The health economic evidence of nutrition tends to be limited. An important reason is that nutritionals do not always fall under the coverage requirements for reimbursement, like pharmaceuticals, which often require health economic data. The objective of this paper is to assess the relevance of proactively generating cost-effectiveness data from a nutrition company perspective. After a general introduction into health economics, we will address the key question of this paper: Are cost-effectiveness data in nutrition a double edged sword for nutrition companies? The conclusion is that, as things currently stand, nutrition companies should be cautious in proactively generating cost-effectiveness data in terms of cost per QALY. Disaggregated economic and outcomes data may be more relevant and less risky for nutrition companies.

Keywords: nutrition economics, policy, nutritionals, cost-effectiveness, reimbursement