The dietary supplement industry is a dynamic one. Scientific research on the associations between supplements and health is accumulating rapidly. The number of products - and the variety of uses for which they are promoted - have increased significantly in the last few years.

The role of the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces laws outlawing "unfair or deceptive acts or practices," is to ensure that consumers get accurate information about dietary supplements so that they can make informed decisions about these products

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) work together under a long-standing liaison agreement governing the division of responsibilities between the two agencies. As applied to dietary supplements, the FDA has primary responsibility for claims on product labeling, including packaging, inserts, and other promotional materials distributed at the point of sale.

The FTC has primary responsibility for claims in advertising, including print and broadcast ads, infomercials, catalogs, and similar direct marketing materials. Marketing on the Internet is subject to regulation in the same fashion as promotions through any other media. Because of their shared jurisdiction, the two agencies work closely to ensure that their enforcement efforts are consistent to the fullest extent feasible.

The FTC's approach to supplement advertising is best illustrated by its Enforcement Policy Statement on Food Advertising (Food Policy Statement). Although the Food Policy Statement does not specifically refer to supplements, the principles underlying the FTC's regulation of health claims in food advertising are relevant to the agency's approach to health claims in supplement advertising. In general, the FTC gives great deference to an FDA determination of whether there is adequate support for a health claim.

Furthermore, the FTC and the FDA will generally arrive at the same conclusion when evaluating unqualified health claims. As the Food Policy Statement notes, however, there may be certain limited instances when a carefully qualified health claim in advertising may be permissible under FTC law, in circumstances where it has not been authorized for labeling.

However, supplement marketers are cautioned that the FTC will require both strong scientific support and careful presentation for such claims.

Supplement marketers should ensure that anyone involved in promoting products is familiar with basic FTC advertising principles. The FTC has taken action not just against supplement manufacturers, but also, in appropriate circumstances, against ad agencies, distributors, retailers, catalog companies, infomercial producers and others involved in deceptive promotions. Therefore, all parties who participate directly or indirectly in the marketing of dietary supplements have an obligation to make sure that claims are presented truthfully and to check the adequacy of the support behind those claims.

Download Dietary Supplements: An Advertising Guide For Industry

PDF format, 265KB, 32Pages, provided by FTC.

CONCLUSION

Marketers of dietary supplements should be familiar with the requirements under both DSHEA and the FTC Act that labeling and advertising claims be truthful, not misleading and substantiated. The FTC approach generally requires that claims be backed by sound, scientific evidence, but also provides flexibility in the precise amount and type of support necessary. This flexibility allows advertisers to provide truthful information to consumers about the benefits of supplement products, and at the same time, preserves consumer confidence by curbing unsubstantiated, false, and misleading claims.

To ensure compliance with FTC law, supplement advertisers should follow two important steps:
1) careful drafting of advertising claims with particular attention to how claims are qualified and what express and implied messages are actually conveyed to consumers; and 2) careful review of the support for a claim to make sure it is scientifically sound, adequate in the context of the surrounding body of evidence, and relevant to the specific product and claim advertised.

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