EU legislation on Health Claims

EU legislation on Health Claims

EFSA
In 2012 a new was adopted by the European Union with significant effect concerning health claims on dietary supplements and nutritional products. Only approved claims about the health benefits of dietary supplements and nutritional products are allowed in regards to the sale of these products.
The EFSA (European Food and Safety Authority) is the regulatory authority and approves specific claims. The number of approved health claims is very minimal in the very wide range of all dietary supplements. Especially for vitamins and minerals they adopted many claims. Health claims for other substances such as R-Alpha Lipoic Acid, CoQ10 and Omega-3 fatty acids are not approved and cannot be made.

Freedom of speech
Through the freedom of expression statements about generic active substances will still remain intact. However, this should cannot be directly related to a specific product, unless the health claim is approved. Websites or blogs that have no commercial interest in selling dietary supplements are allowed to write freely and  make claims about all products. With so many products on our website you will find no specific information about the possible health benefits or indications.  As a consumer, you are therefore obliged to obtain this information by other means, searching the Internet also often provide the necessary information.

Factual information
In addition to the freedom of expression and the mention of the approved claims, factual information is also still permitted. You can find the text with the following information on our website:

- Carnitine is required for the transport of fatty acids from the cytosol to the mitochondria for beta-oxidation.

- Glucosamine is a structural component of various glycosaminoglycans, other than chondroitin sulfate, which is a major structural component of articular cartilage, and is partly responsible for the resistance to compression.

It is important that correct factual information is used and misleading customers with possible indications and health benefits  is fortunately not allowed.

Rejected claims are not necessarily nonsense
It's not that health claims are prohibited necessarily incorrect. The only certainty that exists is 100% approved claims are scientifically substantiated. Developing scientific evidence takes time. The effect of folic acid on the unborn child is done for instance eith decades of research.

The European Commission wants 100% proven claims. Effects of food are much more subtle than, for example, but the same pharmaceutical drug testing standards are applied here. However, remember that the effects of diet on our health are more difficult to measure than that of drugs.

Personal advice
Your therapist or health food store, is now even more important for obtaining personal advice is. On the basis of belief, knowledge and experience personal advice (one-on-one) is allowed.