What You Should Know About Dietary Supplements

Many of us take dietary supplements on a daily basis to be healthy. These supplements can range from multi-vitamins (natural or synthetic) to vitamin C or even fish oils. Are these dietary supplements providing the healthy benefits as they are claiming?

DSHEA, or Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, stated that "a dietary supplement is a product that is intended to supplement the diet. It contains one or more dietary ingredients, (including vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other botanicals, amino acids, and certain other substances) or their constituents. It is intended to be taken by mouth, in forms of tablets, capsules, powder, softgel, gelcap or liquid. These are labeled as being a dietary supplement."

Herbal supplements is part of the dietary supplements category. An herb refers to a plant or part of a plant, as in leaves, flowers, and/or seeds, that is used for its flavor, scents, and/or possible health benefits. Botanical and herb are interchangeable terms. Herbal supplements may contain one type of herb or multiple herbs. It is a law requirement that every herb be listed on the product label.

According to some research, dietary supplements have its health benefits. For instance, folic acid has been proven to prevent various birth defects. However, other studies has not proven any health benefits. An excellent example of this is echinacea, an herbal supplement; according to the study it has not proven that it is helpful for colds.

Dietary supplements are meant to be a health benefit for many people who eat a very poor diet--in this case, the foods are lacking the nutritional value. For example, there are the Stress B-Complex vitamins. These vitamins claim to be good for energy production and immune system support. In addition to containing B-complex vitamins, it also have vitamin C for the antioxidant support and zinc, which plays a vital role in growth and development. It also strengthens the body's natural defense system.

There is the 1200 mg fish oil dietary supplement, which are softgels. On the package, it states," supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega 3-fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease." However, on both dietary supplement packages, it states, "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." If statements like these are put on packages, how are people suppose to know if it is really healthy to consume?

There are some safety concerns about the usage of dietary supplements. Many dietary supplement are derived from natural sources--there is no guarantee that natural is safe. Kava is a very good example of this. It can cause some damage to the liver. On some dietary supplements packages, the use of terms "standardized," "verified," or "certified" does not guarantee the quality of the product.

Herbal supplements may contain many substances that all of the ingredients may not be known. Also, think about the possibility that what may be listed on the label may not be the ingredients in the bottle. Here are a couple of examples of that:

• The quantity of ingredients could be lower or higher than what the label indicates. In essence, you may be consuming more or less of these supplements than you really think.
• The dietary supplement may have contamination along with other herbs, pesticides, illegal ingredients, etc.

To consume dietary supplements in a safe manner, read and follow the label directions, and take into consideration that natural does guarantee safety. There are some dietary supplements that are likely to interact with medications and/or be a likely risk if you have medical issues or will be having surgery.

If you want to find out more about the safety of dietary supplements, then you can read the "Dietary Supplement Alerts and Safety Information."