What exactly is a dietary supplement? There are many loose definitions of the phrase going around and we’re here to set it straight once in for all. We offer you the accurate definition of a dietary supplement, straight from the FDA.

Originally, dietary supplements commonly referred to products that have one or more of the essential nutrients as an ingredient, like vitamins, minerals, and proteins. But in 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, or DSHEA, broadened the definition to include (withsome exceptions) any product intended for ingestion as a supplement to a diet.

With DSHEA, a dietary supplement can include vitamins, minerals, herbs, botanicals, and other substances derived from plants. It also includes amino acids (building blocks of protein), concentrates, metabolites, constituents, and extracts of all of these substances. This means that a product that is marked as a dietary supplement usually contains one of the elements listed above and can provide your body with many needed benefits.

Dietary supplements can come in many different kinds of forms, including but not limited to tablets, capsules, powders, softgels, gelcaps, and liquids. They can be found online (where many of the cheapest deals are found), health food stores, as well as grocery stores, drug stores, mail-order catalogs, and TV programs.