On-Site Library Supplements Vitamin Store

Retailers can walk a fine line between informing customers of the potential uses of vitamins and dietary supplements and improperly prescribing medicine.

Park Weaver, owner of Vitamin Park in Irvine, figures that he’s found a way to both help curious or confused customers and avoid raised eyebrows at the FDA.

Weaver has set aside part of his store to serve as a resource library on vitamins and supplements for people looking for alternatives to standard medicine to treat various ailments. He has invested several thousand dollars in tomes by nutritional authorities and newsletters. He also stocks articles from research journals and the popular press.

“We’re not prescribing,” Weaver says. “We can legally show [customers] to the reference library,” where they consult the authorities.

Once a customer finds a suggested remedy, Weaver then point outs where in his store the item can be found, he says. An FDA spokesman says Weaver apparently knows the rules and is following them.

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Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com.