The Role Of Dietary Supplements In Our Lives

Dietary supplements are vitamins and minerals that come in different forms (pills, powders) and can significantly improve your health.

In the modern world, given the bad ecology and constant stress, we are increasingly lacking resources to maintain the health and normal functioning of the body.

Scientists believe that optimizing the diet of a modern person only by consuming natural foods is not effective enough. Science does not stand still in this regard, it’s developing new drugs every day.

TV screens are literally torn from the amount of advertising, in which we are often promised to get rid of all kinds of ailments through the use of biologically active additives.

Whether we want or not, biologically active additives, or dietary supplements, are part of our modern lives. So what are they? Let’s find out!

What Are Dietary Supplements?

On the one hand, a dietary supplement is not a remedy for treatment. Dietary supplements, unlike drugs, always have a natural basis, they exclude synthetic and chemical compounds.

On the other hand, this is not food, but a set of biologically active substances. They allow a person to supplement the diet with missing vital substances, which is a necessary condition for maintaining normal human homeostasis.

This is of particular importance since modern food is simply not able to provide the body with all the essential biologically active substances in the required quantities.

Some dietary supplements really bring patients certain benefits, improving their condition. So it is difficult to argue that when used as food supplements, they can make up for the deficiency of vitamins in the body.

However, the scope of dietary supplements should be significantly narrowed. They can be used either as nutritional supplements or in addition to medications prescribed by doctors. But in no case as the main treatment for the disease.

The Health Benefits Of Dietary Supplements

Supplements appeared in our lives around the 90s of the 20th century. And to this day, many people give them preference as an alternative to medical treatment with chemicals.

Many, on the contrary, believe that all useful substances enter the human body with food, and it is not worthless to stuff the body with some kind of “strange” tablets.

Dietary supplements are useful substances obtained as a result of a technological process, the concentration of which is much higher than in food.

As noted above, dietary supplements accelerate the healing process, strengthen immunity, and are used as prophylactic agents.

A dietary supplement, such as Joint N-11 from Mind Your Head York, helps you to get easier movement and pain relief.

Also, dietary supplements can cleanse the body of toxins, salts, mucus, and the like troubles.

They can replenish the body’s supply of nutrients, as well as restore the functioning of some organs of the human body.

The Types Of Dietary Supplements

Dietary supplements are a kind of embodiment of folk recipes in the form of capsules, syrups, emulsions, and so on.

But they should not be considered as medicines for ailment treatment; they are just helpers.

There are two main types of dietary supplements:

Parapharmaceuticals

They may include substances that have some therapeutic effect on the body, increase immunity, and help in preparation for surgical interventions.

Nutraceuticals

Those that can correct incorrect metabolic processes in the human body.

Who Can Benefit From These Supplements?

Almost anyone can take multivitamins or other dietary supplements to stay healthy and nourish the body. But you can also get all those vitamins and minerals from the foods you’re eating.

If your diet is packed with vegetables, fruits, fish, and lean meats, most likely, you won’t need to get micronutrients from other sources.

But if your favorite meal of the day is that cheeseburger, then your body might lack essential nutrients. And in this case, you should consider supplementing your diet with multivitamins.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s ok to eat fast food because you’ll take a supplement and your meal suddenly turns healthy. No! By all means, NO!

Dietary supplements can’t compensate for unhealthy eating. They offer extra support for those who already eat healthily, but lack certain nutrients.

With that being said, here are the people who may truly benefit from taking dietary supplements:

• Pregnant or soon-to-be pregnant women;
• Breastfeeding women;
• Women who have heavy menstrual periods or are at menopause;
• Vegetarians, vegans, and all those who don’t eat meat;
• People with health conditions related to the digestive system (food allergies, gastrointestinal disease, lactose intolerance, and even gastric bypass surgery for weight loss);
• Those with a sensitive stomach.

What Are The Most Important Nutrients?

Here is a table with the most important nutrients in our bodies and the USDA’s recommended daily amount:

Most Americans lack some of these recommended nutrients and resort to dietary supplements to boost their health.

Even though you can get them over the counter, it’s recommended to consult with your doctor before considering taking any kind of supplements.

So avoid taking dietary supplements if your doctor doesn’t advise you to do so because you might mess up your metabolism.