Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of a health claim related to a combination of blackcurrant seed oil, fish oil, lycopene, vitamin C, and vitamin E and helps to improve dry skin conditions pursuant to Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006

Following an application from Laboratoires innéov SNC submitted pursuant to Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 via the Competent Authority of France, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was asked to deliver an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim based on newly developed scientific evidence and including a request for the protection of proprietary data related to a combination of blackcurrant seed oil, fish oil, lycopene, vitamin C, and vitamin E and “helps to improve dry skin conditions”. The food is sufficiently characterised. The target population is healthy adults concerned with skin dryness and skin which feels tight and creases. Improving dry skin conditions is considered a beneficial physiological effect. The applicant identified a total of 29 publications as being pertinent to the health claim out of which 26 publications addressed the individual food constituents and not the whole combination that is the subject of the claim. In weighing the evidence, the Panel took into account that two studies on the effect of the food that is the subject of the claim that used appropriate outcomes did not result in a significant improvement in skin dryness. The Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship has not been established between the intake of a combination of blackcurrant seed oil, fish oil, lycopene, and vitamins C and E and improving dry skin conditions.