FDA to crack down on dietary supplements

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is launching a crackdown on the growing dietary supplements industry, warning that some of the products are being illegally marketed with unproven claims.

The agency sent 12 warning letters on Monday to companies selling dietary supplements with “unproven claims to prevent, treat or cure Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a number of other serious diseases and health conditions.”

{mosads}Scott Gottlieb, the FDA commissioner, said that the warning letters are just the first step in a larger effort to increase oversight of dietary supplements.

He noted that since passage of a 1994 law regulating the supplements, the industry has grown from a $4 billion industry to one worth more than $40 billion industry with over 50,000 products.

Three out of four Americans take dietary supplements on a regular basis, Gottlieb said.

“That’s why today we are announcing a new plan for policy advancements with the goal of implementing one of the most significant modernizations of dietary supplement regulation and oversight in more than 25 years,” he said.

The steps include a move to “develop new enforcement strategies” and to start a “public dialogue” around updates that could be needed to the law.

Gottlieb has stepped up FDA oversight in other areas as well during his tenure under President Trump, notably cracking down on e-cigarettes as well.