Plain-language · NIH DSLD · 113,539 labels
Dietary Supplement Guides
How to read a Supplement Facts panel, what FDA oversight covers under DSHEA, and how to use NIH government data to compare products, without the marketing spin.
- 5
- Guides
- 113,539
- Products covered
- 4,622
- Ingredient groups
- 57.7%
- Still on-market
Listed entries versus active substances
Cellulose leads all label entries at 38,497 filings (#3 among active substances), but Magnesium leads the active cohort at 27,686 labels.
- 38,497
- Cellulose all entries
- #3
- Magnesium among all
- 27,686
- Magnesium active #1
- —
- Cellulose active rank
Listed entries include excipients and capsule materials; the active cohort filters those out. Prevalence is a DSLD filing fact, not a quality or efficacy score.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a healthcare provider before starting any supplement.
Most common label entries (all substances)
Same rebuild, reordered by active-substance cohort
How to Read a Supplement Facts Panel
What every line of a supplement label means, how Daily Value percentages work, and how supplement labels differ from food nutrition facts.
Supplement Safety Basics: What FDA Oversight Really Covers
How the FDA regulates dietary supplements versus drugs, common quality concerns, and what the NIH DSLD data reveals about the industry.
How to Compare Supplements Using NIH Data
A practical guide to using government label data to evaluate brands, check ingredient amounts, and identify quality indicators.
Are Supplements Worth Taking? Evidence-Based Guide
Which supplements have strong scientific evidence, which don't, and how to evaluate claims, including an evidence ratings table for 14 common supplements.
How to Read Supplement Labels (Practical Guide)
Serving sizes, proprietary blends, third-party certifications, Other Ingredients allergens, and botanical label terminology decoded.
How to use these guides
Pick the question you actually have, then jump into the live database for the numbers.
- Start with the Supplement Facts walkthrough if a label line is unclear. Read the panel guide
- Normalize serving size before comparing milligrams across two products. Compare with DSLD data
- Open a side-by-side compare once you know which brands or ingredients matter. Open compare tool
- Browse the densest active ingredients when you want prevalence context, not a recommendation. Browse ingredients
PlainVitamins does not rate, recommend, or endorse products. Rankings and charts reflect DSLD catalog metrics only.
What else can I explore?
Methodology
Every guide on PlainVitamins references the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD), the federal label database maintained by the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health. NIH ODS, Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) Guides draw on DSLD label filings for concrete examples (ingredient counts, Daily Value percentages, serving sizes, market status) rather than on manufacturer marketing copy. Daily Value framing follows the FDA's nutrition labeling regulation for adults.
Regulatory framing follows the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). Ingredient evidence ratings in the "Are Supplements Worth Taking?" guide reference NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Fact Sheets and the peer-reviewed literature those fact sheets cite, ratings are conservative and align with the NIH's own categorization of evidence strength.
Not medical advice. Guides are educational references only. They do not constitute medical, nutritional, diagnostic, or treatment advice. Consult a licensed healthcare provider before starting, stopping, or combining any dietary supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, take prescription medication, or have a medical condition.
Sources Referenced
Every figure on PlainVitamins is rendered directly from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD), no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.
Download the catalog statistics extract cited on this page: dsld-catalog-statistics.csv (CC0).