FDA Holds Meeting on Expanding Dietary Supplement Ingredient Categories
The FDA convened a public meeting to discuss potentially broadening criteria for dietary supplement ingredients to include peptides and other substances.
The Food and Drug Administration held a public meeting Friday to discuss its longstanding criteria for dietary supplements and whether they could be broadened to include substances that don't come from traditional food sources, vitamins, herbs or other conventional ingredients.
The meeting was requested by the Natural Products Association, an industry group that has clashed with the FDA over certain new supplement ingredients. In a January letter, the group cited "the cost and uncertainty that arise when regulatory expectations are unclear" as reasons for seeking the discussion.
Under current FDA regulations, supplements are classified as a category of food, with most ingredients required to come from plants, herbs and other substances found in the American diet. This requirement has created challenges for the industry as newer wellness products often feature substances that have never been used in food, including peptides and certain types of probiotics.
Peptides are druglike chains of amino acids that have been promoted by celebrities and influencers as ways to build muscle and appear younger, though scientific support for their use is limited. Many specialty pharmacies and clinics sell them as injections or IV infusions, while some supplement makers have begun adding them to capsules, gummies and powders. According to FDA lawyers, these products technically violate current FDA rules.
The meeting represents the first such discussion since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became health secretary. Kennedy has previously stated his support for peptides and vowed to "end the war at FDA" on dietary supplements and similar products popular within his Make America Healthy Again movement.
Currently, the FDA does not review dietary supplements the way it approves drugs and other medical products. Manufacturers are legally responsible for ensuring their products are safe and truthfully advertised. With an estimated 100,000 or more supplements on the market, the agency does not maintain a comprehensive list of all products in circulation.