Precautions of Dietary Supplements

Precautions of Dietary Supplements

Dietary Supplement Legislation

The precautions of dietary supplements have been a hot topic ever since the passing of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, or DSHEA, in 1994.

Under this new legislation supplements were no longer subject to strict evaluation, opening the floodgates for unscrupulous manufacturers pushing questionable products.

What are the precautions of dietary supplements?

Since they are no longer regulated like food items and pharmaceutical drugs, health supplement makers do not have to guarantee the ingredients of their products, nor do they have to demonstrate the safety or the effectiveness of them.

Pretty scary, huh? The new dietary supplement legislation pretty much allows for anyone to put out any product they want, and they don't have to prove that it works. The only requirement is that they cannot make outrageous claims on the product's label, or they can be subject to penalties.

Following are some of the many precautions of dietary supplements that you should be aware of:

1) Even though the label lists an ingredient, this does not mean the ingredient is necessarily in the product. In a recent study, a test of 54 ginseng products found that 25% of them did not even contain ginseng!

2) If there is too much ingredient in a product, it could be dangerous to your health. Also, some ingredients to do not interact well together, and could cause adverse side effects.

3) Many dietary supplements contain harmful contaminants due to poor manufacturing and handling processes.

So as you can see, the dietary supplement legislation, although meant to be helpful to consumers, leaves them vulnerable to potentially dangerous products.

So how do you find safe dietary supplements?

Being supplement takers ourselves, we have been researching the industry for years to find a health supplement manufacturer with safe, high-quality products.

A little over a year ago we discovered Xtend-Life, a natural supplement company based in New Zealand.

What we liked about the company was that they provide a Certificate of Analysis (COA) for all of their ingredients, which guarantees their potency and safety.

They also adhere to strict GMP compliance, which are the highest manufacturing standards in the world, the same used by pharmaceutical companies.

Lastly, all of their products are scientifically formulated by a well-credentialed expert, making sure all of the ingredients are blended perfectly to ensure maximum health benefits.


As with all health supplements, please consult with your physician or other qualified medical professional before you begin supplementation.