‘Water may prevent dehydration – but that’s not a disease’

The EU has not banned the industry from claiming that water prevents dehydration – contrary to this week’s press reports.

Bottled water companies could legally talk about water and dehydration, it said this week, but such claims could not be classed as health claims as dehydration was not defined as a disease under the EU’s health claims regulation.

The misunderstanding arose after an application claim that water reduces the risk of dehydration was filed in the wrong place – in the disease reduction section of the health claims regulation, said the European Federation of Bottled Waters. ‘Water may prevent dehydration – but that’s not a disease’

“The press has misinterpreted the ruling. The regulation deals with diseases and illnesses, whereas dehydration was not regarded by the European Food Safety Authority as a disease,” said EFBW’s general secretary Patricia Fosselard.

For the claim to have passed, the EU would have had to accept that dehydration was a disease and that “reduced water content in tissues” was a risk factor in the development of that disease.

Brussels had, in fact, been supportive of the bottled water industry, claimed EFBW – it had accepted claims that water “is essential for health and life”, helps the brain and body work and helps people maintain a normal body temperature.

“The bottled water industry has it right and the papers wrong,” said Eversheds partner, Owen Warnock. “The EU is saying it will be permissible to say that consumption of two litres of water a day helps the brain and body work properly. But it will not be permitting a claim that water prevents a ‘disease’ called dehydration.”