UConn Pharmacy students are giving consumers an insider’s look at aspects of the dietary supplement industry. Current legislation has made it difficult for the FDA to proactively protect consumers as they do with prescription and over the counter drugs, and as a result, many health dangers exist.

The video series available on YouTube features pharmacy students presenting short videos about many little-known aspects of dietary supplements. C. Michael White, Pharm.D., FCP, FCCP, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pharmacy Practice, and the lead faculty pharmacist on this project, says “I am proud of our pharmacy students for bringing the information that UConn Pharmacy faculty created to educate health providers and decision makers directly to the American public through this new video series on dietary supplements. People will see why being labeled natural does not automatically mean safe and might not even mean it is natural. There are things people that consumers desperately need to understand and things that they can do to stay safe.”

Student/faculty teams made a major impact with videos on COVID-19 vaccines and the group is excited to continue our public engagement work and be a part of this new series on dietary supplements that will review the current regulatory environment for dietary supplements, the risk of adulteration and contamination of supplements and baby food, the risk of not having the active ingredients consumers are paying for in the tablets, and steps that consumers can take to protect themselves.

Current videos are by pharmacy students Muryam Khan, Sara Erlingheuser, Molly Csere, and Isabella Tardy (all are Pharm.D. candidates ’23); editing and series management is by Alex Theriault. Visit the growing series of videos on our Dietary Supplements Safety Channel.

Below, as example, is “The Importance of Independent Laboratory Assessment of Dietary Supplements”