Special areas under the Nutrition Improvement Act: From patient-specific foods to special nutritional food labeling systems

As early as 1952, considering the widespread malnutrition among the population, the "Nutrition Improvement Law" was enacted. Article 12 of this law stipulated that "any food sold that uses labels indicating supplemental nutrients, or labels indicating special uses such as for infants, toddlers, pregnant women, or patients, must be approved by the Minister of Health and Welfare." Foods approved by the Minister of Health and Welfare were called "Special Nutritional Foods" and were permitted to be labeled as such. In the early 1950s, food was scarce, and people's diets mainly relied on grains. To improve the nation's nutritional status, the primary focus at that time was on developing fortified foods with added amino acids or vitamins.

Subsequently, with the improvement of dietary standards, chronic diseases closely related to diet, such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and obesity, have also increased. Therefore, the importance of foods that can prevent and treat these diseases has also increased. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have also discussed the specifications for foods that can prevent various diseases. Based on this situation, Japan established labeling standards for special foods intended for patients in 1973.

Special foods designed for patients are specially processed according to the requirements of dietary therapy suitable for patients. Specific nutrients can be adjusted in varying amounts, such as low-sodium foods, low-calorie foods, low-protein foods, and sodium-reducing combination foods. However, improper use of these patient-specific foods can cause significant harm to health. Given their significant impact on public health, they are classified as special nutritional foods and require approval from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, along with a permit label. In April 1989, the Functional Foods Panel addressed related inquiries, stating that functional foods evolved from the Nutrition Improvement Law.

Foods specifically for patients include reduced-sodium soy sauce and low-calorie foods. However, labeling these special nutritional foods as "low-calorie foods" or "vitamin B₁ fortified foods" without permission violates the Nutrition Improvement Act. Currently, a significant portion of commercially available health foods have labels that violate the Nutrition Improvement Act. If the Nutrition Improvement Act were fully utilized to grant licenses to good health foods as special nutritional foods, people would no longer be skeptical of health foods, and the health food market would no longer be as chaotic as it is today.