The Dietary Supplement Industry Research Assignment

Dietary Supplements
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Introduction
The dietary supplements industry is one of the fastest growing in America relative to the hype that is associated with the supplements and health benefits (Stevens, 2016). Close to half or two thirds of Americans have or are still taking supplements for the various advertised benefits ranging from weight loss to detoxification among others. Ideally dietary supplements have taken on a shortcut to the health benefits of quality diets and regular exercises. Dietary supplements are regulated by the Food and Drugs Administration as well as the Federal Trade Commission under a number of regulations among them the FTC Act, FFDCA Act and the DSHEA ("Dietary Supplements", 2016). However, despite the fact that there are regulatory bodies and guiding regulations, there is an increasingly high number of uncontrolled supplements in the market, offering customers quick way out on the various health aspects of their diet. Supplements in the market are taking advantage of the current health related hype, where people are concerned about almost all areas of their health from toxins to weight issues. While the health concerns in the general population are crucial and important for the disease burden reduction in the society, the element of using the supplements and more so considering quite a number are not regulated is even riskier for the health of the society (Stevens, 2016). The unregulated supplements pose a health risk to the society with detrimental consequences.
Literature review
According to the existing literature on the subject of unregulated food supplements, there is a growing concern that there is need for better control. Most of the diet supplements in the market are regulated and present the right information to the customers in the market. This means that they offer the right information to the customers including the content and their health benefits with relative accuracy.
Survey indicates that half or two thirds of the American population have or are still using diet supplements to make up for the diet deficiencies in the foods that they take in. supplements that are currently on the rise include herbal products, diet aids, and vitamins among others. These supplements commonly take the form of pills, powders and drinks that promise the client health benefits. For most of the Americans, the supplements offer a quick fix to their health problems and thus the industry has been flooded with players that are out to swindle the clients into believing that they have products that can bring around health benefits in the shortest time possible, whereas much of this information is unsubstantiated.
According to the CDC there is an estimated 23000 persons per year that come to the emergency rooms suffering from supplements poisoning (Skerrett, 2015). This is a growing concern relative to the fact that, some of the supplements have health benefits that match what they advertise on their packaging. The existing fraudulent companies have however turned the supplement industry into a profits oriented business at the expense of the consumers. What is more alarming id that fact that, despite there being regulatory bodies and guiding regulations, there are still quite a substantive evidence of poor quality supplements, some with the risk of harming the consumers (Skerrett, 2012).
According to the analysis of the existing literature, there is an indication that a good number of the companies on the dietary supplements industry use the available loopholes to sell their products to the unsuspecting customers (O'Connor, 2015). On the contrary, there are very strict rules that regulate the drugs industry. However, the same is not the case with the dietary supplement industry, where companies are able to market their products without much proof that their products actually have the said effectiveness and safety that they put up on their marketing campaigns. Unlike the drugs industry that is required to make sure that the med...