with arabinoxylan as the dominating fibre component varies considerably with the milling, and with both the genotype and the environment (Hansen et al., 2004). A variety of specific and non-specific methods for the analysis of various carbohydrate fractions in rye flour is available. Nutritionally, it is important to differentiate between two broad categories of carbohydrates: those digested and absorbed in the human small intestine
providing carbohydrates to body cells (commonly referred to as digestible, available or glycaemic carbohydrates), and those passing to the large intestine forming substrate for the colonic microflora (commonly referred to as nondigestible, “unavailable” or non-glycaemic carbohydrates).
The claimed effect is a low glycaemic index. The concept of glycaemic index (GI) was originally introduced to classify carbohydrate-rich foods (usually having an energy content of >80 % from carbohydrates), according to the differences in effects on post-meal glycaemia (Brouns et al., 2005). The GI, which is a nutritional property of a carbohydrate-rich food, is defined as the incremental area under the blood glucose response curve following a 50 g glycaemic carbohydrate portion of a test food expressed as a percentage of the response to the same amount of carbohydrates from a standard reference product taken by the same subject (FAO/WHO, 1998). Carbohydrate-rich foods can be classified according to their GI values (glucose as the standard): high GI>70; normal GI 55-70; low GI 40-55 and very low<40) (Brand-Miller, 2003). However, the GI of a carbohydrate-containing food depends on several factors (e.g. amount and type of dietary fibre, amount of dietary fat, energy density, physical properties, and mode of preparation) other than the amount of available (glycaemic) carbohydrates present.
Taking into account that the chemical nature and processing of the rye flour, which is the subject of the claim, has not been defined, that the GI of rye flour and food products made from rye flour depends on the chemical and physical properties, and preparation, of the particular type of rye flour under consideration, and that low GI carbohydrates have not been defined in the information provided, the Panel considers that the food constituent, rye flour, which is the subject of the health claim, is not sufficiently characterised in relation to the claimed effect considered in this section.
The Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship cannot be established between the consumption of rye flour and the claimed effect considered in this section.

Oświadczenia zdrowotne

ID 1266 - Rye flour

1.5. Rye flour (ID 1266)

Warunki i możliwe ograniczenia stosowania oświadczenia