Two foods the EU allows to claim an effect
Out of hundreds of substances assessed, the European Union has approved only a handful of promises. Two of them involve no capsule at all: olive oil and cocoa. Each comes with an exact amount — and a problem nobody mentions.
Contents
On a supplement shelf, everything promises something. In European law, almost nothing is allowed to promise anything. Between the two sits an official list — a short one — of the sentences a manufacturer may write without lying. Two of them are about ordinary foods.
The only list that counts
Since 2012, a European regulation has set out what may be claimed about a food. Each entry specifies the permitted sentence and, above all, the amount you must reach for that sentence to be true. Anything not on the list cannot be claimed, even where studies exist.
We cross-checked that list against our catalogue. Of the substances you can swallow as a supplement, almost all are already there. Two entries, however, point to no capsule at all.
Olive oil: two tablespoons, and a hidden condition
The approved sentence reads, word for word: “Olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress.” In plain terms: the fats circulating in your blood are damaged more slowly by contact with oxygen.
The condition comes in two numbers. Twenty grams of oil a day, roughly two tablespoons. And those twenty grams must contain at least 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol — the molecule behind the effect — or its close relatives.
It is the second condition that changes everything, and the one labels keep quiet about. The European authority writes it in its own opinion: some olive oils contain too little to reach that threshold within a normal diet. The content depends on the olive variety, the time of harvest, the pressing and the months spent in the bottle — it falls with light and heat.
And almost no bottle states its polyphenol content. So you can follow the recommendation to the letter, two tablespoons a day for a year, without ever knowing whether your oil met the condition. It is a true claim, resting on a product you cannot check.
What can be said without inventing anything: an extra virgin olive oil, cold pressed, recent, kept away from light, is more likely to carry those polyphenols than a refined oil or the bottom of a bottle opened months ago. An oil that stings the throat slightly at the finish is a clue — that bitterness comes from the polyphenols themselves.
Cocoa: 200 mg of flavanols, and a number we will not give you
The approved sentence: “Cocoa flavanols help maintain the elasticity of blood vessels, which contributes to normal blood flow.” The amount: 200 mg of cocoa flavanols a day, in a cocoa drink or dark chocolate.
How many squares? We will not give you a figure, because no honest figure exists. Flavanol content varies by a wide margin from one bar to another, and it depends above all on an invisible manufacturing step: alkalising — the treatment that softens the taste and darkens the colour — destroys a large share of these molecules. Two chocolates showing the same cocoa percentage can be far apart.
The regulation anticipates this: it reserves the claim for products that guarantee the 200 mg intake. In practice, that guarantee appears only on a few powders and extracts sold for the purpose. On a supermarket bar, nobody will tell you.
A high cocoa percentage remains the only accessible clue, and it is imperfect. If the packet mentions “cocoa processed with alkali” or “alkalised cocoa”, you at least know the content has been cut into.
What these two sentences do not say
This is the most important part of this article, and the one that always disappears when it is repeated elsewhere.
The EU approved neither a drop in heart attacks nor a longer life. It approved an effect on an intermediate measure: the oxidation of blood fats in one case, the ability of vessels to dilate in the other. These measures are linked to heart health, which is why they matter. But between “my vessels dilate better” and “I will have fewer heart attacks” lies a step this assessment does not take.
The distinction holds across our whole catalogue: we rank what has been measured on real events above what has been measured on a marker. These two claims belong to the second case.
Who pays for the dossier
A claim is not granted because a food is good. It is granted because someone filed a dossier, funded the studies and paid for the assessment.
The dossier on cocoa flavanols was filed by an industrial chocolate maker. That takes nothing away from the assessment, which was carried out by the European authority on its own criteria — but it explains why cocoa has its claim and the lentil does not.
Take from it the opposite, which is more useful: the absence of an approved claim proves nothing against a food. Nobody will ever fund a dossier for green vegetables, walking or sleep. They have no owner.
What to take away
| Food | Required amount | What was measured | Checkable on the label? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 20 g a day, of which at least 5 mg hydroxytyrosol | Blood fats oxidise less | Almost never |
| Dark chocolate, cocoa | 200 mg of flavanols a day | Vessels keep their elasticity | Almost never |
Two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a little non-alkalised dark chocolate are reasonable, pleasant habits, backed by the only official assessment that exists in Europe. They cost nothing beyond what you already buy.
What they should not become is a course of treatment. Neither sentence allows anyone to sell a capsule of olive polyphenols as a remedy, and neither replaces what has been measured on real events: moving, sleeping, not smoking.
If you want to go further than the plate
These two also act on blood lipids, and their evidence is of a different order. They do not replace olive oil: they add to it.
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* Budget bands are indicative and change often. Only the price shown on Amazon at the moment you buy counts: check it before you order.
What we get asked most
Short answers, sourced where they can be, honest where the data is missing.
This piece, filtered through your profile
Eleven questions, no sign-up, everything stays in your browser. The site then reorders its recommendations according to your chronotype, your budget and your contraindications.
Start my assessment →The 3 sources behind this piece
Every reference is clickable and checkable. When a claim has no solid source, we write that down rather than citing an off-topic study.
The site’s full bibliography →The official list of the sentences a manufacturer may write on a food, with the exact amount to be reached for each one. Anything not on it cannot be claimed.
The European authority accepts a cause-and-effect link between olive hydroxytyrosol and the protection of blood fats from oxidation. It sets the threshold at 5 mg a day — and notes itself that some oils contain too little to reach it within a normal diet.
A cause-and-effect link accepted between cocoa flavanols and the maintenance of normal vessel dilation. Amount needed: 200 mg a day. The dossier was filed by an industrial chocolate maker, Barry Callebaut — the assessment, however, is the authority\u2019s own.
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