How did the DSHEA Definition of Dietary Supplements Changes Things?
According to the DSHEA definition of a dietary supplement, the inclusion of words like “botanicals”, “concentrates” and “metabolites”, in addition to the conventional nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc.) greatly expanded the type and number of ingredients allowed to be used in dietary supplement products. For the first time this gave manufacturers the ability to use a vast array of ingredients not previously permitted. However, in general, the ingredients that can be used in dietary supplement had to be been present in the food supply on the date the Act was passed or be approved by the FDA as new dietary supplement ingredients. DSHEA includes a procedure for new dietary ingredients to be approved by the FDA for use in dietary supplements. To complicate matters, there was no reference ingredient list of approved dietary supplement ingredients created to help guide supplement manufacturers. FDA left it up to the manufacturers of dietary supplement to determine if the ingred
