The Advertising Standards Authority published a Pulse Report on 1 October 2026 finding widespread likely breaches of the advertising rules across paid-for online health advertising. Its Active Ad Monitoring system captured ads from Meta, Google, TikTok and website display shown between 26 May and 22 June 2026, and identified around 309,000 healthcare-related ads. Expert review narrowed those to seven priority topics covering 30,180 ads, and the ASA then manually rated a sample of 582 individual ads as low, medium or high compliance risk. In every one of the seven topics, more than 86% of the ads reviewed were rated medium or high risk. The largest topic was women's hormonal health, fertility and menopause, with 16,530 ads. magnesium supplements was the second largest with 4,270 ads, of which 91% of the reviewed sample was rated medium risk. The regulator said many of the ads it saw were for food supplements.
Where the regulator found the greatest risk of harm
The highest proportions of high-risk ads sat in the three smallest topics. Baby colic and reflux accounted for 350 ads, with 59% of the sample rated high risk and 60 ads identified for follow-up action over the risk of physical harm, largely driven by ads for baby sleep devices. Mushroom supplements accounted for 2,440 ads, with 53% rated high risk and 50 ads identified for follow-up on the same basis. The ASA reported that some of those ads used respiratory and smoking-related claims, including reassuring smokers that they could continue smoking if they used the product. In the research peptides topic, which covered 1,240 ads, 43% of the sample was rated high risk. The ASA notes that all percentages come from the manually reviewed samples rather than from the full 309,000 ads.
What this means in practice
The rules the ASA applied here are the ones that govern food supplement advertising in the UK. CAP Code section 15 limits advertisers to health claims authorised on the Great Britain nutrition and health claims register, in the authorised wording, and a supplement must not be presented as able to treat, prevent or cure a disease. Northern Ireland continues to follow the EU register, so the two lists can diverge. The ASA said many of the ads in its dataset made explicit or implied claims to prevent, treat or manage health conditions. The report also carries YouGov survey work for the ASA among 2,126 UK adults, with fieldwork from 2 to 7 July 2026, in which 21% agreed that they assume widely advertised health and wellbeing products are safe and effective. The ASA said it is liaising with partner regulators on baby sleep device ads, carrying out further work on mushroom supplement ads, and working with platforms, and that outcomes will be published in due course.
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This article reports published news and research and is for information only. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied diet or medical care, and no product mentioned is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Speak to your GP or pharmacist before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking prescribed medicines.