List of interchangeable terms for natural health products and non-prescription drugs

Last updated: August 2026

Overview

Table 1 below contains a list of interchangeable terms for labelling that may be updated from time to time. Despite terms indicated in a market authorization, this list of interchangeable terms affords flexibility to the terms you may utilize in your on-pack labelling.

Although these interchangeable terms may also apply for advertising, specific advertising policies and guidance documents are also applicable, including the Guidelines for Consumer Advertising of Health Products for Nonprescription Drugs, Natural Health Products, Vaccines and Medical Devices.

Scope

These terms may be used interchangeably (A, B, C, D, E of each row, when applicable) in the labelling of Natural Health Products (NHPs) and Non-Prescription Drugs (NPDs), affording flexibility, provided that such use does not alter the meaning of the product’s terms of market authorization issued by Health Canada under the Natural Health Products Regulations or Food and Drug Regulations, respectively. As such, regardless of whether identified as interchangeable in the table below, the context in which the terms are used is always to be considered to determine whether such terms are indeed conveying the same meaning and therefore appropriate for product labelling. Indeed, as per section 9 of the Food and Drugs Act, no person shall label, package, treat, process, sell or advertise any drug in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its character, value, quantity, composition, merit or safety.

For NHPs and NPDs covered by List D,

• The terms listed in the table below are examples; other terms may be used as long as they meet the requirements described in this document.
• Interchangeable terms may also be used in the ‘uses/indications’ (that is, claims).

For other NPDs,

• Table 1 represents an exhaustive list. No other changes are permitted.
• Interchangeable terms do not apply to the claims for which the exact wording as expressed in your terms of market authorization must be used.

In addition, the title, headings, and subheadings of the Canadian Drug Facts Table for NPDs or the Product Facts Table for NHPs cannot be changed beyond adjusting the interchangeable terms “ask/consult”, “health care practitioner/health care provider/health care professional/doctor/physician/dentist/pharmacist/paediatrician”. For NPDs, the terms ‘active/medicinal ingredient(s) and/or ‘inactive/non-medicinal ingredient(s)’ may also be used interchangeably.

In general, no notification or post-licence change is required for most NHPs when interchangeable terms are used, since only the label text is required, which includes labels generated by the web-based Product Licence Application form. However, for any products where mock-up labels and/or leaflets are reviewed and approved prior to licensing, such as NPDs and some NHPs (for example: Nicotine replacement therapy products), any changes should be included in the next filing.

Table 1 should also be used in conjunction with the Guidance document: Labelling of Natural Health Products and the Labelling Requirements for Non-prescription Drugs Guidance Document.

Information in bracket is optional. In some instances an example was included in bracket to clarify the context.

Table 1. Interchangeable terms

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Abdominal	Stomach	Belly	Gut
2	Active ingredient	Medicinal ingredient
3	Administer	Give	Provide	Deliver
4	Aggravate	Make worse	Worsen	Get worse
5	Allergy	Allergic reaction
6	Application of (this product)	Applying (this product)	Apply (this product)
7	Apply	Use	Put on	Spread
8	Are uncertain	Do not know	Are unsure
9	Ask	Consult	Talk	Contact	Advise
10	Assistance	Help	Aid	Support
11	Associated with	Due to	Caused by
12	Avoid	Keep away
13	AvoidFootnote 1 contact with eyes	Do not get into eyes	Do not apply near the eyes	Do not apply close to the eyes	Keep out of eyes
14	AvoidFootnote 1 inhaling	Do not inhale	Do not breathe in
15	Before a doctor is consulted	Without first consulting a doctor	Consult your doctor before
16	Before use	Prior to use
17	Catarrh	Build-up of mucus in the airways	Build-up of mucus in the nose, (sinuses) and throat
18	Clean	Cleanse
19	Continue	Persist	Be persistent	Do not go away	Last
20	Daily	Every day	Per day	Each day	A day
21	Develop	Begin	Occur	Start	Commence
22	Difficulty (e.g., in urination)	Trouble (e.g., urinating)
23	Discard	Throw away	Dispose of
24	Discontinue	Stop	Quit
25	DoctorFootnote 2	Physician	Health care practitioner	Health care provider	Health care professional
26	DrowsinessFootnote 3 (may) occur(s)	You (may) get drowsy	You (may) feel drowsy	You (may) experience drowsiness	The drowsiness effect
27	Due to	Caused by
28	Dyspepsia	Indigestion
29	Enlargement of the (e.g., prostate)	An enlarged (e.g., prostate)	Increase in size of (e.g., the prostate)
30	Especially in (e.g., children)	Especially (e.g., children)	Especially for (e.g., children)	Particularly in (e.g., children)
31	Exceed	Use more than	Go beyond	Above
32	Exceed (recommended) dosage	Use more than directed	Exceed dose
33	Excessive	Too much
34	Experience/Encounter	Feel	Have	Face	Develop
35	Fight (e.g., an infection)	Control (e.g., an infection)	Manage (e.g., an infection)
36	For (the) (temporary) reduction of	(Temporarily) reduces
37	Fortify	Strengthen	Rebuild
38	Frequently	Often
39	Generate	Build	Develop
40	Get medical help or contact a poison control center right away	Call a poison control center or get medical help right away
41	Give to	Use in
42	Helps (to/with/in case of)	Contribute to	Aids (in/with)
43	Hepatoprotectant	Liver protectant
44	Hypercholesterolemia	High (blood) cholesterol levels	Elevated (blood) cholesterol levels
45	Hyperlipidemia	High blood lipid levels	Elevated blood lipid levels
46	Hypertension	High blood pressure	Elevated blood pressure
47	Hypertriglyceridemia	High (blood) triglyceride levels	Elevated (blood) triglyceride levels
48	Hypotension	Low blood pressure
49	Immediately	Right away	Directly	As soon as	At once
50	Immediately following	Right after	Directly after
51	Improve	Get better	Make better	Enhance
52	In personsFootnote 4 who	If you/If the person	In individuals4 who
53	Inactive ingredient	Non-medicinal ingredient
54	Increase/elevate your risk	Increase/elevate your likelihood	Increase/elevate your chance	Cause
55	Increased	More
56	Inhalation	Puff
57	Instill (e.g., in the eye)	Put	Place (e.g., drop)
58	Intended use	Benefit	Function
59	Is (are) accompanied by	You also have	(That) occur(s) with
60	Lasting	Long-lasting	Persisting	Continuing
61	Lead to	Promote	Enhance	Increase	Raise
62	Longer	Take more time
63	LungFootnote 5	Pulmonary
64	Medication	Drug	Medicine
65	Minimize	Inhibit	Hinder	Interfere	Restrain
66	Not to exceed	Not exceeding	Not more than	Do not exceed
67	Obtain	Get	Ask	Request
68	Passages	Passageways	Tubes
69Footnote 6	Strengthen (e.g., enamel/tooth)	Fortify (e.g., enamel/tooth)	Reinforce (e.g., enamel/ tooth)
70	Perforation of	Hole in
71	Persistent	That does not go away	That continues/stays	That lasts
72	Presently	Now	Currently	At this time
73	Prevent	BlockFootnote 7	Neutralize	Protect
74	Produce	Cause	Lead to	Result in
75	Prompt(ly)	Quick(ly)	Rapid(ly)	Right away	Fast
76	Reduce	Minimize	Decrease	Lessen
77	Referred to as	Of	(Also) known as	Called
78	Relieve	Alleviate	Soothe
79	(If contact occurs,) Rince with water to remove	(If contact occurs,) Rinse thoroughly with water
80	Sensation	Feeling
81	Solution	Liquid
82	Source of	Provides
83	Specifically	Definitely	Precisely	Certainly
84	Sputum	Mucus secretion
85	Support	Maintain
86	Take	Use	Ingest	Swallow
87	Tend to recur	Reoccur	Return	Come back
88	To avoidFootnote 8 contamination	Avoid contamination	Do not contaminate
89	Unless directed/advised by a doctorFootnote 9	Except under the advice of a doctor	Unless told to do so by a doctor
90	Use caution	Be careful
91	Usually	Generally	Typically	Commonly
92	When practical	When possible
93	You (your)	The child (the child’s)
94	You also have	Occurs with
95	Restore	Repair	Rebuild
Additional Notes : As a standard, other tenses of a verb, even not captured in the table, including the continuous form could be regarded as a synonym when the meaning of the sentence is not altered (for example: ask and asking); In addition, the duration of use on monographs for NHPs may be represented in days, weeks or months; therefore, any equivalent representation may be used in the labelling or advertising of a product. Footnote 1 The term “avoid” could be replaced with a more stringent term such as “do not”; however, “do not” cannot be revised to “avoid”. Return to footnote 1 referrer Footnote 2 The term “dentist”, “pharmacist” or “p(a)ediatrician” could also be used depending on the product and the targeted subpopulation Return to footnote 2 referrer Footnote 3 The term “drowsiness” can be replaced with other symptoms or adverse reactions not captured in the table. Return to footnote 3 referrer Footnote 4 The term “person” or “individual” could be replaced with specific subpopulation as recommended for the product (for example: child). Return to footnote 4 referrer Footnote 5 The use of a noun versus an adjective for an organ is permitted. This would apply to other organs. Return to footnote 5 referrer Footnote 6 The terms in row 69 are interchangeable specifically in the context of oral/dental health. Return to footnote 6 referrer Footnote 7 Not appropriate for use on sunscreen labels, as indicated in the primary and secondary sunscreen monographs. Return to footnote 7 referrer Footnote 8 The term “avoid” could be replaced with a more stringent term such as “do not”; however, “do not” cannot be revised to “avoid”. Return to footnote 8 referrer Footnote 9 The terms in row 25 can be used to replace “doctor”. Return to footnote 9 referrer