Benefits and Perils of Taking Nutritional Supplements

Wonder whether you should take vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements? With more than 50,000 of these products on the market, do you know which ones might or might not be good for you, and which are safe to take? In this short animated video, the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the National Institutes of Health introduces the ODS website-the place for reliable, science-based answers to your questions about dietary supplements. Information on the website (http://ods.od.nih.gov/) is primarily in English, with many fact sheets for consumers available in Spanish. This video is also available in Spanish: ¿Debería tomar suplementos dietéticos? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waP9PcaO4Vk)

Dietary supplements sold for weight loss, muscle building, and energy are widely used by children and young adults. A new Harvard Chan study finds that using these products may have severe health consequences.

A new investigation may have you rethinking some of your vitamins. Consumer Reports finds certain ingredients in dietary supplements sold around the country can carry major health risks. Dana Jacobson reports on the dangers of a virtually unregulated, yet growing industry.

Scripps integrative medicine physician Dr. Robert Bonakdar discusses important information about dietary supplements. Learn more: http://bit.ly/2TmgJ10.
0:03 What is a dietary supplement?
0:49 How do I know if I need a dietary supplement?
1:50 Where is the best place to get information about dietary supplements?
2:43 Can I take supplements on my own?

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Before taking over-the-counter vitamins and supplements, pharmacists say it’s important to know why you’re taking them. “It really depends on your lifestyle, your diet, your health conditions, what you’re trying to treat, and the goals that you want to get out of taking the supplement,” explained Kacie Brubaker, a pharmacist with Lee Health..
Dietary supplements are often used for things like improving your health, maintaining your health and, for seniors, promoting bone health. “If you have any gastrointestinal problems where you have mal-absorption you’re not getting enough of the nutrients you’re eating, or if you have dietary restrictions, if you’re following an Adkin’s diet, if you’re a vegetarian, things like that, you’re missing certain components of what you need every day,” said Brubaker..
With so many over-the-counter options to choose from, it’s important to read the label. “The biggest thing for labels with vitamins and supplements is they are not required to have any warnings, so any side effects, or interactions, dose adjustments for people that have liver and kidney dysfunction, they are not required to be on these products so in those patients it’s very important to follow up with a health care provider,” she said..
Keep in mind, over-the-counter vitamins and supplements are not regulated the same as over-the-counter medication or prescription medication. “Vitamins and supplements are regulated as food. The FDA sees it as a food product, so it’s considered a dietary supplement versus an actual medication. The labels that are on these products are very similar to nutritional information that’s on a food label,” explained Brubaker..
While supplements can benefit your health if taken correctly, they can also interfere with other medications. Before taking a supplement, it’s important to talk to your doctor to make sure you’re taking the right one..
View More Health Matters video segments at LeeHealth.org/Healthmatters/.
Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries. Lee Health Caring People. Inspiring Care..
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In recent decades the number of people taking dietary supplements and vitamins especially in developed countries has grown. \rIn total, global sales exceed 123 billion dollars each year.\rThe problem is that there’s growing evidence that many of the supplements and vitamins have no proven positive health effects.\rAl Jazeera’s Science Editor Tarek Bazley reports from San Francisco.\r\rSubscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe\rFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish\rFind us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera\rCheck our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/