It is time to review the impact of taking dietary supplements while flying under FAA and DOT regulations. Many pilots take unregulated supplements. While this is seemingly a harmless activity for the general population, for pilots it brings additional risks.
Please keep in mind that dietary supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). When a product is being researched to become a “medicine,” it must go through the FDA approval process. Any such substance, when it is designed to treat a specific illness, must go through an exhaustive and expensive protocol of the initial approval for the research project, the project itself (usually costing countless millions of dollars and taking several years), the post-research evaluation and peer-review period, and final FDA approval.
Dr. Robert Sancetta is a former DC-10 captain with 11,000 flight hours. He has worked as a Senior AME since 1993 and is appointed as AME Consultant to the FAA Federal Air Surgeon.
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