Popular health supplements and vitamins could disappear from UK shelves under the government's Brexit reset deal with the EU, the Mail on Sunday reports.

Under the draft sanitary and phytosanitary agreement due to be signed at the UK-EU summit on 20 November, Britain would have to follow Brussels rules on vitamin strengths and packaging. A proposed EU scheme would slash the maximum permitted levels for vitamins in supplements, and under a German suggestion vitamin D products on sale in the UK could end up 80 per cent weaker than they are today.

The EU recently withdrew a consultation on the new limits but has indicated it still intends to press ahead with the idea. Health Minister Dame Diana Johnson said earlier this year that if EU food supplement rules are updated to include maximum levels for vitamins and minerals, the rules in Great Britain will be updated too.

Trade bodies have raised the alarm. The UK Health Supplements Alliance has warned about the impact on post-menopausal women who rely on vitamin D to protect their bone health, and on pregnant women who need folic acid to help prevent neural tube defects. Martin Last, director general of the Health Food Manufacturers' Association, said popular products could be removed from shelves, not for any safety reason, but because of changes to labelling requirements.

The UK health supplements market is worth £568 million. At present there are no harmonised EU-wide maximum levels for vitamins in supplements, with the European Commission and food safety experts still working on the technical detail, according to a regulatory overview of UK and EU supplement rules. Campaigners say the reset deal could therefore import limits that have not yet been agreed, let alone tested.