Ayurvedic and Herbal Supplements in the UAE: What Demand Evidence Shows

Why herbal supplements find an audience in the UAE

Three strands of UAE evidence explain why botanical products meet a receptive market. The first is familiarity. In a 2022 national online survey of 448 adults across the seven emirates, 98.7% of participants reported using herbal medicines; the most common reasons were enhancing immunity (26.8%) and relaxation (23.5%).^[1] The sample was a convenience sample and 70.3% female, so the figure shows how ordinary herbal use is among those surveyed, not a population prevalence.

The second is broad supplement use. In a 2026 survey of 600 adults, 47.8% had ever used dietary supplements, and 58.9% of those were current users.^[2] Vitamins (70.6%), minerals (57.8%) and protein (47.4%) were the categories users reported most, so herbal products compete with a market that is led by vitamins and minerals.

The third is cultural continuity. A 2025 review describes Traditional Emirati Medicine as a living body of plant-based and other practices that still needs research on efficacy, safety and quality.^[4] Many residents also come from South Asia and other regions where traditional medicine is part of everyday health care, which is where interest in Ayurvedic supplements starts. None of the studies cited here separates Ayurvedic products from herbal use in general. A 2023 review of the UAE nutrition situation, which reports high obesity and diabetes prevalence alongside scarce micronutrient data, supplies the wider preventive-health backdrop.^[5]

What the UAE evidence shows, and what it does not

Peer-reviewed studies measure behaviour, not revenue. Table 1 shows what each one can and cannot support in a business case for herbal supplements in the UAE.

Table 1. UAE evidence on herbal and supplement use

Read together, the figures are directional: herbal use is common and many adults are not yet supplement users. That is the opening for a well-registered, well-documented product. This guide deliberately quotes no market size. Commercial estimates differ by definition, year and method, and none could be traced to a primary or peer-reviewed source, so any sizing figure needs its definition and method stated before it enters a business case.

How the UAE registration route shapes the product

In the UAE, the route a product can take decides what it can be, what it can say and where it can be sold. Two published frameworks matter for herbal supplements:

• Dubai Municipality health supplements: no health supplement may be manufactured, imported, advertised or sold in Dubai unless it is registered in the Montaji system. Botanicals and herbs are within scope, but products presented as Ayurvedic, Chinese medicine or traditional medicine products are listed as out of scope.^[3]
• Emirates Drug Establishment (federal): EDE issues marketing authorisations for healthcare products, including dietary supplements and herbal products that are not intended for diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of disease. Its document list includes a halal certificate and a detailed composition certificate, and authorisation is valid for five years.^[7]

Dubai Municipality’s guideline also lists banned or not-applicable ingredients in Annex 3. Several well-known Ayurvedic botanicals are on it, including ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), amla (Phyllanthus emblica), arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), punarnava (Boerhavia diffusa), gurmar (Gymnema sylvestre) and shilajit.^[3] Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is not listed. For brands, this is the most important demand-side fact in this guide: an ingredient that sells well elsewhere may not be registrable as a Dubai health supplement at all, so confirm the route for each botanical before you build a range around it. Our sibling guide on herbal supplement claims in the UAE covers the wording rules.

Halal, premium and traditional formats

Three format signals shape development briefs for this market.

• Halal: EDE asks for a halal certificate, and Dubai Municipality may request one to confirm the source of animal-derived ingredients.^[3][7] Gelatin capsule shells, glycerin and ethanol used as an extraction solvent all need a halal review from the start, along with the supplier documents to support it.
• Premium: standardised extracts with a declared marker compound and absorption-enhanced formats are clear premium differentiators. Our pillar guide on curcumin bioavailability explains how piperine, phytosome and micellar formats compare.^[8]
• Traditional: traditional formats are credible with consumers who know the tradition, but a product presented as Ayurvedic or traditional medicine leaves Dubai’s health supplement category, so the presentation must match the registration route you choose.^[3]

A clean-label expectation, meaning short and recognisable ingredient lists, puts pressure on flow agents, colours and surfactants, so it belongs in the first formulation brief.

Which herbal ingredients to prioritise for the UAE

No UAE study cited here ranks herbal ingredients by sales, so Table 2 is a development priority list, not a sales ranking.

Table 2. Ingredient priorities and the question behind each

Formulator’s note: check the claim and the ingredient list before the formula. A banned botanical or a medical-sounding immunity message can push a UAE product out of the supplement category altogether.

Pharmacy, retail and e-commerce channels

Whichever channel you choose, the buyer will expect a registration appropriate to the product’s category. Pharmacy sales add a conversation, but the SIDP-12 study found that most respondents had not been asked about supplements by hospital or community pharmacists, so the label has to do the work: state every ingredient, the daily dose and any caution about medicines clearly.^[6]

Online sales carry the most risk for brands that skip registration. A marketplace listing is not a licence. In April 2019, the Ministry of Health and Prevention warned the public about a red yeast rice supplement promoted on social media with cholesterol and heart claims, stating that it was not licensed by the ministry.^[9] Dubai Municipality’s claim rules also apply to advertisements and leaflets, not only to the label.^[3] Our sibling article on lead and undeclared drugs in herbal supplement recalls shows what happens when quality and identity controls fail.

The wider GCC: a sequencing decision

The UAE studies above do not measure the wider GCC supplements market, so this guide treats the region as a sequencing decision, not a sizing claim. Each GCC country runs its own registration system, so a UAE authorisation is one national step and extending it needs market-specific regulatory work. Brands usually start with one well-documented dossier and reuse its composition, stability and quality data for each additional market.

What UAE demand means for brands

Four decisions follow from the evidence:

1. Position on familiarity: herbal use is widespread among those surveyed, so formats that feel traditional yet are technically credible fit the market better than unfamiliar actives.^[1]
2. Check the ingredient list against the route: confirm every botanical against Dubai Municipality’s Annex 3 and the EDE requirements before you commit to a range.^[3][7]
3. Decide the claim and the category together, because label wording and presentation (supplement or traditional medicine) determine the regulatory route.^[3]
4. Plan the dossier at formulation stage: composition, halal documents, stability and analysis reports are cheaper to build in than to retrofit.

For the wider process, see our herbal product development hub and our guides to supplement label claims and overage in the UAE, private-label herbal supplements in India and herbal beverage development for the UAE.

Conclusion

Demand for herbal and Ayurvedic products in the UAE rests on widespread herbal use, broad adult supplement use and strong traditional roots, but the public evidence supports direction, not a sales figure. The decisive constraints are regulatory: Dubai excludes products presented as Ayurvedic or traditional medicine from its health supplement category and lists several Ayurvedic botanicals as banned or not applicable. Brands that choose ingredient, format, claim and registration route together will turn interest in herbal supplements into a product that can be sold.

For brands & formulators

Food Research Lab supports UAE and GCC brands from Chennai, India. Our herbal formulation team screens your ingredient list against the UAE route, develops the format and prepares the technical file, from composition and halal documentation to stability and claim review. Analytical, stability and contaminant testing are run or arranged through accredited partner laboratories.

See our herbal formulation services, our herbal product development sector page and our UAE market support, or speak to our regulatory and scientific research team. You can also contact us with your product idea.

In this series

This guide opens FRL’s UAE herbal and Ayurvedic supplement series. Read on in this order:

• Ayurvedic and herbal supplements: demand in the UAE and GCC (you are here).
• Curcumin bioavailability: piperine, phytosome and other delivery formats (series pillar).
• Health and nutrition claims on herbal supplements in the UAE: what the rules allow on a label.
• Herbal extraction methods compared: maceration to supercritical CO₂.
• Lead and undeclared drugs in herbal supplement recalls: what real recalls reveal.
• Curcumin supplement prepared for UAE registration: a labelled worked example.
• Herbal formulation services: take your herbal product from brief to registration.

1. Al Mazrouei, N., Al Meslamani, A. Z., Alajeel, R., Alghadban, G., Ansari, N., Al Kaabi, M., Sadeq, A., Ibrahim, R., & Ibrahim, O. M. (2022). The patterns of herbal medicine use in the United Arab Emirates: A national study. Pharmacy Practice, 20(3), 2698. https://doi.org/10.18549/PharmPract.2022.3.2698 (cited for 98.7% herbal medicine use among 448 adults, online convenience sample, 70.3% female; immunity 26.8% and relaxation 23.5% as reasons)
2. Alkhayat, A., & Khan, N. S. (2026). Prevalence, patterns, perceptions, and sociodemographic determinants of dietary supplement use among adults in the United Arab Emirates. Frontiers in Nutrition, 13, 1955988. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2026.1955988 (cited for 47.8% ever-use among 600 adults, 58.9% of users current; vitamins, minerals and protein as leading categories)
3. Dubai Municipality, Health & Safety Department. (2024, May 4). Technical guidelines for health supplements (DM-HSD-GU29-TGHS2, Version 2.0). https://dmpmedia.dm.gov.ae/uploads/2024/07/DM-HSD-GU29-TGHS2_Technical-Guidelines-for-Health-Supplements_V2.pdf (cited for Montaji registration (§8), botanicals in scope and Ayurvedic/traditional products out of scope (§5), claim rules incl. advertisements (§7), halal certificate on request (§9.6), banned or not-applicable ingredients (Annex 3) and prohibited claims (Annex 4))
4. Al Oraimi, S., & Davey, G. (2025). Understanding Traditional Emirati Medicine: Insights, challenges, and a call to action. Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health, 14, 27536130251396544. https://doi.org/10.1177/27536130251396544 (cited for the description of Traditional Emirati Medicine and research needs)
5. Al Sabbah, H., Assaf, E. A., Al-Jawaldeh, A., AlSammach, A. S., Madi, H., Khamis Al Ali, N., Al Dhaheri, A. S., & Cheikh Ismail, L. (2023). Nutrition situation analysis in the UAE: A review study. Nutrients, 15(2), 363. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15020363 (cited for the UAE nutrition and preventive-health backdrop)
6. Ait Gacem, S., Huri, H. Z., Wahab, I. A., & Abduelkarem, A. R. (2024). Patient-centric decision-making in supplements intake and disclosure in clinical practice: A novel SIDP-12 tool to prevent drug-supplement interaction. Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety, 15, 20420986241294150. https://doi.org/10.1177/20420986241294150 (cited for 407 UAE respondents, 137 supplement users, and low rates of pharmacists asking about supplements)
7. Emirates Drug Establishment. (n.d.). Issuance of marketing authorization for a healthcare product. Retrieved 13 November 2026. https://www.ede.gov.ae/en/w/issuance-of-marketing-authorization-for-a-healthcare-product (cited for dietary supplements and herbal products as healthcare products, halal and composition certificates, five-year validity)
8. Hegde, M., Girisa, S., BharathwajChetty, B., Vishwa, R., & Kunnumakkara, A. B. (2023). Curcumin formulations for better bioavailability: What we learned from clinical trials thus far? ACS Omega, 8(12), 10713–10746. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c07326 (cited for curcumin’s poor bioavailability and enhanced formulations)
9. Ministry of Health and Prevention, UAE. (2019, April 10). Ministry of Health and Prevention confirms that the dietary supplement extracted from red rice yeast is not licensed by MOHAP. https://mohap.gov.ae/en/w/ministry-of-health-and-prevention-confirms-that-the-dietary-supplement-extracted-from-red-rice-yeast-is-not-licensed-by-mohap (cited for the unlicensed red yeast rice supplement warning)