The FDA regulates and prohibits the dietary supplement industry from stating on product labels
or any related literature that could be useful to consumers who are looking to prevent or cure a
disease. Exceptions to this rule include claims that calcium is important to the prevention of
Osteoporosis and that folic acid can prevent neural tube defects. While these two supplements
are allowed to claim the prevention and treatment of disease, hundreds of others may not.
In these cases, the FDA limits the dissemination of factual scientific studies and allows
“structure-function” claims. For example, a label for magnesium may claim that it helps to
maintain a healthy circulatory system, but it is prohibited in claiming the prevention of
cardiovascular disease. The issue then becomes that consumers are not given precise, specific
information that is necessary to choose an appropriate supplement.
Research has shown that high-selenium yeast may help prevent prostate cancer, but the FDA
restrictions require that claims are limited to vague statements such as “supports prostate health.”
The lack of specifics poses a problem when a product states that it “helps maintain a healthy
cardiovascular system,” but isn’t necessarily effective for treating conditions like intermittent
claudication, hypertension, high cholesterol, congestive heart failure or cardiac arrhythmias. The
restrictions don’t allow for truthful scientific information to be disseminated, which prevents
people from learning about nutritional supplements that could be helpful. It could also cause
people to spend money on treatments that aren’t necessarily beneficial to their particular
conditions.