What supplement labels are allowed to claim in New Zealand

The wording on a supplement label is not free text. What a product sold as a dietary supplement in New Zealand may claim is tightly bounded, and the boundary is where a lot of marketing quietly steps over the line. There are three tiers, and one hard edge.

Tier 1: nutrition content claims

These are claims about how much of a nutrient a product contains — “good source of protein”, “high in iron”, “low fat”. Under the Food Standards Code (Standard 1.2.7), they are allowed, but they have to be true and substantiated: a “good source of calcium” claim, for instance, requires the product to actually contain at least the amount the Standard specifies. These are claims about content, not about what the product does to you.

Tier 2: health claims

These link a nutrient or food to a health effect, and they come in two kinds:

• General-level health claims — drawn from a set of more than 200 pre-approved food–health relationships (for example, calcium and bone health). A business can also self-substantiate one, but must notify Food Standards.
• High-level health claims — reserved for a short list of pre-approved relationships (such as those referencing a serious disease or biomarker) set out in the Food Standards Code.

All health claims must be scientifically substantiated, and the food generally has to meet a nutrient profiling score — foods high in sodium, saturated fat or sugar are excluded from carrying them. What health claims may never do is cross into therapeutic territory.

The hard edge: therapeutic claims

A claim that a product prevents, treats or cures a disease — or that it influences, inhibits or modifies a physiological process — is a therapeutic claim. In New Zealand a product with a therapeutic purpose is a medicine under the Medicines Act 1981, whatever it is sold as. Medsafe categorises products on their ingredients, their purpose, and how they are presented, so the claim itself can move a “supplement” into the medicines regime.

That matters because therapeutic claims are not permitted on dietary supplements, and only medicines that Medsafe has evaluated and consented may be advertised with therapeutic claims at all. The Advertising Standards Authority’s Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code states the same principle from the advertising side and requires that health claims be truthful and substantiated.

How to read a supplement’s marketing

Put a claim in one of three buckets:

• “Contains X” / “high in X” → a content claim. Check it is actually true for the dose in the product.
• “Supports normal [function]” → a health-support claim. Permitted only where substantiated.
• “Treats”, “heals”, “boosts recovery”, “burns fat”, “fixes [condition]” → therapeutic language. On something sold as a supplement, that is a red flag: it is either non-compliant or the product should be regulated as a medicine.

The gap between “supports normal muscle function” and “repairs injured tissue” is not a matter of style. It is the line between two regulatory regimes — and it is the most reliable tell of whether a seller is staying inside the rules.

What this page does not do

It does not tell you whether any supplement works, what to take, or how much. It explains what the label is allowed to say, links the rules, and leaves the rest to you and, for anything health- related, to a pharmacist or doctor.