Social media influencers make unpermitted therapeutic claims in nearly half of all sponsored posts for dietary supplements, according to a recent evaluation by consumer protection centers in Germany featured on swr.de.
The market for dietary supplements continues to expand across pharmacies, drugstores, supermarkets, and digital platforms. A Postbank digital study from 2024 revealed that 54 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds purchased at least one influencer-promoted product within a six-month period. Investigators from consumer protection centers analyzed 804 posts across 28 influencers to track promotional practices.
- Unverified Efficacy: 47 percent of evaluated social media posts featured health-related claims lacking scientific backing.
- Illegal Disease Claims: Content creators regularly marketed supplements with promises to prevent, treat, or cure specific medical conditions, despite legal classifications of supplements as foods rather than pharmaceuticals.
- Accelerated Registration: Manufacturing and registering a new supplement involves minimal regulatory oversight, requiring a brief online notification process without prior safety or efficacy reviews.
While the marketing of dietary supplements faces strict legal boundaries, manufacturing a product requires minimal prerequisites, swr.de reported. The ARD consumer editorial team tested this process by registering a product online with the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety.
The registration took less than ten minutes and required only basic company details, product names, and quantities. No automated checks evaluate product efficacy or dosage safety during the free online application.
Contract manufacturers like NovaLabs in Graz, Austria, have scaled rapidly since their founding in 2020. Co-founders Christian Gubik and David Schweiger built the enterprise as a one-stop partner handling everything from formulation and production to packaging for pharmacies, private physicians, influencers, and retail chains. NovaLabs projects 25 million euros in revenue for 2026, up from one million euros in 2020, producing approximately 900 million capsules annually, according to swr.de.
Daniela Krehl of the Bavarian Consumer Advice Center noted that influencers rely on specific behavioral triggers to market these products on social media. These tactics include inducing fear regarding health conditions, sharing personal testimonials, deploying time-sensitive discount codes, and utilizing professional authority markers such as white lab coats or academic degrees.
One observed influencer video opened with questions about depression, digestive issues, neurodermatitis, and psoriasis, before pitching a capsule containing 30 billion gut bacteria as a universal solution, swr.de reported. Prof. Dr. Diana Rubin, physician at the Center for Nutrition at Vivantes Spandau and Reinickendorf, stated that such efficacy promises are legally prohibited because pre-market published clinical trials verifying safety and efficacy typically do not exist for these products.
Certain botanical extracts can induce hepatotoxicity (liver damage) and prove counterproductive for individuals with pre-existing hepatic conditions. Similarly, excessive doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) can elevate the risk of nephrolithiasis (kidney stones).
| Metric / Feature | Dietary Supplements (Market Reality) | Pharmaceutical Agents (Standard) |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Market Clinical Trials | Not legally required; efficacy/safety data often absent | Mandatory Phase I–III double-blind trials required |
| Therapeutic Claims | Prohibited from claiming disease treatment or cure | Approved for targeted therapeutic indications |
- ARD Marktcheck, SWR broadcast reporting on dietary supplement marketing and influencer strategies.
- Verbraucherzentrale Bayern, evaluation of social media marketing and health claims in 804 influencer posts.
- Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL), regulatory registration procedures for food supplements.
