Nutritional Supplementation and Counseling Tackling Some Legal Issues

Course overview

Identify how state scope-of-practice laws and unlicensed-practice-of-medicine statutes affect chiropractors offering nutritional counseling and dispensing supplements. Describe the three factors courts use to determine whether nutritional counseling constitutes the unlicensed practice of medicine. Explain how DSHEA defines dietary supplements and allocates the burden of proving safety between manufacturers and the FDA. Apply FTC truth-in-advertising and substantiation standards when evaluating express and implied claims in supplement advertisements. Differentiate among health claims, nutrient content claims, and structure/function claims under FDA labeling requirements. Analyze how intended use, identical active ingredients, or unusual delivery methods can reclassify a dietary supplement as a drug. Recognize the health, legal, and doping risks athletes face when using performance-enhancing nutritional supplements. Evaluate how expanding chiropractic education, certifications, and state scope language will shape future authority over nutritional counseling.