| Diet supplements are products that people add to their diets such as: vitamins, minerals, herbs and other substances and are meant to enrich or improve your diet. These products can come as pills, capsules, powders and liquids.Taking diet supplements help people get enough essential nutrients to improve their diets and be in their best health. Taking supplements can also be a type of complementary or alternative medicine.
These supplements can play an important role in keeping your health. For example, pregnant women are often recommended take vitamin B9 also known as folic acid to prevent certain birth defects in their babies.
By law, companies that make these products cannot claim they prevent, treat, or cure disease.
For example, a product cannot claim that it can “cure cancer” or “help you lose weight.”
Although taking dietary supplements can benefit you with better health, you still should be cautious and take a supplement as safely as possible.
If you are having surgery or have any health problems, taking other supplements or medicines with dietary supplements may be harmful. Check with your doctor before you start taking any dietary supplement.
Diet supplements are meant to complete deficiencies of necessary nutrients in your body and in no way they should be taken instead of eating healthy foods.
These products have a recommended daily dosage and you should not take a bigger dose than the label recommends.
It’s should be cleared out that dietary supplements are not medications and they should not be used instead of prescription medicine.
***Always consult your doctor, pharmacist or nurse if you decide to take any diet supplement.
These products may have risks and even could be harmful or life threatening if:
- You are also taking other dietary supplements
- You are also taking other prescription or over-the-counter medicines
- You use them instead of medicine that your doctor prescribes
- You are pregnant or nursing a baby
- You take other supplements or medicines
- You are having surgery
- You have diabetes
- You have high blood pressure
- You have any other health problems
If you see any side effects when taking a supplement, stop immediately and consult your doctor.
The regulations for diet supplement are similar to food regulations. This means, the FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are sold.
IMPORTANT: Supplements do not have to go through the testing that drugs do.
FDA can only take action against products that are not safe or products that make false claims after they are for sale.
What to ask when searching the web for information on supplements:
- Who runs the web site?
- What is the web site trying to do? Is it telling you about the product or just trying to sell it?
- Where does the web site get its information? Are there studies that back it up?
- Is the information provided on website up to date? Check the date to see when it was posted or updated.
It’s always good to find out what others say about the dietary supplement that they have used.
Read trustworthy information about the diet supplements. |
