Functional food ingredients for reducing the risks of osteoporosis

There is a strong interest in strategies to reduce the risks of osteoporosi s and the related health care costs. The age of the population in civilized countries is ever increasing. One of the concerns is to maintain a high qu ality of life after retirement. Another concern is the continuous and explo sive growth of public health care costs. This has lead to governmental meas ures to let people pay relatively high own risks and self-contributions for medical treatment. One of the results of these developments is a growing t rend towards self-medication. Because drugs cannot be obtained without pres cription, consumers seek for natural products to fit their needs and expect ations. The food industry is aware of these developments and targets this e ver growing market segment with an intensified search for food substances, which may have a positive effect on health, disease prevention or disease m anagement. Once established, the benefits are usually communicated as claim s related to either the product or the consumer benefit. One of the basic q uestions consumers are dealing with is whether the claims made are true and not just misleading selling arguments. Recent developments in internationa l food legislation point to a need to avoid the launch of products with uns ubstantiated claims. Thus, functional or health claims related to specific food ingredients or functional foods may only be approved by legal food aut horities, if there is an international consensus on the supporting scientif ic evidence. This article reviews current opinions on osteoporosis and high lights a number of epidemiological, physiological and nutritional aspects. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.