dietary supplement

dietary supplement, any vitamin, mineral, herbal product, or other ingestible preparation that is added to the diet to benefit health.

Dietary supplements are used worldwide and represent a broad category of ingestible products that are distinguishable from conventional foods and drugs. In the United States, dietary supplements are defined as products (other than tobacco) intended to supplement the diet that contain at least one of the following ingredients: vitamin, mineral, herb or botanical (including extracts of herbs or botanicals), amino acid, metabolite, or any combination thereof. In short, products such as multivitamins, garlic tablets, fish oil capsules, probiotics, natural weight-loss aids, and certain types of energy drinks are examples of dietary supplements.

In the United States, dietary supplements must be labeled as such and must be intended for oral administration only, whether as tablets, capsules, powders, or liquids. In addition, dietary supplements must not include chemical compounds that have been approved as drugs or licensed as biologics, unless the compound was previously marketed as a dietary supplement or a food. Supplements are often sold alongside conventional over-the-counter medications in retail outlets. While dietary supplements are not intended to treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease, many consumers often view them as substitutes for conventional medications.

More than 50 percent of the U.S. population uses some type of dietary supplement on a regular basis. Surveys of supplement usage in other countries indicate that between 40 and 60 percent of Asian respondents use dietary supplements, and about 30 percent of consumers in Europe and Latin America report regular use of these products.

Regulation and classification of dietary supplements

Regulation of dietary supplements varies widely by country. In the United States, supplement regulation was outlined in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. As a result of DSHEA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has regulated dietary supplements as foods, not as drugs; however, they are regulated differently from conventional foods. Even though supplement ingredients may exhibit either health benefits or occasional undesirable side effects, they—unlike drugs—are not evaluated for safety or efficacy prior to their release onto the market. Once a dietary supplement has been marketed, it is the FDA’s responsibility to prove that the product is not safe in order to restrict its use or remove it from the market. The FDA relied on a MedWatch program, through which health care providers reported adverse events that occurred with supplements. Consumers, on the other hand, were expected to report suspected supplement-related adverse events directly to the FDA. In other countries, however, certain dietary supplements, especially botanical formulations, and drugs were regulated similarly, and only those supplements that had been proved safe were sold without a prescription.

Classification of a product as a dietary supplement depends on its intended use, details about which can sometimes be derived from information on the product label. Labels on dietary supplements also serve as a mechanism by which manufacturers can make claims about their products. Such claims generally fall into one of three categories: health-related, nutrient content-related, or structure/function-related. Claims related to health typically focus on assertions about the ability of particular ingredients in supplements to lower the risk for certain diseases or conditions. Claims associated with nutrient content generally are concerned with relative amounts of nutrients or other ingredients. Structure/function claims describe the effects of products on the body; however, manufacturers are not permitted to make assertions about their products’ effects on specific diseases. For example, a structure/function claim for calcium supplements may say that they are “for maintenance of bone health,” but it may not say that they are “intended to cure osteoporosis.” Supplement labels with structure/function claims are required to include the disclaimer “This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

In other countries, the definition of a dietary supplement may or may not be as inclusive as that adopted in the United States. In Australia and Canada, supplements and drugs are regulated similarly, and only ingredients deemed acceptable by the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia or the Natural Health Products Directorate of Canada can be sold as dietary supplements. In the European Union, supplement regulation often follows a case-by-case basis, depending upon the individual country and the available safety evidence for the ingredient. In China and Japan, botanicals have a long history of use as traditional medicines. Despite this, in China in particular, regulations regarding supplements are relatively stringent.

Efficacy, safety, and quality of dietary supplements

Whether dietary supplements provide measurable health benefits has long been a topic of scientific debate. As a result, the general public often receives mixed signals from the supplement industry and the scientific community regarding the effectiveness of dietary supplements. A significant body of scientific evidence clearly supports the role of vitamins and minerals in maintaining good health, yet studies have called into question the safety and efficacy of the prolonged use of certain vitamins, particularly vitamin E. Vitamin D, on the other hand, has gained popularity as a “miracle vitamin” that may play a role in preventing a variety of chronic diseases. Substantiation of health claims for most botanical dietary supplements, however, remains less convincing.

Inconsistency in dietary supplement efficacy can often be traced to variability in product quality. Many dietary supplements may not contain the exact amount of specific ingredients that are claimed on the label. On rare occasions, dietary supplements may be adulterated with prescription medications or contaminated with heavy metals or pathogenic microbes. Surveys have indicated that at least 15 percent of nutritional sports supplements may be adulterated with synthetic drug products. In such instances, the safety of dietary supplements is compromised. The implementation of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) for the dietary supplement industry in the United States was expected to help resolve some of these issues.

Another concern has involved interactions between conventional medications and dietary supplements. Although uncommon, some botanical dietary supplements (e.g., Saint-John’s-wort) can render conventional medications less effective, and other supplements may increase the toxicity of certain drugs.