Tighten the regulation of dietary supplements

The FDA intends to strengthen control over food additives

Marina Astvatsaturyan, Echo of Moscow

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced plans to tighten the regulation of dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals and medicinal herbs. The changes will be "one of the most significant measures to modernize regulation and supervision in the field of food additives in the last quarter of a century," said the head of the department Scott Gottlieb (Scott Gottlieb). According to the FDA, three out of every four Americans regularly take dietary supplements, including one in three children, among older US citizens this figure is even higher: four out of five. "What was once an industry with an annual turnover of four billion dollars and four thousand unique products is now an industry with a turnover of more than 40 billion dollars and more than 80,000 different products available to the consumer," Gottlieb said in a statement Management. According to the head of the supervisory authority, "as the popularity of additives increases, the number of potentially dangerous products or products with unproven effectiveness entering the market also increases." The FDA 's intentions did not raise objections from Council for Responsible Nutrition (Council for Responsible Nutrition), a trade association that represents manufacturers of dietary supplements. The council "supports Dr. Gottlieb's enthusiasm for rooting out bad players who put consumers at risk by releasing products with unapproved ingredients or medicines," says Steve Mister, president and CEO of the association. "We welcome additional measures that will restore order among those who will cynically trade in the halo of responsible industry for the sake of quick profit, ignoring consumer safety and health issues," Mr. said.

Among the measures that the FDA intends to take is to notify the public as soon as possible in case of doubts about food additives that are on sale. At the same time, according to Gottlieb, the regulatory framework is quite flexible and allows not only to adequately assess the safety of the product, but also to promote innovations, continuing close cooperation with industry and involving it in a public dialogue in order to receive socially useful feedback. As a first step, on February 11, the FDA sent out 12 warning letters and conducted five online written consultations with companies that illegally sold or marketed products that did not receive official approval, but promised to get rid of Alzheimer's disease and a number of other serious ailments.

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