Dietary suplemments - do you need to take them? Dietitian's advice!
Recently, many controversies has grown around the topic of dietary supplements. Some nutritionist support supplements in any form and even claim, they are necessary for maintaining our health. Their main argument is that "in today's world fruits and vegetables don't provide sufficient amount minerals and vitamins anymore". Hm... I'm from Poland, so I will relate to polish statistics. It may look a little different in your country. In 2013 Polish people spend almost milliard euros for dietary supplements. Is it true that they really made our health better? Or maybe we just spend this money on unnecessary things and it's a fraud? Does it even make sense to buy dietary supplements?
First of all: what is dietary supplement?
For the person that is not "in" the topic, a drug and a supplement can seem to be synonyms. Both can be bought in the pharmacy shop. Both are often produced by the same companies. They even look alike! That is really wrong to think like that. Supplement is in the eyes of law simply food. In 2016 in Poland, they have registered 7400 new dietary supplements. It is so easy to put a dietary supplement on the market. The company that wants to do that, doesn't need to provide with any research, any medical test. All they need is a label. If I had a label, I could go to GIS and simply inform them I have a product ready to sell. It'settled. Now I can sell it. Nothing more. They don't test it at all. It seems dangerous, doesn't it?
Do I need to supplement any vitamins or minerals?
Advertisements of dietary supplements are really creative. The speaker often reads a list of symptoms and I'm sure you can relate to most of them. Being tired, sleepy, lack of energy, putting on weight, finding it hard to concentrate and many more... Do they sound familiar? Should you really run to the nearest pharmacy shop and buy a multivitamin as soon as you hear one of the symptoms in the ad may be related to vitamin shortage? Not really, as you may have guessed. Of course dietary supplements can be useful sometimes. Truth is probably somewhere in between. Before you buy, regularly use the supplements, you should ask yourself: Is a symptom I want to cure really caused by a vitamin or mineral deprivation? Is being tired and finding it hard to concentrate really caused by magnesium shortage? Or maybe you just haven't slept enough recently? Looking for the answer online can be difficult nowadays. We are bombed from everywhere by mutually exclusive information. If all you need is a confirmation that taking one pill twice a day will make you lose 5 kilograms in a week, you can easily find it online. But is it true? Nope. Sorry.
Before you buy a certain supplement, THINK. Do I need this? If you can't answer the question correctly, contact your doctor or a dietitian. To be clear: I'm not saying that herbs, medical plans, or even certain vitamins and minerals don't work. I'm just trying to make you think before you decide to take them regularly. A well suited, designed by a professionalist, reconsidered supplementation plan can benefit your health. But don't shoot in the dark buying a supplement only because celebrity advertisers them, it is colorful, or you found it in Pharmacy shop. There is a great chance that you don't need this!
But when should you really take supplements?
There are some cases when a well-composed supplementation plan can be beneficial or even necessary! Check here when:
- in case of diseases that force you to take certain drug. For example in rheumatoid arthritis people need to supplement folic acid.
- when it can support the process of curing a disease. For example a cynarin in hypercholesterolemia.
- people who do sports, the right supplement can make their results better
- in people with proven deficiencies, like iron in anemia.
- in pregnant women, supplementation with iode, DHA, folic acid is necessity.
- if you exclude certain groups of products of your diet, vegans need to supplement B12 vitamin!
It is likely that even if you are not a part of any groups mentioned above, you may benefit by a supplementation. But I need to say it one more time DELIBERATED one!
There is one supplement that you need to take!
All the people living in Central Europe or in other parts of the world, where is not so much sun during winter or autumn, should supplement vitamin D. If you have never done it and you don't expose yourself to the sun rays enough, it's almost sure that you have vitamin D deficiency. You can do the blood tests, that would specify the level of this vitamin in your blood. I think 1000 IU in a form of D3 should do the job.
Do I know what I'm buying?
There is another important thing that should ensure you to think twice before you buy any supplement. You can never be sure what is inside the dietary supplement. As I told you before, it's not examined before going on to the market. There is no supervision over the supplements. At least in Poland. Last year the government has controlled hundreds of supplements. Most of them contained less active agent than they claim to have on the label. Some, where heavily contaminated with harmful chemicals. There is a strict control over the drug industry, but there is no control at all over the supplement industry.
" I will take it! It may not help me, but it will not harm me for sure."
Wrong. Typical thinking. There should be a serious reason for every supplementation!
In dietetics and in the world of supplements, nothing is white or black. Because each organism is different, it is sometimes difficult to determine the effects that a given substance will have on a given person. Products that are very healthy for some may harm others. In fact, nothing eaten in excess is not beneficial, and even the healthiest vegetables and fruits contain, in addition to precious ingredients, substances that are not beneficial if consumed too much. It's the same with supplements. For example, supplementation with beta-carotene (20-50mg) may reduce the risk of laryngeal, esophageal and oral cancer, but smokers increase the risk of lung cancer. Supplementation with alpha-tocopherol (a type of vitamin E) may reduce the incidence of prostate cancer, but in combination with anticoagulants (warfarin, acenocoumarol) increases the possibility of haemorrhage. Popular ginseng may in turn increase the effect of antidiabetic drugs and reduce the effect of antihypertensive drugs. There are many more such examples. This is another argument supporting the fact that buying blind supplements does not make sense and may hurt more than help.
Before you buy any supplement answear those questions:
Do I have a solid reason to use a given supplement?
What effect do I want to achieve and how long is the target for supplementation to be?
What are the natural sources of the substance that I intend to supplement and why it is not possible to simply increase the consumption of foods rich in a given ingredient?
CHECK if the supplement will not interact with the medicines you are taking - it's best to ask your doctor, pharmacist or a qualified dietitian, but you can check it online on sites.
Or maybe we can prevent deficiencies naturally? With the diet?
In most cases, it is possible! Therefore, I never recommend supplementation with minerals or vitamins routinely. The introduction of several changes in the diet is the safest, simplest, often the cheapest and tastiest way to compensate for any shortages and prevent their occurrence. Contrary to what some environments say, most of the needs of a healthy body are able to be covered without a problem using a properly balanced diet rich in unprocessed food products. Before we reach for a supplement, let's check the natural sources of the ingredient that we intend to swallow in the form of capsules or tablets or powders. By making small changes in the diet it can be easier to achieve the intended effect.
This is such a good post. I am a nutritionist and such a complete summary about supplementation is rarely found. Here in Europe Vitamin D is indeed hard to get during the winter. But here in Sweden we have Vitamin D supplemented to most of our milk. Dont know if its the same in other countries...? =)
Thank you! I appreciate your comment 😊 in Poland we don't have vitamin D added to any product, that's why most of polish people suffer from insufficiencies and have the levels in the blood below normal. Sure, eating fatty fishes may provide us with some vitamin D, but it's not enough :/ I think the idea of adding it to milk is a good one and we should have it in Poland as well!