2 marketing tricks that make supplements seem safer than they are

Stroll down the supplement aisle and you’ll find no shortage of labels, badges and buzzwords meant to put your mind at ease.Don’t be fooled. The US supplement industry is about as close to the Wild West as you can get. The Food and Drug Administration estimates there are more than 100,000 vitamins, minerals, herbs, botanicals, amino acids and probiotics on the US market, with roughly 75% of adults taking them.More than 1,000 new dietary supplements enter the market every year — but unlike prescription drugs, federal regulators don’t review them or their labels before they’re sold.In fact, many dietary supplements can be marketed without even notifying the FDA.Manufacturers aren’t required to prove their products are safe, effective or even contain what the label claims before consumers buy them.Still, some reputable brands go beyond what the law requires, voluntarily paying independent organizations to inspect their facilities and test their products.Among the best known is NSF International, which verifies that products contain the ingredients listed on the label, are free of contaminants and are produced under good manufacturing practices.

Brands like Nutrafol, Thorne, BodyHealth, MegaFood and Timeline Nutrition all have NSF certifications, which are clearly printed on their labels.But that process is rigorous, expensive and entirely optional.Instead, some manufacturers rely on marketing tricks that make their products appear far more thoroughly vetted than they really are.Two misleading tactics show up on supplement bottles again and again, according to David Trosin, managing director of NSF’s health sciences certification program.“One of the things that drives me nuts is, they’ll say ‘FDA registered,’” Trosin told reporters during a roundtable discussion hosted by hair-growth supplement brand Nutrafol.

“What that means is, congratulations, you can go online and fill out a form.”The designation only indicates that a company has fil...