Hello friends, Happy Friday!
How are you doing?
The air is festive these days (despite the poor AQI) and most of us are busy planning parties, vacations and new year resolutions. I will not keep you for long and keep this post small because I have plans too 
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As a nutritionist and a health coach, the second most asked question asked to me, is about dietary supplements. Which supplement to boost immunity? Which supplement for PCOS? Which supplement for weight loss? Which supplement for cardiac health and so on.
Dietary supplements do help but they are not a magical wand where one sweep will transform ‘something’ into ‘something more desirable’. Supplements take time and precision too. There are a lot of factors that need consideration before we start one – be it a prebiotic or protein powder or omega-3 or ashwagandha or resveratrol or fibre…
The market is full of various brands and variants, they are readily available over the counter/online and the benefits are advertised everywhere. Supplements could prove to be quite beneficial as long as we know which ones to take. Everything that is promised by a brand/product might not be true, or can even be even misleading, sometimes causing more harm than good.
What Exactly Are Dietary Supplements?
The goal of dietary supplements is always the same – to supplement the diet for optimum health benefits. The keyword here is – DIET. The supplement should just supplement i.e. fill any gaps a well-balanced diet has still left for some reason…definitely not an alternative to a good, well-balanced diet!
Supplements Come In Many Forms
Powder, pills, fizzy drinks, liquid, chewable tablets, gummies…whichever form you take, make sure it is age appropriate, bioavailable and is taken as intended in terms of timing, duration and dosage.
They come as multivitamins and also as a standalone nutrient. In my opinion, all these factors are also highly individualized and vary from person to person.
Supplements: The Good
A good, appropriate and bioavailable supplement can help provided there was a need for it to begin with. Our doctor or nutritionist might prescribe one to us. It could be because:
- Of some deficiency in body e.g. Vit D3 or iron or calcium etc
- Of some illness/risk of illness – that could be manged better with additional help from a supplement
- Of a performance related factor
- Of an unhealthy diet pattern
- Of correction needed in lifestyle patterns such as a jet lag etc
Supplements: The Bad
There are always concerns for:
- Toxicity with overdosage or unmindful consumption
- Non bio-availability of a form or variant
- Unwanted interaction with other medications/supplements one might already be taking
- Contradiction to a medical condition that one might already have
- Untested or shady compositions of the supplement
- Unwanted fillers etc used in supplements
- Contaminated source of the supplement such as heavy metals in fish etc
In The End
Just because the label says ‘completely safe’, ‘super-effective’, ’natural’ or’ proven’….doesn’t necessarily translate into the same. The researches that the supplement-makers give behind these products could have been done on different forms or dosages. Or the supplement could have bioavailability issues (a very common factor).
To ensure our own safety, we should take supplements with following precautions:
- Under proper guidance from a healthcare expert
- Read the labels properly for dosage and timings etc
- Make sure there are no unwanted interactions with your diet, pre-existing medical conditions and other medications
- Store supplements properly as indicated
Hope today’s post helped you in understanding the vast world of dietary supplements a bit better. Do share with your family and friends so that they also stay aware and optimise the supplements that they take.
Till next Friday
Love, Health & Peace
Your Health Coach
Smiita Krishna
