What the Federal Crackdown on Supplements Could Mean for the Industry

Some dietary enhancers could contain dangerous ingredients.

By Alain StephensNovember 20, 2015 9:19 am,

They’re in the grocery aisles, in the health food stores, and even perched on the counter at the local gas station: those little pills, powders and drinks that say they’ll help you lose weight or get a couple extra reps at the gym. The supplement industry is valued annually at somewhere between $12 billion to $37 billion. Many of supplement manufacturers claim their products are made with all natural ingredients, but those claims may be too good to be true.

This week the federal government released the results of a nationwide crackdown on producers of unsafe or mislabeled dietary supplements. In fact, the Department of Justice indicted one company in Dallas, saying the company knowingly sold pills made of dangerous and untested ingredients from China.

Marion Nestle, a professor of Food Studies and Public Health at New York University, tells the Standard what these cases may mean for the supplement industry.

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– The history of this nascent industry, which hasn’t been subject to FDA oversight until recently

– How these cases may affect the dietary supplement industry

– What consumers should look for in a supplement, according to the Centers of Disease Control