5th January 2023
LYMA SHARES AN OPEN LETTER DEMANDING A CHANGE IN THE UK’S OUTDATED SUPPLEMENT LAWS
- According to Mintel, in 2022, 38% of Brits take vitamins, minerals or supplements daily, despite vital information being withheld. Current supplement legislation keeps consumers in the dark, so they are unable to make informed decisions about the most effective ingredients to take to help live a healthier life and reduce pressure on the NHS. This same scientific data CAN legally be discussed at a business-to-business level, but not directly to consumers
- A new class of pharmaceutical-grade supplements proven to deliver measurable health benefits has emerged
- LYMA calls on the Government to update the relevant UK regulations, allowing the peer-reviewed science for properly dosed pharmaceutical-grade supplements to be shared with consumers; empowering them to take control of their health
The UK vitamins and supplements market is estimated to be worth over £520M, yet outdated legislation has paved the way for an industry where over 90% of ingredients are unproven*, underdosed or in manufactured in a form the body cannot absorb.
LYMA, the UK-based WellTech company wants to change that and is campaigning for improved transparency in the supplement industry. Founder Lucy Goff comments: “The supplement industry is rightly regulated to prevent brands from making unsubstantiated claims. However, it also stops consumers being given information around the potential health benefits of pharmaceutical-grade supplements. For instance, one of our ingredients is proven in peer-reviewed studies to reduce symptoms of depression by 79% in a 600mg dose, and another, our fast-acting, powerful anti-inflammatory is proven to be as effective as Ibuprofen against pain in just 15 minutes at a daily dose of 350mg. But we cannot tell our customers about these benefits, the science can only be legally discussed between businesses.”
According to the WHO, chronic inflammatory diseases are the most significant cause of death in the world, and the NHS spends over £50bn a year on related long-term chronic conditions. LYMA believes that more information about pharmaceutical-grade supplements which go through the same rigorous approval standards as pharmaceutical medicines, can help consumers make the best decisions about their own future health.
Lucy Goff, LYMA Founder continues: “If we were based in the United States, we could show consumers the peer-reviewed evidence to prove how this new class of supplementation can transform health, but in the UK the Government only allows this proven science to be discussed at a business level, with a glass wall between proven data discussed by industry, and information deemed suitable for consumers.”
LYMA has created a new efficacy benchmark for supplements which deliver measurable results and benefits proven at specific dosages in peer-reviewed studies and is now challenging current UK legislation to enable consumers to be educated as to the most effective ingredients to take, that can take them beyond the ceiling of a healthy, balanced diet.
The LYMA Supplement is the only formula in the world that is engineered with ten, peer-reviewed, patented ingredients that are all bio-available and dosed at levels proven to work. Lucy continues, “Just as when you have a headache, you take 200mg of Ibuprofen, because that is the dose proven to work in peer-reviewed studies, it’s the same with pharmaceutical-grade supplement ingredients, you need to take the right dose to have the best effect.
“We may be living longer but we’re ageing a decade faster than our parents’ generation. Pharmaceutical-grade supplements that are bio-available, dosed correctly and backed by real science and real medical studies can help to reverse this, subsequently reducing the pressure on the NHS. Our open letter is calling for an evidence-based future for the UK's supplement industry and until then, our mission is to helps customers navigate the supplement industry and take back control of their health.”
ENDS
Note to editors:
*Fish oil and multivitamins are the largest supplement segments (Consumer Lab, November 2011) and both sectors have been proven to be ineffective. Adult multivitamins 55%, fish oils 31% TABS Analytics 111h annual vitamin study
- In an editorial in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine titled “Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements,” Johns Hopkins researchers reviewed evidence about supplements, including three very recent studies: Guallar E, Stranges S, Mulrow C, Appel LJ, Miller ER 3rd. Enough is enough: Stop wasting money on vitamin and mineral supplements. Ann Intern Med. 2013 Dec 17;159(12):850-1.
- An analysis of research involving 450,000 people, which found that multivitamins did not reduce risk for heart disease or cancer.
- A study that tracked the mental functioning and multivitamin use of 5,947 men for 12 years found that multivitamins did not reduce risk for mental declines such as memory loss or slowed-down thinking.
- A study of 1,708 heart attack survivors who took a high-dose multivitamin or placebo for up to 55 months. Rates of later heart attacks, heart surgeries and deaths were similar in the two groups.
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2670752?utm_campaign=articlePDF&utm_medium=articlePDFlink&utm_source=articlePDF&utm_content=jamacardio.2017.5205