The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that about 100,000 different supplement products are sold in the US. That\u2019s an umbrella term for vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and any other mystery powder you toss into your morning smoothie.<\/p>\n
Over 75% of American adults take at least one daily supplement, according to the FDA. The domestic industry is estimated to be worth about $60 billion this year. But why?<\/p>\n
How we got here<\/p>\n
The US has been enamored of supplements for hundreds of years. The term \u201csnake oil salesman\u201d dates back to the 1800s<\/a>. But around 1990, the FDA wanted to require standardized nutritional labeling (how modern).<\/p>\n The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 was passed by Congress to hold supplements to the same scientific standards as medications, requiring proof for claims made on the labels. The dietary supplement industry revolted:<\/p>\n The industry told<\/a> people the FDA would lock up their vitamins or require prescriptions.Celebrities spoke out against the tyranny. There were marches, and citizens sent thousands of postcards to Congress.Mel Gibson even made this commercial<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed, exempting supps from most of the FDA\u2019s drug regulations. Instead, they\u2019re regulated by the FDA as food\u2014a big reason why a multitude of brands line drugstore shelves and pop up in influencer bios.<\/p>\n \u201cHoney, I made fish oil for dinner.\u201d Supplements can\u2019t claim to treat or prevent diseases, but they can include broader, unscientific claims, like being \u201cimmune boosters\u201d:<\/p>\n Fiber, fish oil, and vitamin D are beneficial<\/a> for certain groups of people suffering from deficiencies.However, most studies on supplements are observational, allowing scientists to identify correlations between vitamin intake and health outcomes, but not to establish a definitive cause-and-effect relationship.<\/p>\n Deregulation isn\u2019t a perfect science: The supplement industry has celebrated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s appointment as Health and Human Services Secretary, hoping he will clear the pathway to allow SNAP, HSA, and insurance funds to cover dietary supplements. But some industry experts have resisted<\/a> his plans to get rid of an important pathway for ingredients to enter the market.\u2014MM<\/p>\n Become smarter in just 5 minutes<\/p>\n Morning Brew delivers quick and insightful updates about the business world every day of the week from Wall St. to Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that about 100,000 different supplement products are sold in the US.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[97,269],"class_list":["post-18581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}