Sorting through the tablets, gel caps, powders and liquids at the health food store can be confusing. Get the Food and Drug Administration's take on the products at An FDA Guide to Dietary Supplements.
Dietary supplements used to be thought of as products supplying essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals. But now the definition includes, with some exceptions, any product intended for ingestion as a supplement to the diet.
Dietary supplements are not drugs. The FDA does not authorize or test dietary supplements for their ability to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent diseases.
Further, dietary supplements are not replacements for conventional diets. Nutritionists say supplements do not provide all the known -- and perhaps unknown -- nutritional benefits of conventional food.
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