Dietary supplements - legal regulations in Bulgaria and potential health-related risks

Introduction: People nowadays are not just passive consumers of health care. Rather, they are well aware of their personal responsibility for exercising control over their own health. The ever-growing desire to have a better quality of life is intrinsically linked to the heightened health awareness. More and more people opt for dietary supplements as part of their self-medication therapy.Aim: The aim of this study is to present how supplements are regulated in Bulgaria and to indicate the potential risks related to the improper use of supplements, including dangerous interactions with certain drugs and other supplements. Materials and Methods: The available literature on legal regulations was reviewed and comprehensively analyzed. Some of the most important and common adverse reactions were summarized.Results: Supplements are considered as food products that contribute to the balanced food diet; therefore they are subject to the corresponding regulation. Unlike drugs, there are no requirements for dietary supplements to be approved by the government for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed. The lack of specific requirements for the production, content and clinical trials is a prerequisite for possible health risks to consumers. As availability has grown, so have sales - supplements constitute the fastest growing segment in the Bulgarian pharmaceutical sector and for the sixth consecutive year (2015) they recorded growth.Conclusion: Given the tendency of growth in sales of supplements, this segment should be adequately regulated and functioning. Moreover, health professionals and pharmacists in particular, as key advisors to self-medicating patients, ought to provide all available information about proper use of dietary supplements to patients and adapt the consultation individually to the particular case in order to prevent some possible adverse effects and interactions