I was talking with a health coach recently who asked:

“Am I allowed to give personalized supplement recommendations to my clients?”

I get this question a lot.

And there definitely is conflicting information out there. For example:

⛔ Organizations like the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) suggest that recommending supplements is too prescriptive to be within the scope of a health coach.

Yet there are soooo many integrative and functional schools training coaches on supplement protocols.

What’s a health coach to do?

Here’s the short answer:

👉 In most states, you CAN give personalized nutrition guidance (including recommending supplements) – as long as it’s not tied to diagnosing or treating a medical disease, condition, or disorder.

That last part is a huge distinction.

Your guidance as a health coach must be for general wellness. Not “take this supplement if you have diabetes.”

👍 For example, in most states, you can legally recommend supplements for general gut health.

🚫 But you could NOT recommend specific nutrition or supplements for IBS.
Why? Because IBS is a diagnosis of a medical condition – not “general wellness”. Recommending supplements for IBS is considered “medical nutrition therapy”.

The key is that you need to know YOUR state law.

📍 There are 12 states which restrict “medical nutrition therapy” (recommending nutrition/supplements for diagnoses) to only licensed dietitians/nutritionists:

• Montana
• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Wyoming
• Nebraska
• Kansas
• Iowa
• Illinois
• Ohio (my home state – it’s the most restrictive state in the country!)
• Tennessee
• Alabama
• Georgia

In some states, you can provide general nutrition education for individuals and/or groups – but you need to know the specific language and boundaries of YOUR state laws.

Sometimes it’s nuanced and not super clear. (Welcome to law! But truly, if law were super clear and straightforward,we lawyers wouldn’t have to go to 3 years of law school after college, would we?) 😆

📌 So how do you find out your state law?

The easiest way is to book a free 20-Minute Legal Chat with my team. We’ll help you clarify your scope so you can move forward with confidence.

👉 Book your free 20-minute Legal Chat here.

You don’t have to guess – and you don’t have to let fear keep you from helping your clients.

But you do need to know what’s legal – and what’s not legal – when it comes to making supplement recommendations for your clients.

Here’s to getting legally clear!

If you have questions about what you’re allowed – and not allowed! – to do under your state laws, book a free 20-minute Legal Chat with my team here.