THE REGULATION OF SPORTS PRODUCTS AS DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS: SHOULD THE FDA HAVE STRICTER REQUIREMENTS?

Abstract

Since the Food and Drug Administration (“FDAâ€) has control over the regulation of dietary supplements, this paper discusses whether the current regulation is sufficient to guard the safety of the individuals using “sports products.†Recently, the sudden deaths of a number of professional and collegiate athletes have been linked to the use of performance enhancing sports products, and despite other possible causes, many families and scholars have blamed dietary supplements for these lost lives. Therefore, this paper purports to prove that the current FDA regulations are not stringent enough because they do not subject dietary supplements to the pre-market approval as with drugs and allow life-threatening products to enter and remain in the market. For evidence, this paper compares different past and present FDA regulations, the scientific risks of the most popular sports supplements, the rigorous regulation by other associations, and the real life stories of athletes’ deaths. In conclusion, this paper will demonstrate that the current drug requirements should apply to dietary supplements to give the FDA the ability to regulate further dietary supplements that warrant stricter regulation.