ASEAN Guidelines on Claims and Claims Substantiation for Health Supplements

At-a-glance: This annex provides a framework and process for substantiating the 3 different types of health claims made in relation to health supplements i.e. General or Nutritional claims, Functional Claims and Disease Risk Reduction Claims.

Background: Codex Alimentarius was a key reference point for ASEAN’s work to develop a model for substantiating health claims, since some Member States were already adhering to Codex principles in this area on a national level. Nevertheless, the net was widened to ensure all examples of international best practice were reviewed and considered. The key objective was to create a workable model that would respect and balance the di?erent approaches taken on a national level by the various members. Consensus was reached that there should be a tiered approach, with low, medium and high-level claims, the latter requiring the most detailed substantiation.