Background
This investigation forms part of a wider piece of work related to online ads for food supplements which claim they can help with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules. See also related rulings published on 10 December 2025.
Ad description
A paid-for Facebook ad by Get Dopa, a supplement brand, posted on 25 June 2025, featured an image of a woman balancing a Get Dopa packet on her head with text above stating, “‘The perfect gift for anyone with ADHD’ – delighted customer”. The caption stated, “Struggling to keep up with your busy mind? Get dopa is a smart supplement thoughtfully designed to support mental clarity, energy, and focus for fast-paced, active minds, including neurodivergent thinkers. Focus your attention. Maintain steady mood & energy levels. Encourage memory and recall. Elevate cognitive performance. Care for your busy brain. Whether it’s juggling a million ideas, managing wild fluctuations in energy, or tackling brain fog, get dopa is here to help you feel more alert, motivated, and in control. Take charge of your busy brain and own your advantage today”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the claims in the ad:
- that stated or implied the supplement could help prevent, treat or cure symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), were in breach of the Code; and
- relating to enhancing mental clarity, energy, focus, cognitive performance, memory and mood, were specific health claims that breached the Code.
Response
1. Get Dopa Ltd stated that they intended to present their product, the Get Dopa supplement, as a food supplement, not as a treatment for any medical condition. They acknowledged that a customer testimonial mentioning ADHD could be interpreted as suggesting medicinal benefit and therefore be interpreted as an implied medical claim. They intended to use the word “neurodivergent” as a social identity term to be inclusive of different cognitive styles, not as a medical diagnosis or to imply treatment, support or symptom relief. Get Dopa confirmed they removed the ad and stated that references to ADHD would not be used in future advertising.
2. Get Dopa believed that all the claims made in the ad regarding the Get Dopa supplement were general health claims, defined under the CAP Code as claims referring to a general benefit of a nutrient or food for overall good health or health-related well-being, and fulfilled the requirement of being accompanied by specific authorised health claims. They clarified that the full ingredient list and the specific authorised health claims were shown on their website homepage. They asserted that the Get Dopa supplement included nutrients for which those authorised health claims could be made, in quantities above the threshold amount required to make the claims.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The CAP Code (which reflected legislation) stated that claims which stated or implied a food prevented, treated or cured human disease were not acceptable in marketing communications for foods or food supplement products. It also stated that medicinal claims may be made for a medicinal product that was licensed by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) or under the auspices of the EMA (European Medicines Agency). Medicines must have a license from the MHRA or under the auspices of the EMA before they were marketed.
The ad stated that a “delighted customer” had reviewed the Get Dopa supplement as “the perfect gift for anyone with ADHD”. The ASA considered that claim would be interpreted as an explicit reference that the product could help alleviate symptoms of ADHD. While the term “neurodivergent” was not a medical diagnosis, we considered that most consumers would interpret it as an umbrella term for a range of medical diagnoses, including ADHD and autism. We therefore considered the claim “designed to support mental clarity, energy, and focus for fast-paced, active minds, including neurodivergent thinkers” would be understood as a claim to help any condition for which the term “neurodivergent” was used, and in the context of the rest of the ad, ADHD in particular. In the context of the reference to ADHD and neurodivergent thinkers, we therefore considered the following claims would also be interpreted by most consumers who saw the ad as references to helping with symptoms of neurodivergent conditions, particularly ADHD – references that the Get Dopa supplement would help with energy, attention, brain fog, cognitive performance, mood, focus and memory.
Claims to relieve symptoms, or to cure, or to provide a remedy or heal a specific health condition or adverse condition of body or mind were regarded as medicinal claims. Given the context of the reference to ADHD and neurodivergent thinkers, we considered the claims referenced above were medicinal claims, and implied that the product had medicinal properties.
The Get Dopa supplement was, in general terms, marketed as a food supplement. For the purposes of the legislation reflected in the Code, its prohibition on claims that a food (including food supplements), could prevent, treat, or cure symptoms of human disease included medicinal claims. We therefore concluded the claims to alleviate symptoms of ADHD fell under that prohibition. Additionally, because the ad made medicinal claims for the Get Dopa supplement, it was defined as a medicinal product for the purposes of medicines legislation. Claims that a product had medicinal properties may only be made for a medicinal product that was authorised by the MHRA or under the auspices of the EMA. We understood Get Dopa did not hold such authorisation for the Get Dopa supplement. We concluded the ad was therefore in breach of the Code’s requirements relating both to food supplements and to medicinal products.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 12.1 and 12.11 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products), 15.6 and 15.6.2 (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code defined health claims as those that stated, suggested or implied a relationship between a food or ingredient, and health, and required that only health claims authorised on the applicable register, which in this case was the Great Britain nutrition and health claims register (the GB (NHC) Register), were permitted in marketing communications for foods. Some flexibility could be exercised in rewording authorised claims, provided that the reworded claim was likely to have the same meaning for consumers as the authorised claim. Marketers must also ensure that they met the conditions of use associated with the claims in question.
As referenced above, we considered that in the context of the ad’s references to neurodivergence and ADHD, the claims that the supplement would “support mental clarity, energy, and focus for fast-paced, active minds”, “focus your attention”, “Maintain steady mood & energy levels”, “Encourage memory and recall”, “Elevate cognitive performance” and would assist in “managing wild fluctuations in energy, or tackling brain fog” would be understood by most consumers as claims that the product could help manage or treat symptoms of ADHD.
However, some consumers may have understood those claims as not specifically relating to symptoms of ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions. Instead, those consumers would have interpreted them to mean that the Get Dopa supplement could, for all consumers, boost memory, mood, energy levels and mental performance. In that context, those claims were specific health claims, because they related to beneficial health effects on specific physiological functions, rather than relating to overall good health or health-related wellbeing. We considered the claims would also be understood in that way if they had been presented in isolation and absent of the wider context of references to ADHD and “neurodivergent thinkers” in the ad under investigation.
We understood the product contained a range of nutrients in quantities that meant authorised health claims could be used in its advertising. However, we considered the specific health claims in the ad would not have the same meaning for consumers as the authorised claims. We considered the claims in the ad went beyond the meaning of the authorised claims. For example, the claim that the supplement would “elevate cognitive performance” was an exaggeration of the authorised claims “Pantothenic acid contributes to normal mental performance” and “Zinc contributes to normal cognitive function”. The claim that the Get Dopa supplement helped in “managing wild fluctuations in energy” did not communicate the same meaning as the authorised claims that magnesium “contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism” and “contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue”. Additionally, all the claims in the ad were attributed to the Get Dopa supplement rather than to the specific nutrients named in the authorised claims.
Because the ad included claims that would be understood by some consumers as specific health claims, and those claims did not communicate the same meaning as the authorised claims referenced by the advertiser, we concluded the ad also breached the Code in that regard.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 15.1, 15.1.1 (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims) and 15.7 (Food supplements and other vitamins and minerals).
Action
The claims must not appear again in the form investigated. We told Get Dopa Ltd to ensure their future advertising did not make claims that a food, including food supplements, could prevent, treat or cure health conditions that, for the purposes of the Code fell within the definition of human disease, for example ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions. We also told them not to make medicinal claims for products that were not authorised by the MHRA. We further told them to ensure any specific health claims were authorised on the GB (NHC) Register, and that any rewording of the authorised claim communicated the same meaning to consumers and referred to the nutrient or substance for which the claim was authorised.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
12.1 12.11 15.1 15.1.1 15.6 15.6.2
