In order to use "health food" correctly, there is something I would like you to know.

So-called health food (hereinafter referred to as "health food") has no legal definition, and refers to all foods that are sold and used as foods that are widely useful for maintaining and improving health.

Recently, various "health foods" have been sold and are overflowing with our daily lives, but some of them contain pharmaceutical ingredients and are advertised as effective in treating or preventing illness. Such drugs are called "unapproved and unlicensed drugs" , and their efficacy and safety are not guaranteed, and careless use may cause serious health problems.

There have also been reports of health hazards caused by foreign products ordered by private importers.

Medicines (or quasi-drugs) are used to treat or prevent illness.

Pharmaceuticals and quasi-drugs cannot be manufactured and sold unless they are reviewed and approved by the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare for efficacy, safety, and quality, according to the law.

However, among the health foods on the market, there are some that are sold as health foods without being approved as pharmaceuticals, even though they contain pharmaceutical ingredients.

Since these health foods have not been examined for efficacy and safety, there is a risk of serious health damage , and there have been cases reported in newspapers and other media.

In particular, many pharmaceutical ingredients have been found in products that advertise their tonic and dieting effects , so please be especially careful of products that claim these effects.

The product names of health foods in which pharmaceutical ingredients have been detected in the past can be found on the website of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. It is published in If you have these products , stop using them immediately , and if you feel any abnormality in your body, immediately consult a medical institution .

Health food is not medicine. Even if health foods are advertised as having curative or preventive effects against diseases, those effects are not approved by the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Since the efficacy and safety of unapproved and unlicensed pharmaceuticals that call themselves health foods have not been confirmed, it is prohibited to advertise their efficacy .

In addition, there are some health foods that need to be taken with caution when taken with medicine . If you are taking medication, consult your doctor or pharmacist before using these health foods.

Individuals importing health foods, etc. for their own use or bringing them back from overseas are called personal imports. Recently, it has become easier to personal import over the Internet through personal import agents.

Since overseas products have different laws than Japan, some products sold as health foods overseas may contain pharmaceutical ingredients and are not necessarily safe.

In addition, the product may have been manufactured in an unsanitary place or in an unsanitary manner, and the possibility of containing harmful impurities cannot be denied.

For this reason, there have been reports of health hazards caused by personally imported drugs, but personal imports are self-responsible and are not eligible for relief under the public system for relief of health hazards (Relief System for Adverse Drug Reactions). . Please be careful not to import easily .

It is prohibited by law to conduct import activities such as shipping products by individual import agents, and to present a list of unapproved medicines, etc. to an unspecified number of people and solicit their importation. Please be careful with traders.