Is Bergamot legal in the United Kingdom?

Fourteen randomised trials show large lipid changes, including LDL down 55 mg/dL. The effect sizes are implausibly large for a food extract, the trials are small and regionally concentrated, and no outcome trial exists.

Bergamot is a citrus fruit whose polyphenol extract has a randomised literature on blood lipids, and the honest reading of that literature is that it is both real and hard to believe. 7 mg/dL.

Mechanism: The bergamot polyphenolic fraction is rich in flavanones, notably brutieridin and melitidin, which carry a side chain structurally similar to the statin pharmacophore. That has led to the hypothesis of partial HMG-CoA reductase inhibition, which would make it a weak statin rather than a generic antioxidant.

Regulatory history: Sold as a dietary supplement. Not approved to treat dyslipidaemia or anything else.

Licenses medicines for the UK market. A compound without a marketing authorisation is an unlicensed medicine, which can only lawfully be supplied for human use through a prescriber under the specials scheme, not sold as a research product.

The classification above is the The Longevity Archive reading of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency listings for Bergamot at the reviewed date, not a legal opinion. Rules change, and importing, prescribing and possessing a compound can each be treated differently. Check the regulator directly before acting on anything here.