The FTC and the state of Washington announced a proposed order requiring Amway, World Wide Group and Leadership Team Development to pay $225 million, the largest monetary recovery ever obtained in an FTC action against an MLM. The complaint alleges the companies misled recruits with false earnings claims and pressured them to buy nutritional supplements and other products they could not resell. The order mandates that distributors sell at least 70 percent of purchased products to real customers, a structural change that will reshape how supplements move through direct selling channels.

SupplySide’s analysis places the Amway settlement in the context of prior FTC actions against Herbalife and AdvoCare, noting that in inflation-adjusted terms the 2016 Herbalife penalty was larger. The piece traces Amway’s roots to Nutrilite, the brand that invented the MLM model in 1945 and remains the company’s supplement line. For DSHEA stakeholders, the case underscores that FTC scrutiny of supplement marketing extends beyond health claims into business practices and compensation structures.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee scheduled a September 24 confirmation hearing for Dr. Heidi Overton, President Trump’s nominee to lead the FDA following Marty Makary’s resignation in May. Overton would inherit an agency with pending priorities that directly touch the supplement sector, including the proposed mandatory GRAS notification rule and unresolved drug preclusion questions. The hearing is the first formal opportunity for senators to press the nominee on how she views DSHEA and dietary supplement oversight.

Semafor reports that Overton has been meeting with lawmakers and former FDA leaders ahead of her hearing, including a breakfast with HELP Chair Bill Cassidy, who earlier called her role in the vaccine executive order rollout “almost disqualifying.” People familiar with the outreach say she is positioning herself as more collaborative than Makary. Whether Cassidy supports her remains unclear, and the supplement industry is watching closely because the next commissioner will set the tone for GRAS reform, NDI enforcement and drug preclusion policy.

The FDA added three products to its yellow oleander safety alert, bringing the total to 33 botanical weight loss products found to contain the toxic plant in place of labeled tejocote root. Two of the newly added products also contain hidden drug ingredients, and the agency warned that some supplements not labeled as tejocote may also be affected. The expanding list demonstrates that DSHEA’s existing adulteration authority allows FDA to act against dangerous products, even as critics argue the agency should do so faster.

Scientists from the FDA’s Office of Dietary Supplement Programs published a perspective in the Journal of Dietary Supplements outlining formulation and testing challenges for gummies, including extracting actives from the gummy matrix and setting overages that meet label claims through shelf life. The authors stated that overages must be constrained by safety and should not compensate for poor manufacturing practices. The piece is one of the clearest signals yet of what FDA expects under cGMP rules for the fastest-growing delivery format in the category.

Piping Rock Health Products launched a 300 mg NMN gummy under its mass-market Vitafusion brand, less than a year after the FDA reversed its 2022 determination that NMN was excluded from the dietary supplement definition under the drug preclusion clause. The launch, backed by a TikTok-first campaign, shows a major consumer brand treating NMN as a settled ingredient after two years in regulatory limbo. It is a concrete example of the innovation the Dietary Supplement Innovation Act, introduced earlier this month, aims to protect by capping indefinite preclusion.

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration removed Andrographis paniculata from its permissible ingredients list effective September 17, citing 287 reports of anaphylaxis and calling the delay of action an imminent risk to consumers. Existing products may remain on shelves for now, but the TGA is strongly recommending sponsors cancel listings or recall, and may compel action from mid-October. The decision is one of the strongest regulatory moves against a common botanical in years and raises the question of whether FDA or other regulators will revisit the ingredient’s safety profile.

The weekly roundup highlights new American Botanical Council data showing adulteration rates of 57 percent for ginkgo, 42 percent for black cohosh and 29 percent for echinacea, with tariffs, conflict-driven shipping costs and climate pressures pushing some suppliers to cut corners. ABC’s Dr. Stefan Gafner noted that 15 years of the Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program have changed quality practices at 90 percent of surveyed companies, yet the problem persists. Supply chain integrity remains the industry’s most visible vulnerability and a frequent argument from those seeking to expand FDA’s DSHEA authority.

Leaders at the Future Nutra Innovation Summit pointed to social media pseudoscience, reliance on influencers who do not understand claims rules, and scattered advocacy efforts as the industry’s biggest self-inflicted problems. NPA’s Dan Fabricant called for more involvement in shaping regulation, citing the growing number of state age-restriction bills. The consensus was that self-policing and better coordination are needed to protect the DSHEA framework from being rewritten by outside critics.

Two new Texas A&M trials published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition add to evidence that creatine at 10 grams per day may support certain cognitive measures, though the authors and outside experts caution the findings are exploratory. Published research on creatine and cognition has climbed from roughly 20 studies a year in 2002 to 117 in 2025. The growing body of evidence illustrates how DSHEA’s structure/function framework lets brands communicate emerging science while substantiation standards keep claims in check.

The FDA’s proposed mandatory GRAS notification rule remains open for public comment through December 9, 2026, and the Senate HELP Committee will question FDA nominee Dr. Heidi Overton on September 24. Both moments will shape how DSHEA is enforced for years to come. Join the DSHEA Preservation Alliance in making sure the supplement community is heard.

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