We sell supplements. This page is about how to be careful with them, including ours.
How they are regulated, which is the thing most people get wrong
Dietary supplements do not need approval before they go on sale. In the United States a manufacturer does not submit a supplement to the FDA for review the way a drug maker does. The manufacturer is responsible for making sure the product is safe and that the label is accurate, and the FDA acts afterwards, if there is a problem.
That is not a scandal and it is not a loophole, it is how the category works by law. But it has three consequences worth holding onto.
"Natural" is not a safety statement. Plenty of natural compounds are active, which is the entire reason people take them, and active means capable of interacting with something else.
Nobody has checked the claims on the front of the box for you. Which is why the back of the box, the ingredient list with amounts, is the part worth reading.
The disclaimer at the bottom of every supplement page, ours included, is doing real work. "Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease" is the line that separates a supplement from a medicine, and the moment a seller writes around it they are selling you a medicine without having proved it is one.
The four situations to ask a doctor about first
You take prescription medication. This is the big one and it is specific rather than general. To take an example from our own range, Restoriix contains activated charcoal, which binds things in the gut without discriminating between them, so it needs a two-hour gap either side of anything prescribed, contraceptives included. Supplements that affect clotting are another common case: fucoidan, the compound in brown seaweed, is structurally similar to heparin, which is why our guide to it says to ask before combining it with a blood thinner.
You are pregnant or breastfeeding. Ask your doctor or midwife about the specific product, not about supplements in general. Several things that are unremarkable otherwise are not recommended here, caffeine among them.
You are giving it to a child. Doses on adult products are adult doses, and "natural" changes nothing about that.
You are about to have surgery. Anaesthetists ask about supplements for a reason. Say what you take, including the ones that feel too ordinary to mention.
Reading a label properly
Ingredients with amounts, not a blend with a total. A "proprietary blend, 500 mg" tells you almost nothing. Products that list each ingredient and its amount are telling you more about themselves, which is usually a good sign in itself.
Serving size, and how that compares to what you will take. Amounts on a panel are per serving, and a serving is often two or three capsules.
Allergens. Fish, shellfish, dairy, soy and gluten turn up in supplements routinely. Collagen is usually marine or bovine, which matters for more than one reason.
The expiry date, and the packaging. Do not buy something past date, and be wary of anything that has clearly been stored in light or damp. Both are more relevant to marketplace sellers than to a shop.
Common side effects, and which ones are not ordinary
Most reported side effects are mild and settle: digestive upset, wind, occasionally a headache in the first week. Starting at a lower amount and building up is usually enough.
What is not ordinary is a rash, swelling, difficulty breathing, or anything that gets worse rather than better with continued use. Stop and talk to a doctor rather than pushing through it.
What we can and cannot tell you
We can tell you what is in a product and how much, what the manufacturer's own directions say, and what the evidence behind an ingredient does and does not consist of. Every product page here carries the ingredient amounts, the serving size and the official fact sheet, and the dosage guide collects the directions in one place.
What we cannot do is tell you whether a supplement is right for you, because that depends on your medication, your history and things a shop has no business knowing. That is a conversation with a clinician, and it is a short one.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
More on this subject: Everyday Nutrition