Legislation and Dietary Supplement Manufacturers

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 states what manufacturers can and can not do and defines what a dietary supplement is. The purpose of this is Act is to protect the many manufacturers of dietary supplements as well as the consumers.

Congress, through the FDA, has made many findings about the use and need of some dietary supplements. They found that ingesting certain amounts of nutrients or dietary supplements could prevent many chronic diseases and could lead to an overall healthy life. If people ingest these nutrients, dietary supplements, and begin living healthy life styles, it might one day lesson the need for expensive medical procedures. There is an increasing need for the public to be educated on the benefits of nutrients, dietary supplements and how to lead a healthy lifestyles. The United States will spend over 1 trillion on health care in 1994. There is estimation that of the 600 dietary supplement manufacturers in the United States that produce approximately 4,000 products, with total annual sales of such products alone reaching at least $4,000,000,000. There is a need for the Federal Government to take action against unsafe products but there should not be unreasonable rules that will stop or slow the production of safe products and good teaching for the consumers.

A dietary supplement is defined as “a product (other than tobacco) intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any ingredient described above.”

It is up to the FDA to make sure that a dietary supplement is safe and unaltered before it can be released to the public. It must not have any alterations in any way or have an unreasonable risk of injury and/or illness to the consumer. The manufacturer of a dietary supplement may claim a benefit of the supplement to a common deficiency in the United States and the function of the structure of the dietary supplement. Statements made by the manufacturer of a dietary supplement must first have good evidence that can back up the information they are claming to be true. On the labeling of the product there must be a bold statement “This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." The manufacturer must also label clearly the vitamins and minerals that make up the supplement and the percentage of each in the supplement.

This Act is a good way to protect people from harm of ingesting unsafe dietary supplements and harm from false hope that a dietary supplement can cure a disease. Dietary supplements are meant to aid in a healthy lifestyle, not to cure deficiencies.