Defining the Public Health Threat of Dietary Supplement Fraud

TLDR

Dietary supplement fraud, which introduces harmful adulterants into widely consumed products, has emerged as a growing public health threat recognized by regulators, with increasing consumption amplifying both positive and negative impacts and criminological frameworks highlighting the opportunities and challenges of preventing such economically motivated adulteration. The study seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the public health threat posed by dietary supplement fraud. It proposes shifting from current intervention and response‑based strategies to prevention‑focused approaches.

Abstract

Abstract Adverse health events resulting from dietary supplement fraud (DSF)—fraud conducted for economic gain using dietary supplements—have received increased recognition from agencies and industry. There is a growing awareness that this issue represents a significant public health threat. With increasing consumption of supplements, there are increasing consequences—good and bad—for food science and food safety. “Dietary supplements” are a special category of food that consists of finished products (for example, a vitamin D tablet) that contain 1 or more dietary ingredients. “Dietary ingredients” are the components of those finished products (for example, vitamin D added to a food product such as breakfast cereal). Due to a number of factors, potentially harmful dietary supplements reach—and often remain—in the market. DSF is a type of product fraud, as is food fraud, which is often classified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as Economically Motivated Adulteration (EMA). Since the adulterants are unconventional, DSF may represent an even greater public health threat than traditional dietary supplement safety issues (though it is important to note that adulteration is only one type of fraud). Criminology concepts such as situational crime prevention and the crime triangle deepen understanding of the relationship of fraud opportunity as it relates to fraudsters and established hurdles to fraud. The purpose of this research is to provide a comprehensive overview on the public health threat of DSF, and to focus on altering current intervention and response‐based approaches that are prevention‐based.