Editing Multivitamin (section)

== Regulations ==
{{Expand section|date=March 2009}}

=== United States ===
The first person to formulate vitamins in the US was Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee.<ref>{{cite web |title=Famous Iowans: Forrest Shaklee |url=https://data.desmoinesregister.com/famous-iowans/forrest-shaklee |first=Tom |last=Longden |work=The Des Moines Register |date=27 January 2008 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Shaklee introduced a product he dubbed "Shaklee's Vitalized Minerals" in 1915, which he sold until adopting the now ubiquitous term "vitamin" in 1929.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shook |first=Robert L. |title=The Shaklee Story |edition=1st |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York City, NY |date= July 1982 |page=22 |isbn=978-0-06-015005-1}}</ref>

Because of their categorization as a [[dietary supplement]] by the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA), most multivitamins sold in the U.S. are not required to undergo the testing procedures typical of pharmaceutical drugs. However, some multivitamins contain very high doses of one or several vitamins or minerals, or are specifically intended to treat, cure, or prevent disease, and therefore require a prescription or medicinal license in the U.S. Since such drugs contain no new substances, they do not require the same testing as would be required by a [[New Drug Application]], but were allowed on the market as drugs due to the [[Drug Efficacy Study Implementation]] program.<ref>See 36 ''[[Fed. Reg.]]'' 6843 (Apr. 9, 1971).</ref>

=== Australia ===
Vitamins are classed as low-risk medications by the [[Therapeutic Goods Administration]] (TGA), and are therefore not assessed for efficacy, unlike most medicines sold in Australia. They require that the product is safe and that claims of efficacy can only be made in regards to minor ailments. No claims can be made about serious conditions. The TGA does not examine the contents of the product and whether it is what the label says it is, but they claim to carry out "targeted and random surveillance of products on the market."<ref>{{cite web|title=Watched Vitamania? Here's how the TGA regulates vitamins in Australia|url=https://www.tga.gov.au/behind-news/watched-vitamania-heres-how-tga-regulates-vitamins-australia|website=[[Therapeutic Goods Administration]]|access-date=17 January 2019|date=2018-08-14|archive-date=2019-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119121607/https://www.tga.gov.au/behind-news/watched-vitamania-heres-how-tga-regulates-vitamins-australia|url-status=live}}</ref> They encourage people to report any unsafe products to them.

The TGA, however, has been criticized, by people such as [[Allan Asher]], a regulatory expert and former deputy chair of the [[Australian Competition & Consumer Commission]], for allowing more than a thousand types of claim, 86% of which are not supported by scientific evidence, including "softens hardness", "replenishes gate of vitality" and "moistens dryness in the triple burner".<ref>{{cite web |title='Softens hardness': TGA under fire for health claim list that critics say endorses pseudoscience |url=https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/softens-hardness-tga-under-fire-for-health-claim-list-that-endorses-pseudoscience-20180207-h0vfst.html |website=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=17 January 2019 |date=2018-02-08 |archive-date=2019-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119174225/https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/softens-hardness-tga-under-fire-for-health-claim-list-that-endorses-pseudoscience-20180207-h0vfst.html |url-status=live }}</ref>