Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on ads for food supplements making claims about the treatment of symptoms of the menopause, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and other women's hormonal issues.
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 other rulings published on 25 March 2026.
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
Two paid-for Facebook ads for Nova Menopause Vitality, a food supplement company, both seen in August 2025.
a. The caption in the ad stated: “Why does joint pain get so much worse in your 50s – and how most women accidentally make it worse?”; “Can’t sleep through the night because your hips ache?”; “Morning stiffness that lasts for HOURS?”; and “Tried everything doctors suggested but nothing sticks? Here’s what’s really happening…”.
Further text in the post stated: “When you hit menopause, your joints STOP getting the estrogen [sic] they need to stay healthy”; “It’s called ‘hormone starvation’ – and most treatments make it WORSE by ignoring the root cause!”; “We discovered 3 clinically-proven ingredients that help restore estrogen production naturally”; and “Not HRT – A great alternative or a natural joint and tendon rejuvenation boost to take along side HRT”.
Additional text included “Over 100,000+ women have transformed their joint health” and “80% of menopausal women suffer from hormone starvation – don’t wait until it’s too late!”.
The ad included an image of the product container in two overlapping circles with the “nova” logo above and text which stated, “Healing Joints & Tendons” and “Saving money on painkillers”. Text beneath the image stated, “Heal your Joint pain in 60 days or its FREE with Her Again”.
A learn more button for THENOVABOTTLE.COM displayed the headline “The special probiotic fixing hip pain”.
b. The second ad featured text stating, “I thought I [sic] my hips were broken forever at 52 […] The hip pain started slowly - just a little stiffness getting out of bed. But within months, I was limping everywhere, avoiding stairs, and sleeping in our guest room because I couldn't stop tossing and turning”.
Further text stated, “Three doctors, zero answers […] That's when I learned something that blew my mind: when estrogen drops during menopause, it literally inflames your hip tendons. It's called gluteal tendinopathy, and most doctors have never heard of it […] I found women raving about this supplement called Her Again with something called L. gasseri. Apparently, it's the only probiotic clinically proven to help your body produce estrogen naturally. Not synthetic hormones with scary side effects. Just helping your gut make what it used to. Four weeks later, I'm a different person. The constant burning ache is gone. I sleep through the night on my side […] No one understands your hip pain? Her Again does […] The special probiotic fixing hip pain”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether:
- the claims in the ads that stated or implied that the supplements or substances in them could help to prevent, treat or cure hip and joint pain caused by the menopause breached the Code; and
- the ads included health claims that were in breach of the Code.
Response
Nova Relief t/a Nova Menopause Vitality did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Nova Menopause Vitality’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
1. Upheld
The CAP Code (which reflected legislation) stated that claims which stated or implied a food could prevent, treat or cure human disease were prohibited for foods; including food supplements. 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.
Ad (a) included the claim “Not HRT – a great alternative”. HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) –a commonly known prescription-only medicine (POM) used as a treatment for the alleviation of symptoms of the menopause. We considered consumers would understand the claim to mean that the product could be taken as an alternative to HRT and that it would have the same effect as HRT in treating menopause symptoms. We therefore considered that was a medicinal claim.
Ad (a) also included the claims: “a natural joint and tendon rejuvenation boost”; “Over 100,000+ women have transformed their joint health”; “80% of menopausal women suffer from hormone starvation – don’t wait until it’s too late!”; “Healing Joints & Tendons”; “Saving money on painkillers”; “Heal your Joint pain in 60 days”; and “The Special probiotic fixing hip pain.” We considered that in the context of an ad that made reference to HRT, and consequentially made a comparison with POMs used for symptoms of the menopause, those claims were also medicinal claims.
The claims therefore implied that the product, which was marketed as a food supplement, had medicinal properties. Because the ad made medicinal claims for the product, it was defined as a medicinal product by presentation for the purposes of the medicines legislation reflected in the Code. However, we had not seen evidence that the advertiser held the necessary authorisation.
We considered that those claims also stated or implied that the product could treat or cure hip and joint pain caused by the menopause. We further considered that symptoms of the menopause were adverse medical conditions. Because of that, we considered that the claims that the supplement could treat or cure symptoms of the menopause, both in general terms and in relation to specifically described symptoms, were for the purposes of the legislation reflected in the Code, claims to treat disease.
Ad (b) was presented in the style of a testimonial. Text stated, “I thought my hips were broken forever at 52 […] The hip pain started slowly - just a little stiffness getting out of bed. But within months, I was limping everywhere, avoiding stairs, and sleeping in our guest room because I couldn't stop tossing and turning.” Further text stated, “Three doctors, zero answers […] That's when I learned something that blew my mind: when estrogen drops during menopause, it literally inflames your hip tendons. It's called gluteal tendinopathy, and most doctors have never heard of it […] I found women raving about this supplement called Her Again with something called L. gasseri. Apparently, it's the only probiotic clinically proven to help your body produce estrogen naturally […] Four weeks later, I'm a different person. The burning sensation is gone. I sleep through the night on my side […] The Special probiotic fixing hip pain”.
We considered that those claims stated or implied that the product could treat or cure hip and joint pain caused by the menopause, which as stated above, were adverse medical conditions. Because of that, we considered that the claims in ad (b) that the supplement could treat or cure symptoms of the menopause, both in general terms and in relation to specifically described symptoms, were for the purposes of the legislation reflected in the Code, claims to treat disease.
For those reasons, we concluded that ads (a) and (b) made claims that a food supplement could prevent, treat or cure human disease and therefore breached the Code. We also concluded that ad (a) featured claims that a product had medicinal properties without the necessary authorisation and also breached the Code on that basis.
On that point, ads (a) and (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 15.6 and 15.6.2 (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims). Ad (a) also breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 12.1 and 12.11 (Medicines, medical devices health-related products and beauty products).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code required that only health claims authorised on the Great Britain nutrition and health claims Register (GB NHC Register) were permitted in marketing communications for foods. The Code defined health claims as those that stated, suggested or implied a relationship between a food, drink or ingredient and health.
Ad (a) included the claim “clinically-proven ingredients that help restore estrogen production naturally”. Ad (b) included the claims “L. gasseri […] the only probiotic clinically proven to help your body produce estrogen naturally” and “helping your gut make what it used to”. We considered consumers would understand those claims to mean that the product contained ingredients that had a beneficial effect on the body’s gut health and ability to produce oestrogen, which we considered were specific health claims for the purposes of the Code. However, we had not seen any evidence which demonstrated that the claims were authorised on the GB NHC Register. Because of that, we concluded that they were unauthorised health claims and therefore breached the Code.
On that point, ads (a) and (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 15.1 and 15.1.1 (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the forms investigated. We told Nova Relief t/a Nova Menopause Vitality not to state or imply their food supplements could prevent, treat or cure human disease, which for the purposes of the Code included claims to treat or cure the symptoms of the menopause, or make medicinal claims for a product that did not have the necessary authorisation. We also told them not to make specific health claims unless they were authorised on the GB NHC Register. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
