Why Pharmacists Need to Put More Emphasis on Supplement Education | NCPA 2025

When it comes to pharmacists’ ability to manage patients’ pharmaceutical regimens, their knowledge and expertise on prescription drugs is unmatched. However, when it comes to non-FDA-regulated supplements that are culturally on the rise in today’s society, pharmacists, as well as many other providers, are not as well-versed on potential supplement outcomes compared with those of prescription medications.

“A lot of pharmacists graduate pharmacy school with a doctorate in pharmacy but we don't spend a lot of time in our pharmacy curriculums talking about dietary supplements, vitamins, minerals; we don't do that,” Emlah Tubuo, PharmD, MS, owner of Powell Pharmacy and founder of Emlah Consulting LLC, told Drug Topics. “Pharmacists come out with very strong clinical knowledge about mechanism of action of prescription medication, but when it comes to supplements, they’re not very confident discussing this.”

Following her session, titled “Shelf Help: Rethinking Supplements for Profit and Purpose,” we caught up with Tubuo at the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) 2025 Annual Convention & Expo. She joined us to discuss the current state of supplement use among patients and what exactly community pharmacies need to be doing now in order to take advantage of the increase in supplement use across the general public.

“With a lack of strong confidence in [educating patients on supplement use], it's harder to direct patients and answer patients’ questions, because most pharmacists, when you ask them about a supplement, they're like, ‘Oh that's not regulated by the FDA,’ but let's dig a little bit,” she continued.

From non-FDA pathways and requirements for pharmacists to familiarize themselves with popular supplements, Tubuo believes more of an emphasis can be geared toward an often-front-end pharmacy product—leading to better patient outcomes and greater profits for community pharmacy businesses.

Read more of our coverage from NCPA 2025.

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