Table 6.

Differences between Dietary Supplements and Foods

Characteristics	Dietary Supplements	Foods
Concentration of bioactives	Higher and in more highly isolated, purified, and concentrated forms	Low
Presence of other ingredients	Varies, generally fewer	Energy providing ingredients, water, and other ingredients dilute bioactive and may promote satiety,
Ease of ingesting a large quantity of bioactive	Easily ingested in very large quantities, often in a single bolus dose in high amounts	Unlikely that hazardous amounts of bioactive will be consumed in a single serving
Dosage form performance	Matrices (tablets, capsules, soft gels and liquids) and ingredients differ in dissolution and disintegration	Matrices vary
Conditions of use	Bolus doses and on empty stomach common, sometimes with food	Usually with other foods or beverages
Regulation	Less highly regulated than foods	Highly regulated