I became aware of this today on receipt of an email from the company British Supplements which I have simply copied and pasted below.
Hey healthier people
One of you guys emailed me this week about something happening in Europe. I went digging for a day. It’s worse than what you think.
Here’s the short version.
Since 2002 the EU has had the legal power to cap the dose of every vitamin and mineral sold in a supplement. For twenty years they never got round to it.
Last December, Germany and sixteen other countries dragged it back onto the table and told the Commission to get on with it.
The Commission has now confirmed the timetable. Public consultation this summer. Law on the books by early 2028.
So basically that means:
Big Gov and Big Pharma are looking to control the dose in a food supplement in the EU.
So weak supplements (snake oil) will mean you will have no other choice other than a Big Pharma pill.
They’re not picking a dose and asking whether it’s safe. They’re doing sums.
They take the highest amount they reckon is safe. Then they subtract what the biggest eaters in the country already get from their food. Whatever’s left over is what you’re allowed to buy in a supplement.
Think about that for a second. The more of a nutrient there is in the average diet, the less you’re allowed to top up with. That isn’t a safety limit. That’s a sum set up to land on a small number.
And they’ve already started.
EFSA cut the safe limit for vitamin B6 to 12.5mg a day. America and the World Health Organisation both say 100mg. That’s eight times the gap, and part of the case for cutting it rests on a study from 1987.
France has proposed a vitamin C cap of 208mg,
**Germany has pushed for a vitamin D limit of 20mcg, thats 800iu.**Their own European food authority says 100mcg is fine.
And your skin makes about 10,000iu in one afternoon in the sun. Enough to go slightly pink. Twelve times what Germany reckons is safe.
Herbs are a separate fight and it’s going worse.
A working group of food safety agencies flagged 117 substances, with thirteen at the top of the queue for binding restriction. Curcumin. St John’s wort. Ashwagandha. Melatonin. Maca. Black cohosh. Holy basil. Tribulus. Piperine, which is just black pepper.
Basically, most of our products they are trying to ban.
Denmark has already banned ashwagandha outright. France followed. Belgium classes it as a medicine so you can’t sell it as a supplement at all. EFSA has decided there’s no safe level of berberine, one of the most studied plant compounds we have. Red yeast rice is awaiting a ban decision this year.
Before anyone says none of this matters because the UK has left Europe.
We make everything in Gilford, Northern Ireland.
Under the Windsor Framework, EU nutrition law still applies directly in Northern Ireland.
And it’s not only Europe. Australia is moving every B6 product over 50mg behind the pharmacy counter from June 2027. Over here, Which? has been demanding tighter rules since October, and Holland & Barrett quietly reformulated their entire B6 range down to the European number before anyone even made them.
Now notice what isn’t in any of this.
Not one line about fillers. Not one line about bulking agents. Nothing about products that carry so little active ingredient that you’d never feel them. They love to promote snack oil with nasites so why not change the law so a company like mine can never come about.
A capsule with 5mg of something and a load of magnesium stearate sails straight through.
It’s the strong stuff that’s the problem. The stuff that actually does something.
If you want to do something about it, here’s where.
Sign the Save Our Supplements petition. It’s Irish-led, past 20,000 signatures and heading for 50,000, and it’s already landed on desks in government:
https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/save-our-supplements-3
Read what they’ve put together first if you want the full picture: https://saveoursupplements.ie
The Alliance for Natural Health have been fighting this exact directive since 2002. They took it to the European Court and won part of it. Here is their site:
Forward this to anyone who takes a supplement. Most people have no idea any of this is happening, which is exactly how it’s meant to go through, and if Europe is doing something, you know the UK will just copy it more than likely. It’s already happening with Ashwagandha as we speak.
Lastly, here’s a link to the report if you want to see all the products they are looking to ban so far. This is just the start.