The Facts About Supplements
Posted on: July 22, 20091 comment so far
Myth: Dietary supplements are proven to be safe.
Fact: Nutritional supplements are not overseen by the Food and Drug Administration. Legally, manufacturers do not have to conduct research studies on people to demonstrate they are safe before they are marketed.
Myth: Dietary supplements are proven to be effective.
Fact: Manufacturers are not required to prove that supplements are effective before they are marketed. In fact, most of the supplements’ promotion takes the form of testimonials instead of scientific research.
Myth: Supplements don’t require a doctor’s prescription. So they must be safe.
Fact: Any medical intervention has the potential to help—and to harm. This includes over-the-counter remedies as well as nutritional supplements. According to the medical literature, more people in the U.S. die each year from aspirin-related complications than from AIDS.
Myth: Supplements come from plants. So they must be safe.
Fact: Powerful medicine, like chemotherapy that treats cancer patents, comes from plant sources.
Myth: When my doctors ask about my medication, they mean my prescription medication.
Fact: A medicine is something you put in or on your body to change the way your body works. Tell your doctor about ALL your medication, including over-the-counter remedies and dietary supplements. These can affect the safety and effectiveness of your prescription medication.
Myth: I can rely on dietary supplements to fill in the gaps left by my fast-food diet.
Fact: We are just beginning to understand how food fuels health, and undoubtedly it’s more complex than delivering a collection of vitamins and minerals. For now, the best advice comes from your grandmother: “Get vitamins the way God intended—through food!”
Myth: If a little is good, more is better.
Fact: Health is about balance, and too much of a good thing can be dangerous. Think of the premies born in the U.S. around 1950 who were blinded after being exposed to the 100 percent oxygen well-intentioned doctors pumped into their incubators. So, too, we know that overdoses of fat-soluble vitamins like Vitamin E can be toxic to the body. Honor the power of nutritional supplements by taking the optimal dose.
July 26th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Interesting list, I’m not sure who wrote this or where the myths came from…have never heard some of them, but have a few cents to share on others:-)
Myth: Dietary supplements are proven to be safe.
Myth: Dietary supplements are proven to be effective.
My “Fact” differs a bit from the writers…there are many companies that use scientific equipment to measure the safety of supplements and verify that they contain what they claim to contain..to read about some of these tests, please visit http://happynutritionist.com/product_safety.html ALWAYS ask whether a company you are considering purchasing from tests their products using practices similar to those listed at the link provided.
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Fact: Any medical intervention has the potential to help—and to harm. This includes over-the-counter remedies as well as nutritional supplements. According to the medical literature, more people in the U.S. die each year from aspirin-related complications than from AIDS.
My two cents – This is a sad statistic, but it’s only talking about one OTC and one disease…I also encourage you to research how many more people die from drugs, medications, and medical “accidents” than die from taking nutritional supplements. The numbers are staggering. I guess my concern was with the way nutritional supplements were “lumped together” with OTC’s in the “Fact”
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Myth: Supplements come from plants. So they must be safe.
Fact: Powerful medicine, like chemotherapy that treats cancer patents, comes from plant sources.
This “myth” is a far too general, as is the response. First, all supplements do not come from plants. Second, there are actually a number of medicines that are made by “copying” the chemical structure found in the “actives” in a plant. Just a couple of examples, Digitalis is derived from Foxglove, Saw Palmetto contains properties that are used in medicines for enlarged prostates, but again, often they imitate the chemical structure of isolated properties of the plant…those of us who love using herbal remedies feel that isolated property works better in harmony, or synergy, with the other properties in the plant. By the same token, it would be harmful for you to go out and eat some foxglove, not so harmful with many many other herbs, but you need guidance from someone who knows the difference, and if you purchase supplements, need to purchase from a company that would not manufacture herbal remedies that would cause harm or could be mis-used.
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I guess I could comment on the other items, but this is enough to “digest” for now, thanks for the opportunity to share.
Claudia L. Meydrech, CN
http://happynutritionist.com