Dietitians of Canada

Natural health products in food format

Background

Natural Health Products (NHPs) include:

• Vitamins and minerals
• Herbal remedies
• Homeopathic medicines

In 2004, NHP regulations came into force. At the time, about 40,000 natural products were on the market. Companies had to apply for NHP licenses so their products would comply with the new regulations.

As of March, 2010, there were still about 10,000 NHPs for which a license application had been filed with Health Canada, but was not yet complete. Due to this backlog, Health Canada proposed a temporary rule to allow unlicensed NHPs to be legally sold for a 30 month period after coming into force. Some of these are NHPS in food formats. Examples are vitamins added to juice and power bars, and caffeine added to energy drinks.

NHPs undergo a different review process than regular foods. When NHPs are added to food they do not require a Nutrition Facts table for consumers to use to compare them to other foods. They have not been part of our current food intake monitoring processes, so there is limited data on how these products affect nutrient intake of the population overall or of at-risk groups such as children, youth, pregnant women and seniors.

Position

DC does not support the availability of NHPs in a food format nor the decision to temporarily legalize unlicensed NHPs in food format to be sold in Canada because:

• We do not know what role these foods play in the nutrient intake of Canadians.
• Some Canadians may consume excess vitamins, minerals and caffeine when NHPs are used in addition to other food and supplement sources.
• NHPs in food format may contain additives that could interfere with certain medications.
• Consumers are not able to compare the nutrient makeup of NHPs in food format to similar foods since NHPs do not have Nutrition Facts tables.

Actions

• DC has prepared a brief on this topic and presented it to the Food Directorate and the Minister of Health.
• We have sent a letter to the Natural Health Products Directorate Division of Health Canada.
• We have outlined our position in meetings with senior policy advisors to the Minister of Health and the Director General of the NHP Directorate