The Law for Health Functional Foods, It is Time to Repeal.

Myung,  Seung Kwon

doi:2017.18.4.205

J Korean Diabetes > Volume 18(4); 2017 > Article

Opinion

The Journal of Korean Diabetes 2017;18(4):205-213.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4093/jkd.2017.18.4.205 Published online January 10, 2018.

건강기능식품제도, 폐지할 때가 되었다

명승권

The Law for Health Functional Foods, It is Time to Repeal.

Seung Kwon Myung

Department of Cancer Biomedical Science, National Cancer Center Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy, Goyang, Korea. msk@ncc.re.kr

Abstract

According to a 2017 report from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of Korea (MFDS), the production quantity of health functional foods has increased by 29.9% from 1.133 trillion won in 2015 to 1.472 trillion won in 2016. Also, many people believe that such foods are beneficial for our health, and industries are advertising them and promoting sales under approval from the MFDS. However, the health functional foods system in Korea has important problems and flaws in terms of the definition and functional grading of health functional foods. Further, when thoroughly reviewed based on the recent literature, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of health functional foods. Therefore, it is time to repeal the Law for Health Functional Foods.

Key Words: Evidence-based medicine, Functional food, Meta-analysis