21 Nov 2012 Pepsi Special with fat-blocking fibre launches in Japan

Fruits, vegetables and wheat bread are all sources of fibre. Now, so is Pepsi-Cola in Japan – PepsiCo has launched a version of its namesake soda with a fat-blocking fibre, dextrin, in Japan. Pepsi’s latest refresher, “Pepsi Special”, claims to fend off fat. But is a healthy soda an oxymoron?

Distributed by Pepsi’s partner in Japan, Suntory, it claims the drink acts by “suppressing the absorption of fat” and can inhibit the rise in triglycerides after a meal, making it, potentially, the first “healthy” soda.

Because of these purported health benefits, Pepsi Special has received the label “FOSHU” in Japan, a government designation that stands for “Food for Specified Health Uses.” A Japanese government website states that “FOSHU” products are meant to be consumed “by people who wish to control health conditions, including blood pressure or blood cholesterol.”

As odd as the fibre-packed cola sounds, however, it’s not the first to debut in Japan. Kirin, the Japanese beer company, launched the country’s first “FOSHU” beverage with dextrin in the spring called Kirin Mets Cola, a sugar-free beverage geared towards “health conscious” men in their 30s.

Is there anything to the dextrin trend? A 2006 study conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Tokyo found that rats fed both dextrin and fat absorbed less fat than the rats who did not eat the fibre. But that research, alas, wasn’t extended to people.

In fact, too much dextrin could make you sick.

“Studies of humans ingesting dextrin suggest short-term risks including stomach pain, gas, and bloating,” says Lilian Cheung, editorial director of Nutrition Source, the Harvard School of Public Health’s nutrition website. “The long-term risks have not been studied.”

As appealing as it sounds to down a healthy dose of fibre from a can, Pepsi Special has not been well-received by food regulators nor public health experts when asked to comment by Time magazine.

• Dr Walter Willett, chair of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, says: “Unless Pepsi can provide data from controlled studies in humans to the contrary, their claim should be regarded as bogus and deceptive.”
• The FDA, among many regulatory bodies, frowns on such potentially suspect nutrient-boosting of essentially unhealthy products in an attempt to make them healthier. In fact, its regulations specifically discourage such fortifying.
• “You shouldn’t add good things to bad things because that could encourage people to eat something that isn’t healthy for them,” said Michael Jacobson, Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a food safety and nutrition consumer advocacy group.
• “Adding a fibre to a drink made from caffeine, caramel colouring, phosphoric acid, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup doesn’t make it healthy,” says Alissa Rumsey, a spokesperson for the New York State Dietetic Association. “If people think they’re going to lose weight by drinking a beverage like this, then they are more likely to drink more soda and therefore consume even more calories, which would simply make any of the purported health benefits fizzle out.

In the US, soda companies have been called out for making exaggerated health claims about their sugary drinks. CSPI recently sued 7UP’s parent company Dr Pepper Snapple Group for making specious health claims about its Cherry Antioxidant, Mixed Berry Antioxidant, and Pomegranate Antioxidant varieties, arguing that drinking a soda with a small amount of Vitamin E is not as healthy as consuming antioxidants from fruits, as the company implied. (The company decided to discontinue the line.)

In 2008, the FDA sent a letter to Coca-Cola, arguing that the company “misbranded” its “Diet Coke Plus” because it did not provide enough nutritional information to justify the word “plus.”