Background & Overview
Many military service members use dietary supplements—for promoting health, improving performance, bodybuilding, losing weight, and more. Unfortunately, some supplements have resulted in adverse events that compromise rather than improve performance, and in some cases result in positive drug tests.
In January 2012 the Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs requested a DoD-wide educational campaign on dietary supplements. In response to this request, the DoD Dietary Supplement Subcommittee (DSSC), the U.S. Army Public Health Command, and the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) began developing a DoD-wide educational campaign—Operation Supplement Safety, or OPSS—to increase awareness within the DoD community about potential health risks and how to choose safe dietary supplements.
OPSS is now a DoD-wide effort, including partnerships with other government and professional organizations, to provide evidence-based, up-to-date information on dietary supplements. OPSS educates service members and retirees, their family members, leaders, healthcare providers, and DoD civilians about dietary supplements and gives them tools to be informed supplement users—or non-users.