What are dietary supplements?
The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) defines a dietary supplement as a product that:
supplements the food you eat;
contains one or more dietary ingredient (including vitamins; minerals; herbs or other botanicals; amino acids, and other substances);
comes in pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid form; and
is labeled as a dietary supplement.
There are different types of dietary, or nutritional, supplements. Vitamin and mineral supplements are types of dietary supplements containing micronutrients meant to help a healthy body function smoothly. Herbal (or botanical) supplements are dietary supplements that have a medicinal purpose. Herbal supplements generally support a specific area of the body’s health, such as the liver, bones or skin.