The journal · education · live draft
What a “GB-authorised claim” actually means.
Walk down any supplement aisle — physical or digital — and you’ll drown in promises. “Boosts immunity.” “Melts stress.” “Detoxifies.” Here’s the uncomfortable truth behind those phrases: most of them are illegal to make, and the brands making them are either ignorant of the rules or betting you won’t check.
THE JOURNAL · EDUCATION · JULY 2026 · 4 MIN · DRAFT — PENDING SIGN-OFF (J) · SOURCE: GB NHC REGISTER
The register nobody reads
In Great Britain, every health claim a food or supplement may carry lives on one list: the GB Register of Nutrition and Health Claims. If a sentence isn’t on that register — in nearly those exact words, for that exact nutrient, at a meaningful dose — it cannot lawfully appear on a label, a website, or an influencer’s caption. Not “shouldn’t”. Cannot.
The register is strict in a way most shoppers would find surprising. There is no authorised claim that any probiotic “supports digestion”. None that collagen “improves skin”. None that ashwagandha does anything at all. Where you see those promises, you are reading marketing that has parted company with the law.
How we use it
Every health statement on this site is an authorised claim, word for word, carried by a nutrient present at a meaningful level — like “vitamin B6 contributes to normal psychological function” or “protein contributes to the growth and maintenance of muscle mass”. Where one of our botanicals has no authorised claim, we tell you what it is, where it comes from and how much you get — and we stop there. The silence is the honesty.
Why this protects you, not just us
A brand that respects the claims register is showing you its working. It cannot hide a weak formula behind a strong adjective — the only things it’s allowed to say are things the evidence, as assessed by regulators, supports. When you learn to read supplements this way, the aisle looks different: the loudest bottle is usually the emptiest one.