BGG Expands Health Claims for ApplePhenon® with a Functional Claim for abdominal fat in Japan

Tokyo, Japan, September 7th 2022, – BGG World (BGG) is pleased to announce that it successfully obtained a health claim for its flagship product ApplePhenon® in the Foods with Functional Claims category in Japan. 

ApplePhenon® has been clinically validated for weight management, for supporting cardiovascular health, in the management of healthy glucose levels, for skin health and skin liver spots, for dental care, for respiratory support and in the sports and endurance category, and BGG has been successfully marketing ApplePhenon® worldwide in all these categories. 

Health claims in food labeling are claims that have been reviewed by local authorities and are allowed on food products or dietary supplements to show that a food or food component may reduce the risk of a disease or a health-related condition. More specifically, in Japan, a regulation for “Foods with Functional Claims”¹ has been introduced back in 2015, and since then “Foods with Functional Claims” has become one of the most commonly-sold products category in health food industry in Japan. 

Under this regulation, the Consumer Affairs Agency has authorized (under notification number H43) the use of 600mg per day of ApplePhenon® for people with relatively high BMI with the following wording: “This product contains procyanidins derived from apples. The procyanidins from apples are reported to reduce relatively high BMI by supporting the decrease of body weight, body fat, visceral fat, waist circumference, and belly fat (total abdominal fat). This product is suitable for people with relatively high BMI.” 

“At BGG we previously obtained a claim to market ApplePhenon® in Japan for skin whitening”, said Dr. Yanmei Li, Global Chief Scientific Officer of BGG. “In South Korea we experienced a huge success with a weight loss claim and we hope with this new claim for belly fat (total abdominal fat) to replicate this success offering our customers another highly appealing claim to support their activities in our top market—Japan.” 

About Applephenon®

Applephenon® is a unique extract extracted from mother apples from the region of the earth where the apple species originated. It possesses a unique and fully characterized phytochemical profile rich in absorbable and not absorbable proanthocyanins. The not absorbable proanthocyanins fraction of Applephenon® has shown to improve the bioavailability of the absorbable fraction and to additively work in terms of activity though the modulation of the gut microbiota by booting the proportion of Akkermansia. Applephenon® has a proprietary clinical literature spanning over 16 clinical studies, is supported by more than 50 publication that supports 7 different health benefits.

1. Guidance for Industry: The system of “Foods with Function Claims”

Further Information on BGG:  www.bggworld.com