Tag Archives: nutritional supplements

Nutrition With Vitamin Supplements

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Nutritional vitamin supplements are a big business. Many say that they are unnecessary, whilst others contend that they are more necessary than ever. They have been a source of controversy and debate for many years. Why is this?

Vitamin supplements have been around a good long time in one form or another. Cod liver oil was widely given to children every day only 100 years ago. Those same children would never have dreamed that some day people would pay lots of money not only to take fish oil, but to take it more than once a day. You have probably seen the daily vitamins sold in most stores that even many doctors are now grudgingly stating are fine to take regularly.

The heart of the controversy is both the types and potencies of many of the supplements. Often, one single dose contains a nutrient in such high concentration as to be completely impossible to consume in a proportionate amount in foods that contain that same nutrient. Many people in the medical establishment insist that this is at best a foolish and at worst a potentially dangerous practice. They state that some nutrients, being water soluble, are simply passed through the system and others that are fat soluble can be absorbed into fat reserves in hazardous levels if consumed without caution.

Those who promote the use of supplements counter that passing part of a dose of a water soluble nutrient is worthwhile because it ensures saturation of that nutrient at a cellular level, maxing out the body’s available supplies. The supplement industry itself has added precautionary statements to their labeling to warn people of the potential hazard of consuming a high level of fat soluble nutrients.

Nevertheless, for vitamins and minerals, there is some monitoring by the Food and Drug Administration. For others that aren’t recognized as essential nutrients, the truth becomes more hazy.

If you truly wish to take nutritional supplements, start with small doses under the advice and supervision of qualified some professionals such as a registered dietician. After all, they aren’t called supplements for nothing.

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.

Herbal Dietary Supplement Look Outs

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Bear in mind that herbal dietary supplements can affect other substances in your body, including your medication.

More than 100 million Americans take vitamins or dietary supplements daily—including dozens of herbal nutrition supplements—and with a good reason. Research has shown that many herbal nutrition supplements can:

• Provide us with essential nutrients
• Boost the human’s immune system
• Enhance the memory and quality of sleep

Nevertheless, despite the popularity of herbal nutrition supplements to promote better health, not everybody who uses them is well informed about all of their properties or how they may interact—or interfere—with a variety of prescription drugs and other medication. As a result of this:

• Many people don’t share information about their use of herbal nutrition supplements with their health providers.
• Health providers do not think to ask if patients are taking herbal nutrition supplements.

Both are oversights that could have potentially dangerous consequences.

If you have had surgery in the past, you were probably told that you should stop taking aspirin several days before the operation to avoid excessive bleeding, even if you normally take aspirin daily to help protect your heart. (NOTE: There is news that stopping aspirin therapy suddenly can increase your risk of heart attack or stroke).

But what about herbal nutrition supplements which may increase bleeding, decrease the effectiveness of anti-clotting medications, or elevate heart rate or high blood pressure under certain conditions?

Benefits and Side Effects Of Nutrition Supplements

People who are contemplating surgery, or who even take medication regularly, should become familiar with the power and properties of any herbal nutrition supplements that they are taking.

Herbal dietary supplements are able provide important health benefits but it is important to know how they react to medication you may already be taking. Before you take herbal dietary supplements, do check with your health care provider to be sure the herbal supplement is safe for you.

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.