An April 6 article by Associated Press writer Libby Quaid about labeling of foods quotes ACSH Advisor Fergus Clydesdale, Ph.D.:
The makers of the butter-like spread Take Control had clinical studies showing it lowers cholesterol. But until they got approval from the Food and Drug Administration, they couldn't put it on the label.
"They had to say something like, 'Maintains healthy levels of cholesterol,'" said Fergus Clydesdale, a food science professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who headed the study.
"What does it mean? What's a healthy level?" Clydesdale said. "That isn't very good -- matter of fact, it isn't true. We knew the product lowered cholesterol."