dietary supplement

noun

: a product taken orally that contains one or more ingredients (such as vitamins or amino acids) that are intended to supplement one's diet and are not considered food

Examples of dietary supplement in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

High demand is driving GLP-1 wannabes The dietary supplement market has sought to cash in on the GLP-1 demand with pills, teas, extracts and all manner of other products that claim to produce similar effects as the brand names at a much lower price. —C. Michael White / The Conversation, Quartz, 21 Oct. 2024

Our team of medical experts reviews supplements according to our rigorous dietary supplement methodology. —Willow Jarosh, Ms, Rd, Health, 18 Oct. 2024

High Demand Is Driving GLP-1 Wannabes The dietary supplement market has sought to cash in on the GLP-1 demand with pills, teas, extracts, and all manner of other products that claim to produce similar effects as the brand names at a much lower price. —C. Michael White, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2024

Depending on a particular product’s ingredients and the way it is being marketed—if its label makes claims about treating a specific health condition, for example—it could be considered a drug, dietary supplement, or food. —Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1891, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

dietary supplement

noun

: a product taken orally that contains one or more ingredients (such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, or amino acids) that are intended to supplement one's diet and are not considered food

The study is looking at whether taking daily dietary supplements of vitamin D₃ or omega-3 fatty acids reduces the risk for developing cancer, heart disease and stroke.

—Mary Brophy Marcus, USA Today

A hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, melatonin also occurs naturally in some foods. It therefore may be sold as a dietary supplement in the United States under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, without premarket approval from the FDA.

—Lynne Lamberg, The Journal of the American Medical Association

… batches of a dietary supplement L-tryptophan that have been implicated in a mysterious disease were produced by a genetically engineered organism.

—Leslie Roberts, Science