Benefits of nutritional supplements for macular degeneration 'oversold'

Nutritional supplements claiming to improve eye health may be in breach of UK medicines legislation according to this month's Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin.

The Which? publication’s editor Dr Ike Iheanacho said he was concerned about ‘promotional claims for some nutritional supplements’ aimed at people worried about macular degeneration.

‘Certain claims appear to be medicinal and, if so, would be in breach of UK medicines legislation. In particular, we have reported the claim that Viteyes can “slow macular degeneration” to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).’

Butterflies Healthcare, which distributes Viteyes in the UK, told Optician it was in the process of changing its packaging to comply with legislation, after having been contacted by the MHRA. Read its full comment here.