U.S. Office of Dietary Supplements Makes a Plan

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Did you know that there is a U.S. Office for Dietary Supplements? Probably not, since we hear all the time that there is no regulation on the industry. Anyway, the agency is 15 years old and they just released their five-year mission statement.

The highlights are four specific goals that they plan to achieve by 2014. Those goal are to:

• Lead the movement for research that analyzes and evaluates the role of dietary supplements in promoting health and reducing the risk of disease
• Expand the general scientific knowledge base on dietary supplements by funding new research and training
• Support research tool development for the study of dietary supplements
• Make the most up-to-date scientific knowledge about dietary supplements publicly available

In addition, the work the Office for Dietary Supplements (ODS) does to determine the efficacy and safety of individual dietary supplements and nutrients may lead to new recommendations regarding dietary reference intakes (DRIs).

The ODS will also partner with NIH to expand research to investigate:

• Cognitive and behavioral factors underlying the use of dietary supplements
• Safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of dietary supplements, including bioavailability and drug interactions
• Probiotic and prebiotic uses and benefits
• Detection of contaminants
• Accurate identification of botanical ingredients
• Development of a web-based database of all dietary supplement labels in the U.S.
• Development of fact sheets on dietary supplement ingredients
• Increasing information to health care providers

Currently the German government does all of these things — and has been for awhile. If the Office for Dietary Supplements can accomplish all that they are setting out to do, then by 2014, we all should have a better understanding of our favorite supplements.

Tags: policy, supplements