Supplements when to use and not use

The dietary supplement industry continues to increase in popularity and the amount of money spent yearly on them is a multi-billion dollar industry. But how much benefit do you really get out of them and how do you know which ones to take, if any?

The advertising and hype behind most dietary supplements is greater then their actual benefit. For some people with a medical condition, certain dietary supplements that an individual may be lacking are needed to assist with maintaining optimal health. But the key in that statement is you need a medical condition that should be diagnosed by your medical doctor. Once diagnosed, the proper amount should be prescribed based on what you need to get you too normal.

Many of us fall victim to the thought that “more is better”, when we need to realize that “more is just more”. We know that getting Vitamin C and E are important along with other antioxidants can help reduce sickness. But adding more through mega dosing does no good for us. It is like filling your car up with gas, once the tank is full any extra is just going to spill out and be of no benefit to you except cost you more money. For the most part the wasting of these vitamins and extra nutrients is not going to cause you damage, other then wasting money. There are some cases that this overloading can actually be damaging to you, so you must be careful with what you are supplementing if you need to at all.

Many times we recognize that our dietary habits are not as good as they should be so we try to make up for it with dietary supplements. Research is continually showing us that dietary supplements are not meant for replacement of healthy eating. The way your body uses the natural source of these elements from whole food is better then the engineered format of a pill.

So the bottom line is:

• If you eat healthy you probably do not need any dietary supplements.
• If you do not eat healthy, don’t think taking it in a pill is going to make up for your bad eating.
• If you do have a medical condition that requires a dietary supplement, do it under the care of a physician so you do it properly and don’t harm yourself further.