ROCKVILLE, Md.  –  The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) has been redesigned and modernized, making it easier for users to learn about and search for dietary supplement products sold in the United States. The DSLD captures all the information printed on nearly 130,000 labels of dietary supplements and is regularly updated to reflect the constantly changing marketplace. Users can search for a product or brand name, an ingredient name, a dietary claim, or more, as well as find government resources on dietary supplements.

Abt Associates, on behalf of NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements, recently completed a user-centered redesign and IT modernization of the DSLD to improve user experience and facilitate broader use and sharing of label information.

“NIH and Abt understand that having information is one thing, and increasing its value to the public is another,” said Abt’s project lead Emily Connor.

The upgrades include:

• Searching the database is now faster. The search interface has been streamlined to help users find the labels they need intuitively and efficiently, and the modernized search engine returns complex search results rapidly.

• Better access to data. Custom searches can be downloaded in three different formats (.CSV, .XLSX, JSON), and application developers and data scientists can directly access the latest data via a public application programming interface (API).

• The site now includes a directory of linked dietary supplement resources from federal agencies and other sources.

• The site runs on a modernized cloud-based technology platform scalable to NIH’s future needs and leverages many of the federal government’s digital service and platform investments, such as cloud.gov, api.data.gov, and the U.S. Web Design System.

“These upgrades mean health care professionals, researchers, consumers, and others will not only have an easier time finding what they’re looking for, they’ll find it in the formats they need, which is particularly important when you’re trying to answer questions about dietary supplements and their ingredients,” said Connor.