Dietary supplements are said to be a 20th-century phenomenon. Since the early 1940s, federal authorities have made many attempts to regulate the contents, potency, identity, label statements, and promotion of these products. Some of these attempts succeeded, while others failed. In 1994, the first formal regulatory structure was established for supplements, a subcategory of foods consisting of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, a wide variety of botanicals, and other isolated food components (Porter 1994). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of dietary supplement regulation in the United States from what it was like in the early 1900s to where we are now.
The federal government received great power to regulate foods and drugs to protect public health when the Pure Food and Drugs Act became law in 1906. However, the Act had nothing to say about dietary supplements, because they did not yet exist. The science of nutrition was in its infancy and little was known about nutrients and their daily requirements (Porter 1994). Even the term "vitamin" had not yet been coined. Vitamins were discovered to correct deficiency diseases such as scurvy, beriberi, and rickets (Apple 1996). A dietary supplement industry was formed and grew as nutrient concentrates and synthetic vitamins became widely available in pill, powder, and liquid forms. Nutrition scientists were discovering how nutrients affected health. They soon began documenting the poor eating habits of Americans. The media then reported this new and shocking research to the public. The industry used the research to promote a growing inventory of products to all Americans. Whether the people were properly nourished or not, they were encouraged to use supplements in order to provide insurance against nutritional deficiencies, increase energy, improve health, and boost productivity (Apple 1999). .
Physicians were doubtful of the so called magical powers attributed to vitamins.
