2.  The goal of the Office of Dietary Supplements
or ODS is to strengthen knowledge and
understanding of nutritional supplements.

3.  The National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is the
Federal Government’s lead agency for
scientific research on the diverse medical and
health care systems, practices, and products
that are not generally considered part of
conventional medicine.

4. Dietary supplements:
do they help or hurt?
Harv Womens Health Watch] 2013
Jan; Vol. 20 (5), pp. 1, 7.
“Often the enthusiasm for these
vitamins and supplements
outpaces the evidence. And when
the rigorous evidence is available
from randomized controlled trials,
often the results are at odds with
the findings of the obser-vational
studies,”

5.  FDA regulates dietary supplements under a
different set of regulations than those covering
"conventional" foods and drug products. Under
the Dietary Supplement Health and Education
Act of 1994 (DSHEA):
 The manufacturer of a dietary supplement or
dietary ingredient is responsible for ensuring
that the product is safe before it is marketed.
 FDA is responsible for taking action against
any unsafe dietary supplement product after it
reaches the market.

6.  National Institutes of Health (ODS/NIH) and
other federal agencies has developed a Dietary
Supplement Ingredient Database (DSID) to
evaluate levels of ingredients in dietary
supplement products.

7. WebMD - Vitamins and Supplements Lifestyle
Guide
FDA- Dietary Supplements: What You Need to
Know
Federal Trade Commission – Dietary
Supplements

8.  Dietary supplements don't undergo FDA review for safety and
effectiveness before they're sold.
 See Health Fraud Scams5 for general information on fraudulent
dietary supplements.
 See the FDA's Tainted Supplements page6 for a list of some of the
potentially hazardous dietary supplements marketed to
consumers.
 Ask your health-care provider for help in distinguishing between
reliable and questionable information

9.  Dietary supplements also may be appropriate if you:
 Don't eat well or consume less than 1,600 calories a day
 Are a vegan or a vegetarian who eats a limited variety
of foods
 Are a woman who experiences heavy bleeding during
your menstrual period
 Have a medical condition that affects how your body
absorbs or uses nutrients, such as chronic diarrhea,
food allergies, food intolerance or a disease of the liver,
gallbladder, intestines or pancreas
 Have had surgery on your digestive tract and are not
able to digest and absorb nutrients properly

10.  Dietary supplements: do they help or hurt? What you need to know before
taking a vitamin or mineral supplement. (2013). Harvard Women's Health
Watch, 20(5), 1.
 U.S Food and Drug Administration. (2013). U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov
 U.S, Department of Health & Human Services. (2013). National Institute of
Health. Retrieved from http://search.usa.gov
 National Institute of Health. (2013). Office of Dietary Supplements. Retrieved
from http://htpp://ods.od.nih.gov
 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2013). National Center for
Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov
 WebMD. (2013). WebMD. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com
 Federal Trade Commission. (2013). Federal Trade
Commission. Retrieved from http://www.consumer.ftc.gov
 Mayo Clinic. (2013). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from
http://www.mayoclinic.com