For those of you who regularly read our blog posts, we are often harping about dietary supplements that contain undeclared prescription drug ingredients or unapproved and potentially dangerous ingredients. While we only highlight some of the more egregious products that have received FDA attention, there are many, many more that we do not address.
According to the FDA’s Health Fraud Product Database (here), the “list includes unapproved products that have been subject to FDA health fraud related violations. These products have been cited in warning letters, online advisory letters, recalls, public notifications, and press announcements for issues varying from products marketed as dietary supplements claiming to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent disease, to the use of undeclared ingredients or new dietary ingredients.”
“This list only includes a small fraction of the potentially hazardous products marketed to consumers online and in retail establishments. Even if a product is not included in this list, consumers should exercise caution before using certain products.”
Just to give you a feel for the number of products that the FDA has identified as a potentially harmful or dangerous product, the list has a total of 2,059 entries dating back to March 16, 2007. Thus far in 2025, the FDA has issued 32 alerts. As noted above, these 2,059 products represent only a fraction of unapproved products that have been marketed in the United States and for which the FDA has issued a health fraud violation. Just imagine those that the Agency may have missed! “The FDA defines health fraud as the deceptive promotion, advertising, distribution, or sale of a product represented as being effective to prevent, diagnose, treat, cure or lessen an illness or condition, or provide another beneficial effect on health, but that has not been scientifically proven safe and effective for such purposes.” Consumers are advised to stay alert and use caution in the purchase of products that make claims that could be of a dubious nature.
