The Supplement Industry, Covered

More than 80% of American adults take at least one dietary supplement. The industry generates over $63 billion a year in the U.S. alone and is growing at 6% annually. Yet most consumers know almost nothing about how this industry is regulated — or how poorly.

Supplement News covers the business, science, and regulation behind the products on your shelf. We track FDA enforcement actions, DSHEA policy developments, clinical research on popular ingredients, and product recalls that rarely make mainstream headlines.

This isn't a supplement review site (for that, visit The Supplement Guide). This is journalism about the supplement industry itself — for consumers who want to understand the system behind the products.

Key Industry Terms Defined

Dietary Supplement

A dietary supplement is defined as a product intended to supplement the diet that contains one or more dietary ingredients — vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, or other substances. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, supplements are regulated as a category of food, not drugs, meaning they do not require FDA pre-market approval before being sold to consumers. The FDA classifies over 80,000 products as dietary supplements in the U.S. market (FDA Office of Dietary Supplement Programs, 2024).

Structure/Function Claim

A structure/function claim refers to a statement describing how a dietary ingredient affects the normal structure or function of the human body — for example, “supports immune health” or “promotes joint comfort.” These claims are permitted on supplement labels without FDA approval, provided the manufacturer has substantiation and includes the required disclaimer: “This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.” Structure/function claims are distinct from disease claims, which are prohibited without drug approval.

Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP)

cGMP refers to the set of FDA regulations (21 CFR Part 111) that govern the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, and storage of dietary supplements. cGMP requires manufacturers to verify the identity, purity, strength, and composition of their products. Compliance is mandatory, but FDA inspection capacity is limited — a 2023 GAO report found fewer than 3% of supplement facilities received an inspection in any given year (Government Accountability Office, GAO-23-104748).

New Dietary Ingredient (NDI)

A new dietary ingredient is defined as a dietary ingredient that was not marketed in the United States before October 15, 1994. Manufacturers must submit an NDI notification to the FDA at least 75 days before marketing a product containing the ingredient, providing evidence of reasonable expectation of safety. The NDI notification process is the closest the supplement industry comes to pre-market review, though it is far less rigorous than pharmaceutical drug approval.

Third-Party Testing Certification

Third-party testing refers to independent laboratory verification of a supplement’s identity, potency, purity, and label accuracy by organizations not affiliated with the manufacturer. The major certification programs — USP Verified, NSF International, ConsumerLab, and Informed Sport — each test for contaminants, verify that labels match contents, and confirm dissolution standards. Products carrying these certifications have dramatically lower contamination rates than uncertified supplements.