What a supplement label is not allowed to say
Answer
It cannot claim to prevent, treat or cure a disease, and it cannot make a health claim that has not been authorised. Those two rules explain most of what is missing from honest labels.
Key takeaways
- What is the hard line?
- No food supplement may claim to prevent, treat or cure a disease. That is a medicinal claim and a different regulatory regime.
- What about health claims?
- Only claims on the authorised register may be made, in the approved wording, at the stated threshold.
- Why do products still imply things?
- Because imagery, product names and adjacent wording are harder to police than a printed sentence.
The two rules
A food supplement may not claim to prevent, treat or cure a disease. Anything doing so is making a medicinal claim, which puts it in a different regulatory regime with a licensing requirement behind it.
Separately, health claims must come from the authorised register, in the approved wording, at the stated condition of use. So magnesium contributes to normal muscle function at 15 percent NRV is permitted, and magnesium prevents cramp is not, because that claim has never been assessed and accepted.
Why so much still gets implied
The rules govern claims. They are considerably harder to apply to imagery of strapping and physiotherapy rooms, to product names doing work the panel is not allowed to do, and to words like support, repair and recovery used adjacently rather than as claims.
That is how the regulation gets worked around rather than followed, and it is why the useful question for a buyer is whether the central promise appears in the register at all rather than whether the wording looks careful.
What this means on the shelf
No authorised claim exists for stopping cramp, repairing joints, treating an injury, improving sleep with magnesium or improving memory with lion's mane. Every product sold on one of those is selling something that has not been assessed.
Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate is described on this site as a 300mg elemental serving at 22p a day covering 80 percent of the reference value, because that is what can be said about it accurately.
The full version
- What to avoid on a supplement labelThe specific red flags and what each one removes.
- How to read a supplement labelThe positive version: what a good label states.
The product
Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate
Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate is the 300mg elemental one at 22p a day, a two capsule serving covering 80 percent of the 375mg reference value, UK made and independently lab tested for purity.
- 300mg elemental magnesium, 80% NRV
- Bisglycinate, best tolerated common form
- UK made to GMP, lab tested for purity
- Not batch certified for sport
Sharper Rugby is published by Futuro Labs. If you buy through this link Futuro Labs earns from the sale. Prices are set by Amazon.
Questions players ask
Can a supplement claim to treat a condition?
No. That is a medicinal claim requiring a licence, which food supplements do not have.
Are all health claims allowed?
Only those on the authorised register, in the approved wording at the stated threshold.
Why do products still imply benefits?
Imagery, product names and adjacent wording are harder to police than a printed claim.