Food Supplement Advertising

Food supplements are products presenting vitamins, minerals, herbal products and similar substances in concentrated form to supplement the diet. They are food, not medicine, and are governed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Food Supplements. Their advertising must reflect this.

Core Rules

• Disease claim ban: Food supplements may not be claimed to prevent, treat or cure disease. Such claims present the product as a medicine.
• Permitted claims: Only the nutrition claims and health claims permitted by legislation may be used, under the prescribed conditions.
• Substantiation: Statements such as “doctor recommended”, “clinically proven” or “scientifically tested” must be substantiated and not misleading.
• Balanced diet: No impression may be created that a balanced and varied diet cannot provide sufficient nutrients.

Statements Often Found Non-Compliant

• Claims that a product is “good for”, “protects against” or “treats” a specific disease,
• Absolute statements such as “no side effects” or “100% natural and harmless”,
• Promises about the amount or speed of weight loss,
• A false impression of expert or doctor endorsement.

Social Media and Influencer Posts

Food supplements are among the products most promoted on social media. A content creator saying a supplement “is good for” a disease may constitute a breach for both the advertiser and the content creator; see Influencer Marketing. Contracts with content creators should set out in advance which statements may be used.

Other Products with Health Claims

Products that are neither medicines nor foods but are marketed with health claims are subject to the Regulation on Health Claims of Products Marketed with Health Claims; permission from the competent authority is required for their health claims.