An educational briefing held by the Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus (DSC) in cooperation with leading dietary supplement trade associations provided useful tips to Capitol Hill staffers on reading and understanding supplement labels and regulations.

The DSC partnered with the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the Natural Products Association (NPA), and the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) in presenting the briefing.

Hill staffers in attendance learned details about what information must appear on a dietary supplement label and what each item means, including: the statement of identity; net quantity of contents; supplement facts with nutrition information for each ingredient; manufacturer or distributor information; complete listing of ingredient; and safety information, according tot the associations.

Jamie McManus, MD, author and chair of Shaklee Corporation Medical Affairs, Health Sciences, explained that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), which amended the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), created the current framework and regulations for the dietary supplement industry and gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ample authority to regulate these products.

“The regulatory language of DSHEA also acknowledges that dietary supplements are safe within a broad range of intakes, and that safety problems with supplements are relatively rare,” McManus said, adding that DSHEA was meant to protect consumer access to safe dietary supplements to promote wellness, while establishing a rational federal framework to supersede ad hoc, patchwork regulatory policy that was in place at the time.

For more information, visit www.crnusa.org.