The Shelton Group

05/01/2025

Suzanne Shelton has spent years creating a well-regarded public relations firm, the Shelton Group, which services the supplement industry.

10/24/2024

30 years ago President Clinton signed into law the Dietary Supplement Health & Education act, which established a legal framework for regulating dietary supplements at a time when FDA was trying pretty hard to edge them out of the marketplace. It was the result of a massive effort by health conscious consumers, health food stores, vitamin makers, and all of us working in the industry to make this happen.

When he signed the bill, President Clinton added a signing statement that is pretty great.

Today I am pleased to sign S. 784, the "Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994." After several years of intense efforts, manufacturers, experts in nutrition, and legislators, acting in a conscientious alliance with consumers at the grassroots level, have moved successfully to bring comm...

08/30/2022

It's always frustrating to see sloppy science used to claim a botanical did someone harm when that herb has such a strong safety profile.

Natural products industry experts explain why they are questioning coroner's findings linking mulberry leaf to woman's death.

06/06/2022

Good Article by American Herbal Products Association president Michael McGuffin on how herbs and supplements are regulated. Drives me crazy to read articles saying they are not (I'm looking at you in particular, New York Times!) when I see how hard our clients work to meet and surpass what is required by law.

With fewer recalls than conventional foods, drugs, animal products and medical devices, supplements could be considered the safest class of goods FDA regulates.

03/22/2021

Fascinating Information about the relationship between nutritional status and immune response to COVID-19 vaccines. Unsurprisingly, since we know stress undermines immune response in general, it also appears to minimize the immune systems response to the vaccines.

Researchers have highlighted nutrition as a possible factor influencing the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine, as recent news establishes a link between vitamin D levels and an adequate immune response.

03/10/2021

Interesting article about new requirements that sellers of dietary supplements on Amazon have to meet proving basic quality standards are being met. There have been a lot of "brands you never heard of because they are not really brands" selling garbage products on Amazon. This is a important step in cleaning that up.

From the ISO accreditation issue to concerns around “by input”, the new Amazon specifications are causing some debate within the dietary supplements industry, but the overall message from some stakeholders is supportive.

12/04/2020

A huge, and I mean HUGE, number of supplements are sold through Amazon, and a lot of it is crap, particularly if it's a brand you never heard of before. Amazon's new requirements are excellent, and if done right will clean up the category. This Is great news.

Amazon has begun requiring supplement marketers to provide comprehensive testing results and other documentation in order to be able to sell products on its site.

09/15/2020

Take your vitamins!

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently did an Instagram Live interview with the actress Jennifer Garner where he discussed immune health and supplementation.

07/15/2020

Such an honor to be named NutraChampion by NutraIngredients-USA just for doing work I love. And I can just hear colleagues reading about my punk rock background thinking "Oh, that explains so much."

Suzanne Shelton, a winner of a NutraIngredients-USA NutraChampion 2020 award, took an alternative path early in life as a groundbreaking Chicago DJ and rode that rhythm into becoming one of the leading voices within the natural products industry.

05/14/2020

Amazon is great for getting a lot of things, especially today when it's better that we stay home. Supplements? Not so much, at least until they have a better policy in place for vetting sellers.

Really proud of our client NOW for doing this testing and making it public.

Supplement manufacturer NOW reports that among CoQ10 and SAMe products it purchased recently on Amazon and subjected to analytical testing, only a few came close to meeting label claim for the amount of active ingredients, while most had little or none at all.

04/22/2020

Excellent, thoughtful article by Erik Goldman, Editor of Holistic Primary Care magazine.

The COVID-19 pandemic reveals more about society than we may otherwise have acknowledged. Some of it is heartening, some of it is sickening.

10/28/2019

Most of the work we do is for products regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act, the law which regulates vitamins, herbs and other dietary supplements. Upon the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the law this month, there has been a lot of interesting discussion about how it should change.

Exactly 25 years ago—Oct. 25, 1994—President Bill Clinton signed a bill that has enabled the dietary supplement industry to flourish over the last quarter century.