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Prunes are not a laxative, EU rules

zimmer

zimmer

Educating the Ignorant
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It comes after the organisation was mocked last month a ruling that led to a ban on claims that drinking water can prevent dehydration.


Despite a long held belief that prunes, traditionally served with custard, are good for improving bowel function, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has ruled this is not the case.

Sir Graham Watson MEP has now challenged an EU Commissioner to a prune-eating contest after his food safety committee ruled that prunes do not have a laxative effect.

Last month, the EU concluded there was no evidence to prove drinking water can prevent dehydration. The conclusions led to a ban on bottled water companies using the claim.


At the time, Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.


“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.


“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”


Prunes are not a laxative, EU rules - Telegraph
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Ahhh... if I were a cigarette manufacturer I would start making claims smoking does not cause cancer.
 
Europeans in a nutshell: The most book-smart people in the world, but absolutely zero common sense.
 
Waht's wrong with foreign prunes - they're not working right :/
 
This leads me to a question. Is this actually true or does rupert have something to do with this?
 
tererun said:
This leads me to a question. Is this actually true or does rupert have something to do with this?
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This is what happens when you have obsessive need to blame the other side for everything.

Bureaucrats being stupid is bureaucrats being stupid.
 
tererun said:
This leads me to a question. Is this actually true or does rupert have something to do with this?
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Knowing the EU it may well be true. They have a habit of this sort of thing.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
*sigh* It's becoming more and more embarassing to live here...
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Not really.... we still dont catagorize pizza as a vegetable over here..

And of course the source is the usual biased UK newspapers and right wing blogs... and of course Zimmer jumped in head first without looking. The fact is the agency.... said the OPPOSITE!

Here is the direct link

EFSA - Scientific Opinion of the NDA Panel: Dried plums of

and the whole report can be read in the PDF on the page.

And here is the actual conclusion.

The Panel considers that, in order to obtain the claimed effect, about 100 g of dried plums (prunes)
should be consumed daily. The target population is the general population.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of the data presented, the Panel concludes that:

The food, prunes (dried plums of „prune‟ cultivars (Prunus domestica L.)), which is the
subject of the health claim, is sufficiently characterised.

The claimed effect, which is eligible for further assessment, is maintenance of normal bowel
function. The proposed target population is the general population. Maintenance of normal
bowel function is a beneficial physiological effect.

A cause and effect relationship has been established between the consumption of dried plums
of „prune‟ cultivars (Prunus domestica L.) and maintenance of normal bowel function.

The following wording reflects the scientific evidence: “Dried plums/prunes can contribute
to normal bowel function”.

In order to obtain the claimed effect, about 100 g of dried plums (prunes) should be
consumed daily. The target population is the general population.
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So show me where the conclusion states it is not a laxative? In fact the report concludes that prunes (100g or more) DO HELP in maintenance of normal bowel functions....

Of course I dont expect Zimmer or the UK media to actually correct their biased mistake.. this was another political hit job on the EU based on fudged "evidence" and out right lying.
 
zimmer said:
Ahhh... if I were a cigarette manufacturer I would start making claims smoking does not cause cancer.
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Not quite the same thing... but yeah, its a slippery slope.

RabidAlpaca said:
*sigh* It's becoming more and more embarassing to live here...
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I know right, sooner or later the EU Parliament will declare that pizza is a vegetable.
 
Rainman05 said:
I know right, sooner or later the EU Parliament will declare that pizza is a vegetable.
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Naw I doubt that.. too many left wing hippies there .. they wont let the right wing get that victory.
 
PeteEU said:
Naw I doubt that.. too many left wing hippies there .. they wont let the right wing get that victory.
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communist_party_t-shirt.jpg


I think you you don't know who you're dealing with. :p
 
PeteEU said:
Naw I doubt that.. too many left wing hippies there .. they wont let the right wing get that victory.
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Rainman05 said:
I know right, sooner or later the EU Parliament will declare that pizza is a vegetable.
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I would like to remind both of you that the US never declared pizza a vegetable, just that the tomato paste used in the pizza could be considered as such.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
I would like to remind both of you that the US never declared pizza a vegetable, just that the tomato paste used in the pizza could be considered as such.
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Well yes and no. While it was not directly stated as vegetable, the situation was defacto to state it as such in many ways.

The rules stated that 1/8th of a cup of tomato paste had the same nutritional value as a half a cup of vegetables.... and that is insane and beyond logic.

They might not have directly called a pizza a vegetable, but with the same nutritional value of the tomato paste alone as a cup of vegetable... then they might as well have.
 
PeteEU said:
Well yes and no. While it was not directly stated as vegetable, the situation was defacto to state it as such in many ways.

The rules stated that 1/8th of a cup of tomato paste had the same nutritional value as a half a cup of vegetables.... and that is insane and beyond logic.

They might not have directly called a pizza a vegetable, but with the same nutritional value of the tomato paste alone as a cup of vegetable... then they might as well have.
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Not all pizzas are created equal. There are unhealthy pizzas, and healthy ones. My wife and I make our own crust and put lots of vegetables and minimal cheese on our pizzas. Pizza certainly can have a good balance of nutritional substances. If the pizza sauce was analyzed by an unbiased lab, and determined to have, for instance, the same nutritional value as a tomato (being as it was made from a tomato), then I'm not seeing why it would not be a vegetable.

The Obama administration was trying to have pizza removed from the lunch line, when something like that is absolutely none of the business of the federal government. America is fat, no doubt about it, and the UK isn't exactly the posterboy for skinny. However, healthier bodies are going to require lifestyle changes, and not legislation like NYC's large soda ban.

(And yes, I know tomatos are technically fruits.)
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Not all pizzas are created equal. There are unhealthy pizzas, and healthy ones. My wife and I make our own crust and put lots of vegetables and minimal cheese on our pizzas. Pizza certainly can have a good balance of nutritional substances. If the pizza sauce was analyzed by an unbiased lab, and determined to have, for instance, the same nutritional value as a tomato (being as it was made from a tomato), then I'm not seeing why it would not be a vegetable.

The Obama administration was trying to have pizza removed from the lunch line, when something like that is absolutely none of the business of the federal government. America is fat, no doubt about it, and the UK isn't exactly the posterboy for skinny. However, healthier bodies are going to require lifestyle changes, and not legislation like NYC's large soda ban.

(And yes, I know tomatos are technically fruits.)
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Not the point.. point is they stated that 1/8 of a cup of tomato sauce is the same as a cup of vegetables... and that is wrong.

We both know that this was only done on the behalf of the pizza food industry, and their links to children's lunch programs. It is all about money..
 
PeteEU said:
Not the point.. point is they stated that 1/8 of a cup of tomato sauce is the same as a cup of vegetables... and that is wrong.
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No it isn't wrong.
Take a cup of vegetables and grind them up and reduce it's liquid content to the same as tomato paste and you will have your answer.
 
Rainman05 said:
communist_party_t-shirt.jpg


I think you you don't know who you're dealing with. :p
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And I don't think you know that the OP's headline has already been proven wrong!
 
You want a laxative, just east some KFC.
 
What the real benefit is - comes from dried fruits in general.

I think they draw fluids into the system.
 
There are some jokes that, according to EU food rules, some Finnish makkara should actually be classes as pastries, as there is more flour than meat. Some makkara brands in Finland are known as "meat eaters makkara" as they have up to 80% meat.

Within Finland, makkara is sometimes laughingly referred to as a vegetable.

Finnish Hot Dog / Makkara "In the wild" | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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Their next target?

Which reminds me of a German joke.

A guy heads to his local Imbiss (fast food joint) and asks for an order of fleischpflanzerl (meat patties; a burger type item with ground meat, onions, bread all mixed together and fried)... takes it home, chows down... but is not pleased...

... the next day he goes back to the fast food place and tells the owner... HEY! Yesterday I had a couple of your fleischpflanzerl and got food poisoning from the meat in them. The owner says... IMPOSSIBLE!... for there is no meat in our fleischpflanzerl!
 
The panel is part of assessing the accuracy of healthfood claims. In this case they found it was true (if you eat enough) which directly contradicts the claim of the OP.
IIRC the water complaint was about the same panel's response to a bottled water manufacturer who wanted to claim on the label that there was a health benefit to drinking their water as it cured dehydration. (in summary) The scientific panel said "well duh!" and rejected it. This was then taken up by the regressive faction as "They deny water helps dehydration!"
 
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