What You Need To Know Before Taking Dietary Supplements?

   Dietary supplement can be simply described as a product used for supplementing a person’s diet. These supplements are available in various forms, such as pill, capsule and tablet. Consumption of dietary supplements has become common during the contemporary period.

People usually take dietary supplements for combating vitamin deficiency or for reducing the risks of certain diseases. In this article, we are going to discuss about dietary supplements and the things which everybody should know before taking dietary supplements. Let us begin.

What is dietary supplement label?

Dietary supplement label is a label which is offered with those products which are sold as dietary supplements.

This label consists of the list of active ingredients of the product, along with the amount per serving (dose). It also consists of a list of additional ingredients of the product, such as fillers, binders and flavorings. 

Things you should know about dietary supplements

Before taking dietary supplements, It is important that you know about some important things about them. Some of the important things which you should know about dietary supplements are as follows:

Supplements are available in numerous forms

Dietary supplements are available in numerous forms, such as tablets, pills capsules, powder and even liquid. Although these supplements are available in numerous forms, the ultimate of all the supplements is the same that is to supplement your diet with enough nutrients so that your health improves.

All of them contain at least one dietary ingredient, such as vitamins, herbs, minerals, amino acids, botanicals as well as enzymes. Some of the most common supplements are available as multivitamin also. This helps you to avoid taking multiple pills each day. Some of the common dietary supplements are:

●Calcium

●Ginseng

●Echinacea

●Fish oil

●Vitamin D

●Garlic

●Green tea

Effectiveness of dietary supplements

Studies have found that some dietary supplements can help an individual to get sufficient amounts of essential nutrients if that person is not eating nutritious food. It is also evident that in addition of being a healthy diet, some supplements can benefit your overall health and well-being with almost little to no risk.

Some of the common supplements which are beneficial for your health are as follows:

●Folic acid: Folic acid is beneficial for pregnant woman. It can help in minimizing birth defects

●Vitamin B12: Vitamin B12 can help in keeping the nerve and blood cells healthy. It is also helpful in making DNA and preventing diseases like anemia.

●Calcium: Another supplement which is beneficial for human health is Calcium. It helps in improving bone health.

●Vitamin D: Vitamin D is also very much essential for your body as it helps in strengthening your bones.

●Fish oil: Fish oil like the cod liver oil is a popular form of supplement used globally. It contains Omega-3 fatty acids which is very much beneficial for the heart health.

●Vitamins C and E: Vitamins C and E are also beneficial for your health as they are capable of preventing cell damage

●Vitamin A: Vitamin A is very much important for your body, especially your eyes. Deficiency of vitamin A may cause various problems like night blindness. Vitamin A is capable of slowing down the process of vision loss from degeneration of macula.

●Melatonin: Melatonin can help you in preventing jet lag

●Zinc: Zinc enhances skin health. It also helps in slowing down vision loss from macular degeneration.

Although dietary supplements can improve your overall health, they have their own limitations. Majority of studies have indicated that multivitamins will not slow cognitive decline, reduce your possibility of various diseases like diabetes and prolong your lifespan.

It is also illegal for companies to make claims that their supplements are capable of diagnosing, preventing and curing diseases.

Safety and regulations regarding the consumption of supplements

Although multivitamins usually do not pose any significant risks to your overall health, you should be careful while taking dietary supplements. This is because many supplements contain some active ingredients which can have strong effects on your body.

They can also interact with other medicines which you are taking or pose risks if you are already suffering from any medical condition.

You must also remember that federal regulations for dietary supplements are not as strict as that of prescription drugs. Some supplements may even contain those ingredients which are not mentioned on the dietary supplement label. Some of these ingredients can be harmful for health.

It has also been found that some products which are marketed as dietary supplements contain prescription drugs as ingredients. Use of prescription drugs as ingredients for dietary supplements is banned. 

Some supplements which can pose risks to your health are:

●Vitamin K: Vitamin K is not good for health as it hamper the effectiveness of blood thinners.

●Gingko: Gingko is also not good for health as it increases the rate of blood thinning.

●Vitamin C and E: Antioxidant supplements like vitamin C and E can reduce the effectiveness of some types of cancer chemotherapy.

●Herbal supplements: All herbal supplements are not good for your body. Some herbal supplements, such as comfrey and kava can cause damages to your liver.

●St John’s wort: You should be cautious while taking St John’s wort as supplement as it can increase the rate of breakdown of various medicines like antidepressants, thus minimizing their effectiveness.

●Beta-carotene and Vitamin A: Studies have found that beta-carotene and vitamin A supplements increase the chances of developing lung cancer among the smokers.

Federal regulation of dietary supplements

As mentioned earlier, dietary supplements are those products which are used for supplementing an individual’s diet. These products are not medicines and should not be used for treating, curing or preventing diseases.

Food and Drug Administration or FDA is a federal agency which monitors both medicines and supplements. However, FDA regulations for supplements are different from the regulations for prescription medicines.

It is mandatory for all the medicines to be approved by FDA before they are introduced in the market. Dietary supplements, on the contrary, do not require such an approval. Companies providing these supplements are required to prove that their products are safe and all the claims made in the dietary supplement label are true.

The federal government will take legal action against those which give deceptive claims about their products.

Dietary supplements are beneficial as it can improve the overall health of a person by providing extra nutrients to the body. However, all supplements are not good for health. People should conduct thorough research about these supplements before consuming them.