Legal Advice on Dietary Supplements in Los Angeles, CA
OVERSIGHT
The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) amended Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, requiring food and dietary supplements to have nutrition labeling.
Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, defined Dietary Supplement and added specific labeling requirements for dietary supplements.
In 1997, several key regulations for statement of identity, nutrition labeling, ingredient labeling, nutrition content and health claims for dietary supplements were implemented.
Second, the 1997 Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act authorizes health claims based on an authoritative statement of a scientific body of the U.S. government with official responsibility for public health protection or research directly related to human nutrition, or the National Academy of Sciences. Such claims may be used after submission of a health claim notification to FDA.
Under the law, claims that are allowed to be used on food and dietary supplement labels fall into three categories: nutrient content claims, health claims and structure/function claims. Disease-related claims are generally not permitted for dietary supplements.