special-operations-nutrition-guide

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Dietary Supplements and the Law
Well over 50% of the US population take some type of dietary supplements.
Sales of vitamins, minerals, herbs, meal supplements, sports-nutrition
supplements, and specialty supplements were in excess of $22 billion
in 2006. To understand why dietary supplement use is a concern, one
must appreciate the history. In 1994 the Dietary Supplement Health and
Education Act (DSHEA) was passed by Congress for several reasons:
• Limit impediments to marketing and promoting dietary supplements.
• Provide for wide availability of supplements to consumers.
• Enhance information available to consumers.
The passing of DSHEA gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
regulatory control over dietary supplements, and the law required that the
label of a dietary supplement provide the name and quantity of each ingredient.
However, it is incumbent upon the manufacturer to provide the information
and the innocent consumer assumes that information on labels is
truthful and not misleading. This is, more than often, not the case. ConsumerLab.com,
a product-certification company, conducted a survey of nearly
1,000 supplements and found that one in four had quality problems.
The FDA also regulates whether new ingredients can enter the marketplace
or existing ones should be removed for safety reasons. However, federal
rules requiring makers of dietary supplements to test all their ingredients
were not part of DSHEA. The FDA also regulates what claims may (or
may not) be made, but they do not monitor claims. The regulations within
DSHEA contain many gaps. Some of the concerns include:
• The responsibility of ensuring that products are properly labeled lies
with the manufacturer.
• Supplement ingredients sold in the United States before October 15,
1994 are presumed to be safe and are therefore not subject to review
by the FDA for safety.
• The responsibility of providing evidence of safety lies with the manufacturer.
Purity is a concern:
Supplements may be
contaminated with
heavy metals and even
prescription medications.
• The FDA has to prove that a product is not safe if it is already on the market.
• Government resources to check dietary supplement quality are limited.
In June, 2007, FDA imposed new regulations, which had been mandated
by DSHEA. The FDA established regulations that dietary supplements
must be produced in a quality manner, do not contain contaminants
or impurities, and are accurately labeled. Supplement manufacturers will
now be required to test all of the ingredients in their products to make sure
they are neither adulterated nor contaminated.
Click for more information on this new ruling.