Red or Blue: A Guide to Dietary Supplements

Masha Vorslav

At some point the opinion arose that dietary supplements are a miracle pill, with the help of which you can easily lose a dozen kilograms, grow hair to the waist and almost become twice smarter. Such statements of trust do not inspire, but it is obvious that the market of bioadditives cannot flourish only at the expense of tablets of dubious quality and labor of marketing specialists. We decided to understand what it is, how these additives work and what it costs and should not be expected from them.

What are dietary supplements

Biologically active additives are needed to enrich the diet with food or biologically active substances (without tautologies), either alone or in combination. The FDA determines that they may contain vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, extracts and extracts of herbs - this is all that the body should do "good." Forms of dietary supplements are also variable: tablets, capsules, powders or gels; the main thing is that they should be different in appearance from ordinary food, and on the label of the jar there should be a direct indication that this is (their labels are generally a painful and separate important topic).

Paola gulotta founder of the cosmetic brand Sepai

Unfortunately, we have to accept them. I say "unfortunately" because in an ideal world, all people eat healthy, organic food, but this is utopia: fruits and vegetables are now transgenic, meat contains hormones, fish contains mercury and nickel, almost everyone has forgotten about whole grain flour. Therefore, supplements - the only way to get the missing nutrients, and they must be included in the diet - the only way you can stay beautiful inside and out. Naturally, the choice of dietary supplements must be approached wisely. There are two types of dietary supplements: traditional, such "pomace" from food, and new, "special", which undergo some biotechnological modifications. The first ones can be treated without fear, but I would recommend with the latter to wait until at least three independent universities do research with them for five years and get the same results.

Supplements, drugs and functional nutrition

It is important to know (and remember that it is already there), that dietary supplements are not food and not medicines. They are not intended for the treatment, prevention and prophylaxis of diseases, therefore statements like “eliminating joint pain” on the packaging are not only untenable, but also contrary to the law. Dietary supplements can not replace food (soylent comes to mind, so yes, it is not soylent), they compensate for the lack of missing substances in the diet - this is their positive effect. Even dietary supplements should not be confused with functional nutrition - the latter is aimed at solving serious health problems (see nutrition for diabetics), which the supplements do not do again.

Michel Evrardpharmacist, creator of the brand Cosmetics 27

Supplements are gaining popularity in Europe - after the United States, where almost everyone takes them, and Asia with its centuries-old tradition of using plants as medicines and additives. I prefer the Asian approach to the prevention of diseases, but I noticed that in our country [in Europe] people rely more on the healing qualities of dietary supplements. Beauty, of course, is not only about jars of creams: if you are not very lucky with the genes, most likely, an unhealthy lifestyle will affect the appearance. Supplements can act as a source of substances that we can receive less, nourish the body, and this ultimately affects both appearance and well-being.

About taking dietary supplements and consulting a doctor

Even food - including vegetables and fruits - can reduce the effectiveness of the action of drugs. Grapefruits and pomegranates, for example, should not be eaten by people who take drugs to normalize cholesterol levels in the blood, and spinach, because of its high content of vitamin K, is friendly with drugs for blood thinning. The same story with additives: the concentration of conditionally useful substances in them is often higher than in any fruit or vegetable, therefore their “conflict” with respect to drugs is also higher. Individual supplements can not be taken before and after surgery, and most dietary supplements are not tested on children, pregnant and lactating women - in this light, the request of any doctor to tell about all the supplements that you take, does not seem unreasonable, right?

And further

The word "natural" on the package of supplements does not always mean "safe" (the same herb comfrey and kava can cause serious damage to the liver), and markers "standardized", "verified" and "certified" do not guarantee quality. Herbal supplements may contain dozens of different compounds, and a complete list of ingredients may be not only not listed on the pack, but even unknown. In such supplements, it is impossible to accurately determine the concentration of active substances, so it is possible that you will take more (or less) substances than you want, even if you follow the instructions (the latter must always be done with all dietary supplements). But in general, before you start taking any supplement, you need to decide whether it will be useful to you specifically, what risks may arise and what are the terms and doses of its supplement (Internet user level 99 is familiar with the register: supplements are, of course, not all, but there is a lot of useful information).