Can Anything Be Sold As a "Dietary Supplement?"

The FDA is investigating whether "inhalable caffeine" is safe.

Stop reading this now and just think about that for 30 seconds.

What do you draw from that?

When I used to work in R&D at a vitamin company, they would market all kinds of products under the moniker dietary supplement.

But now we are no longer talking about benign products, but rather dangerous ones.

So it begs the question, are the laws surrounding dietary supplements too soft?

This example of inhalable caffeine would seem to support that notion.

Although nutritional supplements are not allowed to make any direct health claims, they also are not regulated for what they contain (think Chinese imports).

No regulation means a prime market for charlatans and criminals.

That means, for now, it is up to consumers to do their homework.

Read labels and don't buy any suspect nutritional supplements.

For more information, visit the VITAMIN FUN HOUSE, where you can ask questions and get well-researched answers about supplements.

THE VITAMIN FUN HOUSE.