The truth about Dietary Supplements
Three-quarters of Americans are taking dietary supplements. Over 90% of users say that they are essential for better health. Critics often claim that they are unnecessary, unsafe, or unregulated. Social media is full of unrealistic, unsupported claims of their miracle effects.
Doctors often dismiss supplements and advise to just eat a healthy diet, without any guidance. Most people with the best of intentions do not eat a perfectly balanced diet, in fact our eating habits today have gotten much worse. Many foods today are less nutrient dense than they were decades ago. This is due to genetically modified foods, soil depletion, food processing, and changes in agricultural practices.
The Mediterranean diet is the most widely studied diet. Here are two links for more information. The first is from the Cleveland Clinic and the second is a food pyramid for the Mediterranean diet.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16037-mediterranean-diet
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0939475325000730-gr1_lrg.jpg
Since 2008, supplement companies have been required to report any serious adverse effects to the Food and Drug Administration. With millions of supplements taken daily the safety record is strong. Under the FDA, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), created a comprehensive framework for how supplements are formulated, manufactured and labeled.
Some critics complain that supplements are not regulated like drugs. Drugs are formulated with new molecules apart from nature, in contrast dietary supplements can be found in nature and in our diets. Congress decided in 1994 that consumers should have access to these items with a regulatory framework.
Dietary supplements are just that, supplements to a balanced diet. My experience has been that supplements are taken and then stopped when there are no noticeable improvements in health.If you were able to eat a balanced diet the health benefits take time to be realized. The same is true supplementation.
Supplements are taken to combat against decrease neutral density in our foods. Proper guidance on diet supplementation is important considering once individual health and goals
The Journal Integrative Medicine 2025 has been used in part for this post.
