Natural Health Products

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From essential vitamins and minerals to natural health and beauty products, Helix Pharmacy offers a wide range of solutions to support your well-being. Whether you're addressing a specific deficiency or proactively enhancing your health, we have what you need.

• Vitamins & Minerals
• Herbal Products
• Food-Based Supplements (including collagen powder, sprouted seeds/grains, and teas)
• Natural Health & Beauty Products (including facial serums and sunscreens)
• Natural Personal Care Items (including body wash and deodorant)

At Helix Pharmacy, we believe in a holistic approach to wellness. We offer a diverse range of products to support your health journey, combining the best of conventional and complementary approaches. Whether you're looking for vitamins and minerals, herbal remedies, or natural personal care items, we're here to help you achieve optimal well-being.

Health Canada is responsible for approving and monitoring Natural Health Products (NHPs) that are sold in Canada. This process ensures that these products are safe, effective, and properly labeled.

Unlike some other countries, Canada regulates the supplement industry. This regulation helps to ensure that the ingredients listed on the label are actually in the product. 

There is generally less scientific evidence available for NHPs compared to medications. However, Health Canada only allows health claims (known as "Uses" or "Purposes") to be made when there is research supporting the claim. These claims must specify the intended benefit of the product when used as directed.

Health Canada classifies NHPs into two categories based on the claims made about and the evidence available for the product: 

Traditional use claims

• Traditional medicine refers to the “knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health, as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.”
• Claims for traditional use must be prefaced with qualifiers such as “traditionally used...”.

 Non-Traditional Use Claims.

• “The evidence requirements to support a non-traditional use claim are more rigorous than what is required to support a traditional use claim. Non-traditional claims must be supported by scientific evidence (e.g. clinical trials), which may be supplemented by other forms of evidence.”

Health Canada maintains a list of active ingredients that have pre-approved Uses or Purposes. If a manufacturer wants to make a different health claim, they must submit evidence to show the effectiveness, dosage, conditions of use and safety of the active ingredient(s). 

Examples of Natural Health Products with Approved Health Claims:

Glucosamine Sulfate

• Helps to relieve joint pain associated with osteoarthritis
• Helps to relieve pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee 
• Helps to protect against the deterioration of cartilage
• A factor in maintaining healthy cartilage and/or joint health 
• Helps protect against the deterioration of cartilage and relieve joint pain associated with osteoarthritis

GABA (4-Aminobutanoic acid)

• Helps (to) temporarily promote relaxation

L-Lysine

• Source of/(an) essential amino acid for the maintenance of good health 
• Source of/(an) essential amino acid involved in muscle protein synthesis 
• Helps to reduce the recurrence of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection (e.g. cold sores) 
• Helps in collagen formation

Hedera helix (Ivy Leaf Cough Syrup)

• Used as an expectorant in case of productive coughs. 
• Helps relieve coughs. 
• Helps loosen mucous and phlegm.

• Health Canada Natural Health Products Directorate. (2006). Product Licensing Guidance Document.
• Health Canada Natural Health Products Directorate. (2006). Evidence for Safety and Efficacy of Finished Natural Health Products.
• Health Canada. Natural Health Products Ingredients Database. Accessed from the Government of Canada website: https://webprod.hc-sc.gc.ca/nhpid-bdipsn/