Non-Prescription Nutritional Dietary Supplements

Nutritional dietary supplements are intended for inadequate diets. According to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) of US Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act 

supplements are foods, and not drugs. Unlike pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers of supplements are not required to prove the safety or effectiveness of their products but the FDA can take action if these supplements proved to be harmful. The purity and quality of different brands of supplements are not necessarily controlled, but where supplements are consumed by the vulnerable population (i.e. infants and invalids) they are controlled for their quantity and quality. 

The European Union Food Supplements Directive requires that supplements are demonstrated to be safe both in quantity and quality. Supplements that have been proved to be safe may be sold without prescription over the counter . It also requires that supplements should not claim to be drugs but can claim to be beneficial to health. 

A random sample of a supplement containing 12 minerals (metals) was analysed using ICP-OES for their concentrations. The elements are listed in Table 7.10 along with the approximate concentration of each element in the tablet. 

Method. The average weight of a tablet was first established by weighing 10 tablets in grams to four decimal places and calculating the mean. 

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