Millions of Americans use vitamins and supplements on a regular basis, so you’re not the only one with a medicine cabinet or bathroom counter full with bottles of vitamins and supplements.
If you’re taking a supplement to improve your health, you may be doing so to make up for a vitamin deficit, lower your risk of developing specific diseases, or just feel more proactive about your health as a consequence of doing so.
Nutritional supplements, covering anything from vitamin A to zinc, have been popular in the United States for decades. People rushed to pharmacies in the 1940s to stock up on these supposedly magical pills that were supposed to improve their health and well-being and they haven’t stopped since.
Supplemental Dietary Use in the United States
Dietary supplement recommendations may come from a variety of sources, including television commercials, social media influencers, your neighbours and family members, and even your doctor. In the midst of all the noise, it may be tough to find the ideal supplement for you.
The evidence on the usefulness of numerous supplements varies widely, and it is important to know which supplements are beneficial to your health and which may be harmful.
Dietary Supplements: The Most Important Information You Should Know
As a starting point, supplements come in a number of forms.
Some of them, but not all, include some kind of nutrient, whether it in the form of minerals, vitamins,botanicals, herbs, amino acids, or enzymes. The most common supplements may be purchased as individual supplements or with a multivitamin (which might save you from having to take a slew of pills each day). In case of the Women’s supplement the process was important.
The second point is that certain supplements are helpful, while others aren’t.
Supplements are popular for a reason: they may be beneficial on occasion.
A few examples of supplements that might be useful to your health:
- Supplementation with Vitamin B12 may help maintain healthy neuron and blood cells, as well as DNA creation and avoid anaemia.
- Folic acid has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of birth defects in pregnant women.
- It has been demonstrated that vitamin D helps grow bones.
- In terms of bone health, calcium may be beneficial.
- Protecting cells from injury are vitamins C and E.
- It has been found to improve cardiovascular health by using fish oil.
- Macular degeneration patients may benefit from taking vitamin A, which may slow the course of vision loss.
Skin health and the advancement of age-related macular degeneration have been linked to zinc supplementation.
Taking Melatonin may help alleviate jet lag symptoms
Supplement research has been extensive (the National Institutes of Health has spent over $2.4 billion on vitamins and minerals since 1999), but the data isn’t fully there just yet. Taking multivitamins has not been shown to increase lifespan, slow cognitive decline, or lower the risk of chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer, or diabetes in the majority of studies.
The things you buy in stores or online may vary from those used in research, which implies that studies may be deceiving.
