Currently, the FDA recognizes 17 specific health claims, each linking a food or dietary ingredient to a disease or "health-related condition." Twelve were authorized through a process in which the agency evaluates the evidence for a food's reputed health effects. The other five came into play as part of the FDA Modernization Act of 1997, which permits claims "based on an authoritative statement of a scientific body of the U.S. government or the National Academy of Sciences."
