Dietary supplements (also known as nutritional supplements, or supplements for short) can play an important role in your health by complementing your regular diet and helping ensure that you’re getting all of the nutrients your body needs.
And far too many people are not getting all of the nutrients they need from their regular diet alone.
Dietary supplements were clarified by Congress in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994.
A dietary supplement needs to meet all of the following conditions:
- It is intended to supplement the diet
- It contains one or more of the following: vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanical, amino acids
- also it is intended to be taken in tablet, capsule, powder, soft-gel, gelcap, or liquid form
- It is not represented for use as a conventional food or as a sole item of a meal or the diet
- It is labeled as a dietary supplement
Dietary supplements are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as foods, but they are regulated differently from conventional foods (and from drugs).
Dietary supplement ingredients sold in the United States before October 15, 1994, are not required to be reviewed by the FDA for their safety before they are made available to consumers because they are presumed to be safe based on their history of use.
The FDA has to prove that a dietary supplement product is unsafe in order to restrict its use or remove it from the marketplace.
What is anew dietary ingredient?
A “new dietary ingredient” is an ingredient that was not sold in a dietary supplement prior to October 15, 1994.
Dietary supplement manufacturers must notify the FDA of their intent to market a dietary supplement product containing a new dietary ingredient and provide information on how they determined that reasonable evidence exists that the product will be safe to use.
The FDA can refuse to allow a new dietary ingredient into the marketplace for safety reasons.
The main thing should be the label of a dietary supplement product is necessary to be truthful and not misleading.
If the label does not meet this requirement, the FDA may remove the product from the marketplace or take other appropriate actions.
In June 2007, the FDA issued regulations that established new good manufacturing practices (GMPs) for dietary supplements.
These new GMPs are intended to ensure that dietary supplements are processed in a consistent manner and meet quality standards.
For more information please watch this video;
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