China’s State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) has drafted a proposal to allow health foods sold in China to make joint health support claims.
A public consultation over the draft has been announced on 24 April and will end on 2 June.
The claims proposed include “helps support maintain joint health”, “helps alleviate joint pain / stiffness”, “helps reduce swelling of joints”, “helps maintain joint cartilage health”, and “helps maintain bone and joint health”.
If approved, the claims will be added into the Directory of Health Functions Available to be Claimed by Health Food – Non-nutrition Supplements.
The draft regulation however has proposed that human clinical study is required before products can make joint health support claims. Animal studies may not be required if certain criteria are met such as long history of use and other literature support.
The SAMR added that joint health claims were already widely applied in other countries like in the EU, US, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
