I just went through this when picking up a package at the customs office sent by a friend who is temporarily (for 9 months) moving to Germany. The package was addressed to me. Vitamins and some other medication (band aids with antiseptics, aloe vera products) were confiscated.

What I was told by the customs agents is the following:

1. Vitamins: everything above 250% Recommended Daily Average is not allowed to be brought into the EU by mail. You can bring it with you in small quantities in your hand luggage if it is for your personal use, not as a gift. So don't mail vitamin pills with 1000mg Vitamin C.

2. Medication that is not for your personal use cannot be imported per EU regulations. Bringing small quantities for your own personal use in your luggage is ok, although you might have to show a doctor's prescription. Mailing these things to somebody else means that it is not for you, i.e., forbidden (lesson: sending it to "Your Name c/o Other Name" might work, but I'd still not recommend it).

3. Aloe Vera products are severely restricted, only above grounds parts are allowed. Because Aloe is a protected plant and you will have to be able to prove that your product was produced only using commercially grown Aloe; see EU regulation 709/2010. By the way, the same also applies to the US (http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/cl..._prod_inus.xml) as this regulation is based on international agreements, namely the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Important in all of this is that the regulations for things considered for your own personal use are far less strict than for things that you might give to others (irrespective of whether you want to sell these things or you just want to give them away as presents, the reason here is consumer protection, i.e., the protection of others).