KAREN RUSSO FRANCE AND PAULA FITZGERALD BONE Policy Makers’ Paradigms and Evidence from Consumer Interpretations of Dietary Supplement Labels The regulation of marketplace information regarding health and nutri- tion is in flux. Nowhere, perhaps, is this more evident than in the dietary supplement industry. Herein, we present an experiment that examines the two major types of claims used for dietary supplements, testing the underlying assumptions made by policy makers. Our study suggests that a direct-effects consumer decision-making model does not apply in this context; instead, consumers process label claims through various biasing filters. A well-informed public is one of the best weapons against some of the biggest public health threats facing the country. Simply put, better information means that con- sumers can make better health choices (FDA 2004, 1). During 2003, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) undertook a number of initiatives with the goal of improving consumer information that should, in turn, lead to ‘‘smarter decisions about the foods they eat’’ (FDA 2004, 11). Among these initiatives were interim regulations and industry guidance allowing qualified statements that describe the relation- ship between a particular food or supplement (e.g., walnuts or antioxidant vitamins) and a particular disease or health condition (e.g., heart disease or cancer). The FDA noted that ‘‘Recent court decisions have clarified the need to provide for health claims based on somewhat settled science rather than just on the standards of significant scientific agreement, as long as the claims do not mislead the consumers’’ (FDA 2003c, 1). Thus, the FDA pro- vided interim industry guidance regarding unqualified and qualified health claims, proposing four levels of scientific certainty ranging from ‘‘signif- icant scientific certainty’’ to ‘‘extremely low level of comfort’’ appropriate for both dietary supplements and conventional foods (FDA 2003b). Given the above, it appears that the FDA’s treatment of food claims is being influenced by changes in the regulation of dietary supplements. Indeed, the regulation of marketplace information within the supplement Karen Russo France is an associate Professor in the Department of Marketing at West Virginia University (pbone@wvu.edu). The authors would like to thank Dennis Murphy for his helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2005 ISSN 0022-0078 Copyright 2005 by The American Council on Consumer Interests SUMMER 2005 VOLUME 39, NUMBER 1 27