Vitamins, Minerals & Dietary ‘Nutritional’ Supplement Products
Among the supplements used for non-body building purposes, weight loss stands as the most important reason to consume these supplements. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) defines a dietary supplement as ‘a product (other than tobacco) that is intended to supplement the diet, and that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, a herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract or combinations of these ingredients.
Health supplements, being ‘herbal’ in nature, are categorized as food products where pre-marketing approval is not as stringent as allopathic medications; are widely available in the market, and can be purchased without any preion, weight loss stands as the most important reason to consume these supplements. The constant rise in obesity rates in the United States and some European countries has triggered the weight loss dietary supplement industry to boom as a billion-dollar industry. End-users of these supplements view them as an alternative method, and deem them to be safe for consumption dietary supplements can play an important role in health promotion and the prevention of chronic disease.