Will health claims be authorized if deficiency is non-existent?

EFSA’s recent verdict (Oct. 2010) on a large number of health claims made for vitamins and minerals included a statement that ‘the evidence provided does not establish that inadequate intake of [name nutrient] leading to [name claim] occurs in the general EU population.

This statement pertained to all the claims evaluations for vitamin A, thiamine, niacin, calcium, zinc, manganese, chromium and phosphorus, and to many individual claims for other nutrients in this third batch of art. 13(1) opinions.

This is in contrast to the opinions released in the first (Oct. 2009) and second(Feb. 2010) batch of art. 13 opinions. It is therefore uncertain whether this statement also pertains to the claims for these nutrients evaluated in these opinions.

Will the alleged absence of deficiency of a nutrient have consequences for EC- authorization of claims made for this nutrient?