Abstract
At the 16^<th> session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses in 1988, the issue of supplementary foods or dietary supplements was raised. In 1995, at its 19^<th> ssession the issue was formally adopted as Proposed Draft Guidelines for Dietary Supplements, and problems to be solved were exoected as a) an acceotable definition of dietary supplements, b) lists of nutrients/ingredients, c) upper limits for single nutrients and their justification and d) regulations for admissible claims. The committee agreed to refer to only"Vitamins and Minerals", as the guidelines would not apply to other nutrients and to advance to"the step at 5"in 1996. Even though once it was agreed to advance to the"step at 5", in 1997 the Commission decided to return to"step 3" for further reconsideration of its fundamental need. In the meantime, the Guidelines for use of Nutrition Claims, in which nutrient function claims had been defined were adopted in 1997. Further, the Proposed Draft Guidelines for Use of Health and Nutrition Claims were advanced to "step at 5" in May 2002. Progress on the discussions on those Guidelines should be closely monitored.
