Choosing and Using Dietary Supplements Safely

Introduction

Dietary supplements are substances you would possibly use to feature nutrients to your diet or to lower your risk of health problems like osteoporosis or arthritis. Dietary supplements are available in the shape of pills, capsules, powders, gel capsules and tablets, extracts, or liquids. They might contain vitamins, minerals, fibre, amino acids, herbs or other plants, or enzymes. Sometimes, the ingredients in dietary supplements are added to foods and drinks. A doctor’s prescription isn’t needed to shop for dietary supplements. Dietary supplements are often beneficial at any age, but they will even have unwanted side effects, like unsafe prescription interactions. They could also not work at all. It’s important to know the supplements you’re taking and why you’re taking them. Talk together with your doctor if you’re considering taking a supplement. Eating a spread of healthy foods is that the best thanks to getting the nutrients you would like. However, some people might not get enough vitamins and minerals from their daily diet. When that’s the case, their doctors may recommend a dietary supplement to supply missing nutrients. People over age 50 may have more of some vitamins and minerals than younger adults do. Your doctor or a dietitian can tell you whether you need to change your diet or take vitamin or mineral supplements.

DA, also as health professionals and their organizations, receive many inquiries annually from consumers seeking health-related information, especially about dietary supplements. Clearly, people choosing to supplement their diets with herbals, vitamins, minerals, or other substances want to understand more about the products they choose in order that they will make informed decisions about them. The choice to use a dietary supplement is often a wise decision that gives health benefits.

Important factors while choosing dietary supplements:

• Investigate before you buy or use any dietary supplements. There are many resources in libraries and online.
• Check with your doctor or other health care providers before you are trying a supplement. While your doctor won’t realize all the products available, he or she could also be ready to keep you from making a dangerous mistake.
• Find a product that uses only a part of the plant that’s thought to be helpful. Avoid botanicals that are made using the whole plant, unless the whole plant is suggested.
• Does the label provide how to contact the corporate if you’ve got questions or concerns about their product? Reputable manufacturers will give contact information on the label or packaging of their products.
• Avoid products that claim to be “miracle cures,” “breakthroughs,” or “new discoveries,” as well as those that claim to have benefits but no side effects, or are based on a “secret ingredient” or method. Such claims are nearly always fraudulent, and therefore the product may contain harmful substances, drugs, or contaminants.
• Try to avoid mixtures of many different supplements. The more ingredients, the greater the probability of harmful effects. Mixtures also make it harder to understand which substance is causing any side effects.
• Start only one product at a time. Take note of any side effects you’ve got while taking the merchandise. If you have a rash, sleeplessness, restlessness, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, or severe headache, stop taking the supplement. Report any reaction to your doctor, and high ones to the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration).
• During pregnancy or if you’re breastfeeding, take only dietary supplements prescribed or approved by your doctor. Few, if any, of those products are studied for safety; and their effects on a growing fetus or infant are largely unknown.
• Do not take any self-prescribed remedy rather than the drugs prescribed by your doctor without talking about it together with your doctor first.
• Do not depend upon any non-prescription product to cure cancer or another serious disease. No matter what the claim, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Follow the dosage limits on the label. Overdoses can be deadly. Do not take a dietary supplement for any more than recommended.
• Never provides a supplement to a baby or a toddler under the age of 18 without lecture the child’s doctor. A child processes nutrients and drugs differently from an adult, and the effects of many products in children are not known.
• Avoid products that claim to treat a good sort of unrelated illnesses. If a dietary supplements claims that it can diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease, such as “cures cancer,” or “stops tumour growth,” the product is being sold illegally as a drug.