In the United States, a dietary supplement is defined under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 as – A dietary supplement is a product taken by mouth that contains a “dietary ingredient” intended to supplement the diet.
The “dietary ingredients” in these products may include: vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, and substances such as enzymes, organ tissues, glandulars, and metabolites.
Dietary supplements can also be extracts or concentrates, and may be found in many forms such as tablets, capsules, softgels, gelcaps, liquids, or powders.
They can also be in other forms, such as a bar, but if they are, information on their label must not represent the product as a conventional food or a sole item of a meal or diet. Whatever their form may be, DSHEA places dietary supplements in a special category under the general umbrella of “foods,” not drugs, and requires that every supplement be labeled a dietary supplement.
The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 defined both of the terms “dietary ingredient” and “new dietary ingredient” as components of dietary supplements. In order for an ingredient of a dietary supplement to be a “dietary ingredient,” it must be one or any combination of the following substances:
a vitamin,
a mineral,
an herb or other botanical,
an amino acid,
a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake (e.g., enzymes or tissues from organs or glands), or
a concentrate, metabolite, constituent or extract.
A “new dietary ingredient” is one that meets the above definition for a “dietary ingredient” and was not sold in the U.S. in a dietary supplement before October 15, 1994.