Office of Dietary Supplements - Nutrient Recommendations and Databases (2024)

FAQs

Is the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements is a trusted resource for dietary supplement information? ›

National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports research and provides educational materials on dietary supplements. ODS provides accurate and up-to-date scientific information about dietary supplements. NCCIH also has scientific information about dietary supplement ingredients.

The Supplement Facts panel must list the serving size and number of servings per container, declare each dietary ingredient in the product, and except for dietary ingredients that are part of a proprietary blend, provide information on the amount of the dietary ingredient per serving.

Supplements are tightly regulated, similar to pharmaceuticals and over - the - counter drugs. The FDA has to prove that a supplement product is unsafe in order to remove it from the market. The FDA is expected to guarantee the identity, purity, strength, and composition of dietary supplements.

The USDA Foods Database is available for state agencies and school districts to access up-to-date, vendor-specific nutrition, allergen and ingredient information for direct delivered USDA Foods for child nutrition programs offered on the USDA Foods Available List.

Before you decide to take a supplement, you should know that the FDA does not approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness or their labeling before they are sold to the public. Dietary supplement companies are responsible for ensuring that their products are safe and accurately labeled.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations require that dietary supplement labeling include a descriptive name of the product stating that it is a "dietary supplement"; the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; a list of ingredients; and the net contents of the product.

FDA regulates both finished dietary supplement products and dietary ingredients. FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering "conventional" foods and drug products.

The fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K, are stored in the body for long periods of time and generally pose a greater risk for toxicity than water-soluble vitamins when consumed in excess. Eating a normal, well-balanced diet will not lead to toxicity in otherwise healthy individuals.

Look for evidence about how well the product works in scientific studies from credible publications. Search for such studies in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) PubMed database: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed and the National Institute of Health - Office of Dietary Supplements.

The FatSecret Platform API provides access to the largest source of verified accurate food and nutrition data globally, available in 24 languages and in excess of 56 countries. There are more than 1.9 million unique foods and products.

Is NIH a good source? ›

The National Institutes of Health website is a good place to start for reliable health information. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website is another one. As a rule, health websites sponsored by federal government agencies are accurate sources of information.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.

This collection of fact sheets and other resources from the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) and other federal government sources provides information about dietary supplements and their ingredients. These include vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals, probiotics, and more.

ODS Programs and Activities

Provides the latest scientific information on dietary supplements in fact sheets, videos, and other federal resources.