Resveratrol Supplements – a Food or Drug?

Dietary supplements are taken to improve health by adding nutrients, vitamins, essential minerals and acids that are missing from our diets. Given our current lifestyles, that include eating fast foods and prepared foods, many people do not receive an adequate supply of nutrients to maintain optimum health.

Supplements fill this gap, and while some countries classify them as drugs, others classify them as food. Resveratrol supplements are typically categorized as food, as they contain many additional vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, and botanical and amino acids. They are available in many forms, such as pill, capsule, tablet, liquid or powder. Resveratrol is intended to supplement a regular diet and is not intended to replace food.

Although many people believe that dietary supplements and herbs are regulated to ensure their safety and effectiveness, this is not the case. The Food and Drug Administration had regulated all dietary supplements as foods to ensure the products were safe and their labeling was truthful. This changed in 1994, when the Dietary Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed by United States Congress, which limits the ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate food supplements.

The FDA regulates pharmaceutical companies by requiring them to prove the value of their products to consumers. However, they could only act against manufacturers of supplements after they had been proven to cause harm.

With the passing of the DSHEA, which only resulted after intense lobbying by manufacturers of nutritional supplements, these products are now regulated by law. Investigators learned that Americans wanted approval by the FDA prior to marketing the products, more supervision over harmful products, and increased control over the honesty of claims on product labels.

In order to continue to categorize the product as a dietary supplement, the labeling must now conform to the standards outlined by the DSHEA. This labeling includes the product label and any promotional materials used to market the supplement.

Resveratrol products have been proven to be safe and without toxic effects in quantity and quality. Thus, it can be sold without a prescription. Nutritional supplements have been used effectively to prevent chronic illnesses and increase the quantity of specific nutrients that are lacking in a regular diet.