About the Data & How to Read It

SupplementFiles makes a public government dataset — the FDA's records of adverse events reported for dietary supplements — searchable and readable. This page explains exactly what that data is, where it comes from, and what it does and does not mean. Please read it before drawing conclusions from any product page.

Where this data comes from

Every figure on this site comes from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System for foods and supplements (CAERS), published openly by the FDA through its openFDA program. CAERS collects reports of health problems that people, health professionals, and manufacturers have associated with a dietary supplement (or food or cosmetic). We download the full public dataset, isolate the dietary-supplement records, and organize them by product.

The data covers reports from 2004 to the present and is refreshed on a quarterly basis, in step with the FDA's own update schedule. The "data current as of" date on each page tells you the last time we refreshed.

The single most important thing to understand

A report is not proof that a product caused harm. When someone files an adverse event report, they are saying that a health problem occurred while a product was being used — not that the product was tested and found responsible. The FDA does not verify most reports, and it explicitly cautions that when a report names more than one product or more than one symptom, there is no way to know which product, if any, was responsible.

So the counts on this site tell you what has been reported, not how often a product actually causes a problem, and not whether it causes that problem at all. A report can reflect a coincidence, an unrelated illness, a pre-existing condition, or use of several products at once.

Why we show counts, not rates

You will notice we never display a figure like "X% of users were hospitalized" or a "death rate." That would be misleading, for a simple reason: the number of reports reflects reporting activity, not real-world frequency. A product's report count rises when it draws regulatory attention, becomes the subject of a lawsuit, is filed in bulk by a single source, or is simply used by millions of people. It does not tell you your personal odds of anything.

Because of this, dividing serious outcomes by total reports produces a number that looks like a risk but isn't one. We show absolute counts and let you see the data for what it is.

How to read a product page

  • Total reports — how many adverse event reports name this exact product.
  • Reactions — the health effects people reported (for example, nausea, dizziness, or a specific medical event), shown as counts. This list describes symptoms and effects; outcomes like death are shown separately, below.
  • Outcomes — how serious the reported events were: whether they involved a hospitalization, an emergency room visit, a life-threatening event, or a death. These are counts of how reports were classified, not rates.
  • Who reported — the age ranges and sexes recorded in the reports, where available.
  • Reports over time — when the reports were filed. This often matters: a cluster of reports in a single year usually reflects a recall, a wave of litigation, or a batch of reports filed together, rather than a steady ongoing pattern. Where a product's reports concentrate in a particular period, we note it.

How we handle product names

Reports are filed with free-text product names, which arrive inconsistently spelled and capitalized. We clean up these formatting differences so that the same product isn't split across "VITAMIN D" and "Vitamin D." We do not combine genuinely different products — "Centrum Silver Women's 50+" and "Centrum Silver Ultra Women's" are kept separate, because they are separate products and their reports belong to them individually. Brand pages that group a product family list each product's count on its own and never blend them into a single figure.

What we include and leave out

We publish a page for a product only when it has enough reports to be meaningful. We also set aside the small number of products whose reports clearly come from a single concentrated filing event rather than from independent reporting, because presenting those as a typical safety profile would mislead. Products below our reporting threshold appear within their brand's listing but do not get a standalone page.

This is not medical advice

SupplementFiles is an information resource, not a medical provider. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a recommendation, or a substitute for professional guidance. If you have a health concern about a supplement you take, talk to a doctor or pharmacist before making any change.

Report an adverse event yourself

If you have experienced a problem you believe is connected to a dietary supplement, you can report it directly to the FDA through the Safety Reporting Portal or MedWatch. Reporting is what makes data like this exist, and it helps the FDA identify problems.

Corrections and contact

We want this data represented accurately. If you are a manufacturer or a member of the public who believes something here is wrong or misleading, please reach out — contact us — and we will review it promptly.

Source: U.S. Food & Drug Administration, CAERS, via openFDA. SupplementFiles is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the FDA or any government agency.