Consumers be aware
The vast majority of dietary supplements are sold legally and provide benefits to consumers who want to maintain a healthy weight, improve their athletic performance, or support healthy sexual function. But because certain unscrupulous manufacturers of these products have chosen to include undeclared illegal drugs and drug-like substances in their products, consumers may need to take extra care in their purchasing decisions.
FDA recently issued a Consumer Update on this issue in which it provided guidance to consumers of products in these categories. Among other things, FDA recommends that consumers avoid products that:
- Claim to be alternatives to FDA-approved drugs or to have effects similar to prescription drugs
- Are marketed primarily in a foreign language
- Are marketed through mass emails
FDA also offers more specific guidance as follows:
Do not use products marketed for body building that:
- Claim to contain steroids
- Claim to contain steroid-like substances
- Claim to be a legal alternative to an anabolic steroid
- Provide warnings about testing positive in performance enhancement drug tests
Do not use products marketed for sexual enhancement that:
- Claim rapid effects, such as working in minutes to hours
- Claim to have long-lasting effects such as 24 hours to 72 hours
What You Can Do
When buying products in these categories, consumers can:
- Look for brands that are members of an established dietary supplement trade association. AHPA members are listed on our website www.ahpa.org by their corporate names (note that their brands can be found on their websites)
- Avoid supplement products that make drug-like claims, make statements or claims that they work instantly, or promise miracle results. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is
- Sign up for FDA’s RSS Feed on drug-spiked products to stay informed of any new enforcement actions
- Report incidents of suspected drug-spiking to FDA by sending an email to TaintedProducts@fda.hhs.gov