What Does the Future Hold for Dietary Supplements?

Last year was the 20^th anniversary of the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA), which forms the basis for how supplements are regulated in the United States. However, this year has seen an unprecedented amount of negative publicity around the safety and regulation of supplements, which has undermined consumer confidence and led to calls for a revisiting of the regulatory paradigm from the media, consumers and in the halls of Congress.

Consider also that FDA remains in a challenging situation, with no head of the Division of Dietary Supplement Programs (DDSP), and the new head of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)—which oversees DDSP—recused from oversight of supplement issues due to a conflict of interest. Or that next year is an election year, which means more attention is turning to Washington and those who are up for election may consider supplement safety a topic worth considering—positively or negatively—in their platform.

As the industry’s gathering place where science and strategy intersection, SupplySide West is expected to draw more than 14,000 industry members to this year’s event, set for Oct. 5 to 9. And the topic of the future of dietary supplements is a key one that we should all be addressing. This is the reason why this year’s Featured Panel is set up to discuss, debate and define where we are heading.

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 9 to 11 am, join the leading voices in the dietary supplement space to tackle the state of dietary supplements in the United States—from the impact of the New York Attorney General’s investigation to questions around NDIs and steroid precursors and how the landscape continues to shift. We’ve invited a top array of speakers including Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., the CEO and executive director of the Natural Products Association (NPA) and the former head of FDA’s DDSP; Karen Howard, CEO and executive director of the relatively new Organic & Natural Health Association; Loren Israelsen, president of the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA); Mark LeDoux, founder, chairman and CEO of Natural Alternatives International (NAI); Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA); Steve Mister, Esq., CEO and president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN); and industry attorney Marc Ullman, Esq.

While we’re polling this panel on the topics they hope to tackle, we’d like your input as well. What big picture topics should we address? Or do you have specific questions that you’d like answered? Feel free to connect with me directly at [email protected], and we’ll include your thoughts. And be sure to put this event on your SupplySide West schedule; it’s open to all attendees and the more the merrier.