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Estimating the Potential Benefits of New Health Claims in Canada: The Case of Soluble Fiber and Soy Protein
Author(s) -
Malla Stavroula,
Hobbs Jill E.,
Sogah Eric K.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
canadian journal of agricultural economics/revue canadienne d'agroeconomie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1744-7976
pISSN - 0008-3976
DOI - 10.1111/cjag.12068
Subject(s) - health benefits , coronary heart disease , consumption (sociology) , environmental health , psyllium , soy protein , public economics , business , medicine , economics , food science , dietary fiber , biology , social science , sociology , cardiology , traditional medicine
Growing awareness of the link between diet and health has spurred growth in the functional food sector. Health Canada regulates allowable health claims on food products, and in recent years has approved health claims linking the consumption of soluble fiber from barley (2012) and psyllium (2011) to reduced/lower low‐density lipoprotein (LDL)‐cholesterol levels, a major risk factor for heart disease. A health claim linking consumption of soy protein to reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) is still under consideration. Using a cost‐of‐illness approach, this paper estimates the potential economic benefits of allowing health claims for soluble fiber and soy protein in terms of reductions in the direct and indirect costs of CHD. Parameters for the economic analysis are drawn from a meta‐analysis of scientific studies examining the effect of soluble fiber and soy protein on LDL‐cholesterol levels, as well as other scientific literature. While a barley soluble fiber health claim yields nontrivial benefits in a base case scenario equal to CAD$105 million annually and ranging from $42 million to $238 million in low and high scenarios, the potential benefits of a soy protein health claim appear to be several magnitudes larger at $549 million annually in the base case and ranging from $220 million to $1.25 billion in low/high scenarios. Given the relatively slow regulatory approval process for new health claims, there may be value in using economic estimates of potential gains to help prioritize health claims approval processes.