Health, fitness and the supplement aisle.
Safety and regulation · Answer
Category D is SAHPRA's category for complementary medicines in South Africa. It covers discipline-based medicines (such as homeopathic or Ayurvedic) and 'health supplements' like vitamins, minerals, amino acids and probiotics with low-risk claims. Makers need a SAHPRA licence and unregistered products carry a disclaimer, but as of August 2026 no complementary medicine had been registered.
Under the Medicines and Related Substances Act 101 of 1965, SAHPRA (the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority) groups medicines by category. Category D is complementary medicines, which SAHPRA splits into:
Complementary medicine as a legal category dates from 2013, and a 2017 amendment created the discipline-versus-health-supplement split.
Registration is meant to happen through risk-based "call-ups" under section 14 notices. As of August 2026, according to an analysis in Spotlight, SAHPRA had registered no complementary medicines and the call-up process had not started. The roughly 117 entries on SAHPRA's published list are licensed businesses, not approved products. So a Category D disclaimer tells you the product is not approved, which is different from a product being unlawful.
In April 2022 the Supreme Court of Appeal (Minister of Health v Alliance of Natural Health Products SA, [2022] ZASCA 49) upheld a finding that the 2017 General Regulations swept in substances that are not "medicines" in the legal sense, meaning those without a therapeutic purpose or claim. The Minister published draft amended regulations in March 2023, and in June 2023 SAHPRA said it would regulate only Category D products that meet the Act's definition of a medicine. Final regulations had not been published by mid-2026. The upshot: the boundary between a food and a health supplement for things like creatine or single amino acids is not clearly settled in law, and many sports nutrition products are sold as foods.
| If you see... | It usually means... |
|---|---|
| "This product has not been evaluated by SAHPRA" | An unregistered Category D product. Normal for local supplements at present |
| A SAHPRA registration or approval number | Treat with caution; verify with SAHPRA, because no complementary medicine registrations had been made by August 2026 |
| "SAHPRA approved" | A red flag |
| No disclaimer on a protein or creatine tub | Often a foodstuff sold under R146 labelling |
Category D status says nothing about contamination or doping risk. If you are drug-tested, you need third-party batch testing (Informed Sport explained).
See are supplements regulated in South Africa for the full picture, and do supplements need SAHPRA registration for whether your product needs it.
Educational information, not medical advice. Speak to a doctor, pharmacist or registered dietitian before using supplements if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, taking medication, or living with kidney, liver or heart disease. Prices were observed in October 2026 and are not offers.