# Talk to me about supplements
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-supplements/641657
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 20, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-supplements/641657 "2012-11-20T23:47:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Modern\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modern_Master)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-supplements/641657/1 "2012-11-20T23:47:20Z")
What are dietary supplements?
How has dietary supplement marketing changed over the years?
How does the FDA regulate dietary supplements?
What information do marketers need to include on the supplement labels?
Are supplements tested before they are marketed?
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-supplements/641657/2 "2012-11-20T23:57:43Z")
> [@Modern\_Master](#):
>
> What are dietary supplements?
Wannabe drugs that sneaked under the regulatory requirements by being “dietary supplements” under [DSHEA](http://www.quackwatch.org/02ConsumerProtection/dshea.html).
> [@](#):
>
> How has dietary supplement marketing changed over the years?
There’s a ton more of it, and advertising has gone mainstream instead of being hidden in the back of the _Police Gazette_.
> [@](#):
>
> How does the FDA regulate dietary supplements?
Very little, or Orrin Hatch would get mad.
> [@](#):
>
> What information do marketers need to include on the supplement labels?
The [Quack Miranda Warning](http://whitecoatunderground.com/quack-miranda-warning-2/) is considered _de rigueur_, but is not required by law.
> [@](#):
>
> Are supplements tested before they are marketed?
Typically not. After all, could 10,000,000,000,000 dead Chinese people be wrong?
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### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-supplements/641657/3 "2012-11-21T21:20:07Z")
> **[Herbs and Supplements: MedlinePlus](https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/herb_All.html)**
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-supplements/641657/4 "2012-11-21T22:08:50Z")
I take a wide variety of supplements which help me a great deal. For example I have a problem which isn’t really recognized as such called pyroluria which I treat with B6 and a B6 metabolite call P5P.
Also, there are a few essential minerals it is virtually impossible to get the DV (daily value) of from your diet–magnesium and zinc are good examples. This is especially true as you get to be older, as I am, and you have less of an ability to absorb nutrients from your gastrointestinal tract.
However the criticisms of the industry are also valid. It does need to be regulated more carefully as they do in Germany. Manufacturing facilities should have to comply with GMP (FDA good manufacturing practices) and all ingredients should be properly sourced and screened with GCMS.
That’s why almost everything I buy is from Solgar. I’m sorry to sound like a shill, but AFAIK, they are one of the only supplement maker to claim to do those things and more.