Medical Information on the InternetThe Food and Drug Administration is the agency of the United States federal government responsible for the regulation of drug products. Its Website contains information aimed at both the health consumer and at the health professional. FDA has fact sheets available in English, Spanish and easy-to-read formats on a number of different drug and food related categories. The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the FDA maintains a list of drug approvals back to 1998.
FDA does not, however, regulate dietary supplements. Items such as vitamins are handled by the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS). Use their Website to read fact sheets, safety notices, and to use the International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) database, which "provides access to bibliographic citations and abstracts from published, international, scientific literature on dietary supplements."
FDA does not regulate complementary and alternative medicine either. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) supports this research and provides information for the health consumer and for the professional.
