Should dietary supplements continue to be regulated as food?

When the U .S . Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) was formed in 1906 , no one could fathom that there would be dietary supplements , let alone such controversy over the safety and effectiveness of them . theless dietary supplements do exist , and some of them cause serious illness or are not effective whatsoever . Keeping this in mind , most supplements are not regulated by the FDA . In addition , the FDA classifies these supplements as food . Why is this ? Aren 't dietary supplements more akin to drugs than food ? In either case , why doesn 't the FDA

make rules for these supplements

In to understand these issues , the regulations of both past and present must be looked at , then case studies of health claim petitions must be evaluated , and finally it must be decided if changes in the future would help or potentially harm consumers

Dietary supplements are defined as a product taken orally that contains ingredients intended to supplement the diet . These supplements come in the form of capsules , tablets , powders and liquids . Dietary supplements are currently categorized as food , but with certain requirements that apply only to supplements . Supplements , for example , do not need to be approved by the FDA the way drugs and food additives do , unless the manufacturer of a supplement makes a claim that the supplement aids in therapy ( Overview of

The first step toward the creation of the modern Food and Drug Administration began with the Pure Food and Drug Act , which went into effect on January 1 , 1907 . When this act was passed , it was the first time that drug manufacturers were required by law to disclose the purity and dosage of their products . In addition , manufacturers were forbidden from substituting a claimed ingredient for another ingredient and were not allowed to deliberately lie about their products ( 100 Years This was a major milestone in United States history . Never before were there rules to medicines

Dietary supplements , in the form of herbs , in the United States dates back to the early European settlers and Native Americans . However supplements were not regulated by the government until 1938 with the Federal Food , Drug and Cosmetic Act . The FDA classified supplements as drugs based on the claims on the label . In 1973 , the FDA classified any supplements stronger than 150 of the recommended daily allowances (RDA as drugs . In 1976 , Congress passed the Proxmire Bill which prohibited the FDA from regulating vitamins and minerals as prescription drugs ( History of

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was passed into law in 1990 In 1994 , the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA ) was passed ( History of ) This legislation removed dietary supplements from the FDA 's responsibility despite the fact that supplements have drug characteristics , including effectiveness or ineffectiveness interactions with other drugs and sometimes dangerous side effects This allowed for unregulated supplements to be introduced to the public . The DSHEA was created as a result of the public debate over the need for consumers to have accurate and current...