What is a dietary supplement?
It's officially defined as a substance
and that could mean a vitamin,
a mineral,
an herb or or component of our diet such
as an amino acid that is used to supplement
the diet in some way.
So it's a very broad term and does need to be
taken by mouth but it can come in many forms.
It can be pills,
powders,
liquid but it's typically anything that is utilized
to supplement a diet.
So for example in the case of somebody that might have
vitamin D deficiency that vitamin D would be
a supplement to help that person with their
deficiency to supplement the diet that may be
unable to really supplemented just by diet alone.
It's very important as we are considering
dietary supplements to ask before you start taking
a supplement do I really need this.
And I ask that because in many cases
supplements are very easy to grab off the shelf
and they're abundant.
There's over 80000 on the market that we know of.
One of the key things is because they're so easy
to grab and incorporate in some cases the questions
don't always get asked meaning;
can I get this from my diet?
Does this interact with my medications
that I might be on already?
Are there other issues with taking this that I may
not have thought about?
Will it affect my sleep,
my mood?
And I think at the end of the day it's really
important to have somebody that we can interact
with meaning a health care provider that a consumer
or a patient is considering it can really guide them
in this process to make sure that supplement
is optimal as opposed to just grab it off the shelf
and thinking about it after the fact.
The best place to get information about dietary
supplements is definitely a health care provider.
There are obviously other sources to start with,
the Office of Dietary Supplements as an example
provides good information on various dietary supplements.
But the end of the day the person who should know
you the best is your health care provider and hopefully
somebody you've had a good working
relationship for some time.
So they would know your medications,
your medical conditions your allergies and that's
the person who you should be able to go
to and say I'm considering this supplement
for this condition,
what do you think?
That's a great starting point to figure out
if it's the right supplement and also the right formulation,
the right dose,
the right brand.
There's many details before we start to supplement
and should always always start with a health
care provider.
That's a common question as far as kind of just
start taking a supplement?
Do I need to see a health care provider or a supplement expert?
At the end of the day,
I think there's probably a few cases where you might
be OK but for the most part I would say it's hard to know,
so better safe than sorry,
and so it's always important to really try to find
health care provider before you start grabbing
the supplement off the shelf.
In many cases we've seen folks that we take off
supplements in the clinic.
Many folks would be surprised to hear that working within
integrative medicine or complementary medicine
that we actually take people off more
supplements than we put them on.
And that's true every single day.
I have folks coming in with know handfuls
of different vitamins and supplements
and when we get to the point of why you're taking this,
what have you seen with utilizing it,
in most cases it's not uncommon for patients to say
Gosh I wish I would have talked to you before I started
that because now you know there's more
confusion and then confirmation.
So if we have the chance to talk to a health
care provider it will help guide all the details.
Should you be taking it?
If so where to get it.
What's the dose?
What's the brand?
How long to take it?
What’s the therapeutic trial?
Let's reassess this in three months or four months
so we have a good idea if this is a keeper or something
to move on from.