supplement safety Archives - NN2 New Site Development Lab (Private)

If you are taking a variety of nutritional dietary supplements, you may think that all supplements are 100 % safe, and the ‘more the merrier.’ Actually there are many issues that you should be aware of when choosing dietary supplements.
The BEST way to proceed it to seek supervision from a health care practitioner who is knowledgeable in natural remedies. They can offer you a blood test that analyses YOUR individual levels of important nutrients. Then you can make a science based decision about what you might actually be missing from your diet. You can then increase consumption of foods which contain the nutrients you need more of, and THEN consider using additional supplements appropriately. Life Extension Institute offers nutritional evaluation testing without a prescription from a health practitioner.

Here are 10 Top Supplement Tips:

1. Supplement drug interactions: If you are taking any prescription drugs, its important to check with your physician before taking any supplements. For example, if you are taking coumadin, or any other blood thinner, and you ALSO take an herb such as ginger or ginkgo biloba, your blood may get too thin.

2. Too much calcium:Many people misinterpret the recommendation to take calcium. For example , if your doctor says you should get 1500 milligrams of calcium a day, that means that is the TOTAL amount you should take including foods- not the amount you need to take in a supplement.

3. Loaded with unhealthy fillers:
Many commercial brands of supplements actually contain fillers that are suspected of having harmful health effects. READ YOUR INGREDIENT LABEL- especially OTHER INGREDIENTS. If you see words such as Butylated Hydroxytoluene; FD&C Blue No. 2; FD&C Red No. 40 ; FD&C Yellow No. 6 ; Polysorbate 80; Sodium Benzoate; leave it on the shelf and choose another brand. You may need to visit your health food store to find supplements that do not contain these fillers.

4. Don’t take supplements 7 days a week:Natural health practitioners traditionally recommend that you get most of your essential nutrients from whole foods, rather than supplements. Allow your body a one day a week rest from supplements.

5. Unrealistic expectations:Many people run to purchase the ‘supplement of the day’ that is mentioned by TV “Gurus”. This often leads to unrealistic expectations. Supplements are meant to be part of an overall program of healthy eating, exercise and stress reduction, that can help with overall wellness over time. After the TV Guru’s endorsement, people expect to get immediate, overnight results simply from taking a pill, and will most likely be disappointed with the results.

6. Purchasing overpriced products through Multi Level Marketing Companies:
Products marketed through multi level marketing schemes are ALWAYS overpriced. You can regularly find similar products at ½ the cost (or less) at your local health food store. Look at the INGREDIENTS in the supplement fact box on the Multi Level product, and match it up to a similar formula.

7. Inferior FORM of specific nutrients:Become an educated health consumer and research the best form of each nutrient. For example, vitamin E comes in many forms. “dl tocopherol” is a chemical, while “mixed tocopherols” are naturally occurring as would be found in food.

8. Too much of a good thing -Megadosing on supplements:When it comes to supplements, just because a small amount may be good for you, taking more is not always better, and can be dangerous. Examples include Vitamin A in high amounts can cause birth defects if used during pregnancy, and Vitamin B 6 , if taken in doses higher than 250 mg per day, can cause neurological problems.

9. Relying on Supplements instead of healthy food.
The word ‘supplement’ means that these substances can help to ‘fill in’ if sufficient nutrition is not provided by the diet. However, pills cannot replace healthy food.

10. Taking supplements to ‘Loose Weight’ Although certain substances such as Green Tea and Glucomannon can help the body metabolize fat, there is still only ONE WAY to loose weight: take in less calories than you burn: that means healthy eating and exercise!

Ellen Kamhi PhD RN, The Natural Nurse® , www.naturalnurse.com, co-author of The Natural Medicine Chest , medical school instructor, radio host, provides medical consults in private practice.

Natural Herbs and Supplements have a MUCH BETTER SAFETY PROFILE than Pharmaceutical Drugs !

If any supplement gets mentioned in the news, its usually in the context of some damage that it has caused, followed by a discussion of the danger of dietary supplements since they are not sufficiently regulated. The fact is, however, that dietary supplements ARE regulated according to the DSHEA Act of 1994.

However, the real dangerous culprit is highly regulated pharmaceutical drugs !

Many commonly used drugs are linked to disease. For instance, the use of antibiotics is associated with an increased risk of fatal breast cancer (JAMA, Feb 4, 2004). Regular use of painkillers such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen increases the risk of chronic kidney failure. (New Engl Jour Med Dec 20, 2001) Another research study notes that medications pose a significant risk to patients, with 1.9 million adverse drug events occurring each year, and up to 180,000 of these are life threatening or fatal (JAMA, Mar 5, 2003). Note the severity and astronomical numbers associated with adverse drug events, vs. the small incidence of adverse events due to supplements. Clearly, the 43 million dollars spent on FDA drug regulation does not make drugs safe.
New reports continue to stress the severe danger associated with the responsible use of pharmaceutical drugs. In fact, the CDC reports that “during 2007 a total of 38,371 drug-induced deaths occurred in the United States” (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6001a12.htm?s_cid=su6001a12_w)
The CDC reports ” It is estimated that there are more than 700,000 visits to emergency departments for adverse drug events each year in the United States. Nearly 120,000 of these patients need to be hospitalized for further treatment.” (https://www.cdc.gov/Features/MedicineSafety/ )

On the other hand, the more that dietary supplements are seriously investigated, the safer they appear to be. Of course, there is a rare incidence of death, such as deaths associated with taking ephedra, especially when combined with other recreational stimulants. However when we look at the big picture, the numbers are extremely favorable in terms of the safety of supplements. The American Association of Poison Control Centers released statistics in 2009 after an exhaustive 174 page study found that not even one death was caused by any dietary supplement in 2008. The data was published in the journal Clinical Toxicology and noted that there was zero deaths from multiple vitamins; B vitamins; vitamins A, C, D, or E; or any other vitamin. The list of supplements NOT linked to any death also includes amino acids, creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, chondroitin, melatonin and Homeopathic medicines. Herbal products were also contributed to zero deaths, including blue cohosh, echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John’s wort, valerian, yohimbe, Traditional Chinese Herbal medicines, ayurvedic medicines, or any other botanical. In fact, there were zero deaths from any dietary supplement. (Bronstein AC, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR Jr, et. al. 2008 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System (NPDS): 26th Annual Report. Clinical Toxicology (2009). 47, 911-1084. (https://www.aapcc.org/dnn/Portals/0/2008annualreport.pdf )
It is true that herbs can interact with medications and may make the medications less effective or even more dangerous. Its best to research any supplements that you intend to use or visit your highly trained holistic health practitioner for guidance if you are on prescription medications.
However, with this kind of excellent safety record, and well as the much lower cost associated with supplements vs pharmaceuticals, its time for conventional medical care to include the use of safe supplements as a first line intervention, and save the more expensive, dangerous and aggressive drug therapies for those cases that do not respond to diet, lifestyle and dietary supplement intervention. If you would like to discuss YOUR food and supplement regimen, set up a consult. www.naturalnurse.com under Services.