There is a lot of nebulousness surrounding the regulation of cosmetics, and the fuzzy yellow lines only get more blurred when it comes to nutricosmetics. This new, $2 billion concept of ingestible beauty, or beauty from within, is difficult to “contain", as its broad and encompasses many different types of products, e.g., foods, beverages, supplements, etc. In addition to its ambiguous parameters, regulation of these products is almost nonexistent and leaves a lot of unknowns.
As NutraIngredients.com reported, nutricosmetics’ “greenery", i.e., it’s a newer concept, and the science behind these products is lacking and again, as stated above, it’s difficult to categorize them. Questions continue to be asked on how to define cosmeceuticals (the merging of drugs and cosmetics, or the merging of cosmetics and foods/supplements), and how to properly regulate them (as a drug or as a food). The problem is, with all this gray it’s hard to regulators to ensure consumers are get what they’re promised and cosmetic companies aren’t fudging their label claims. Currently, in the United States, FDA and FTC are sharing the regulatory load, and Health Canada in Canada.