Dietary Supplements

"Pathfinders" are guides to help you get started finding information on a topic. A St. Kate's Reference Librarian has written this guide to help you perform Library research for your structured controversy paper and presentation. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list of resources, but some places to begin your hunt.

Please stop or phone the Reference Desk (651-690-6652) if you have questions or need further assistance.

Contents:   Reference Works  | Finding Books  |  Journal Articles  |  Internet Sites

Reference Books

Encyclopedia of Food Science, Food Technology and Nutrition
Ref  TX 349 .E47 1993
     See "Health Foods"

Encyclopedia of Public Health
Ref  RA 423 .E53 2002
     See "Food and Drug Administration"

The Health Professional's Guide to Popular Dietary Supplements, 2nd ed.
Ref  RM 258.5 .S27 2003
AND
Tyler's Honest Herbal
Ref  RM 666 .H33 T94 1999
     Both of these have a section on regulation

West's Encyclopedia of American Law
(please read special instructions)
    See "Food and Drug Administration"

Wiley Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology, 2nd ed.
REF TP 368.2 .E62 2000
     See "Food Toxicity"

Note: Please remember that Reference Books may not be taken from the Library

Finding Books

Use CLICnet to search for books and videos in the Library at St. Kate's and at other ACTC colleges. Use the "Request" feature to obtain items not at St. Kate's.

Subject: dietary supplements--law and legislation

Finding Journal Articles

About off-campus access

Use EBSCO's Academic Search Premier and InfoTrac's Expanded Academic ASAP to look for journal articles, adding enough terms to limit the search to your topic. To find only academic journals, click before the box for "scholarly (peer reviewed) journals" or "peer reviewed publications."

Search terms:
dietary supplements
herbs
vitamins
law and legislation
regulation
food and drug administration

Use the Advance Search tab to try different combinations of these terms, such as:
     dietary supplements AND law and legislation
     food and drug adminstration AND vitamins

You may also use these terms to search Alt HealthWatch, a database focusing on alternative medicine, and Health Source.

Internet Resources

Dietary Supplements from the Food and Drug Administration
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/supplmnt.html

Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institute of Health
http://ods.od.nih.gov/

Dietary Supplements
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/dietarysupplements.html
One of the Health Topics from the National Library of Medicine.  Especially see the links under the Law and Policy heading.

Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/laws/dshea.html (full text of act)
http://www.health.gov/dietsupp/ch1.htm (explanation of major provisions of the act)

The Need for Regulation of Dietary Supplements: Lessons from Ephedra
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/289.12.1568v1
Article that appeared in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 26, 2003.

Botanical Medicines:The Need for New Regulations
http://80-content.nejm.org.pearl.stkate.edu/cgi/content/full/347/25/2073
From the New England Journal of Medicine, December 19, 2002.

American Pharmacists Association

http://www.pharmacist.com
Under "Publications" tab search for "dietary supplements" for an issue briefing (3/28/200) and summary of final ruling (12/05/2007)