Vitamin D: Too Much Can Harm Your Kidneys While supplement trends come and go, here are seven supplements that historically have been popular - and in all cases, experts recommend taking them carefully, if at all. And if you’re managing an underlying health condition (especially if you’re taking medication) or are pregnant or breastfeeding, play it safe and have a conversation with your healthcare team before adding any new supplement to your regimen.

Very few supplements have been shown to be of benefit.' And, she says, many carry unsubstantiated health claims.Ĭonfused? National Institutes of Health (NIH) fact sheets provide detailed information on the benefits and risks of individual vitamins and minerals, as well as herbal supplements. “Many supplements on the market have not been rigorously tested. Chan School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

'Buyer beware,” warns JoAnn Manson, DrPH, MPH, MD, the chief of the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Furthermore, the data showed that people who took in adequate amounts of magnesium, zinc, and vitamins A and K had a lower risk of death - but only if they got those nutrients from food rather than supplements. Other research published the same year, involving self-reported dietary habits from a group of Americans, linked daily doses of more than 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium to a higher risk of death from cancer (though the National Cancer Institute notes that other studies suggest the opposite). The same went for dietary changes, except for a low-salt diet. For example, a systematic review published in the August 2019 Annals of Internal Medicine analyzed the potential effects of nutritional supplements on cardiovascular health, mainly heart attack and stroke, and found that few supplements help prevent heart disease - only omega-3 fatty acids and folic acid were effective. Used properly, some supplements may improve your health, but others can be ineffective or even harmful. Consumers can use the directory to look up ingredients used in products marketed as dietary supplements and find out what the FDA has said about that ingredient and whether the agency has taken any action pertaining to the ingredient.Īccording to the FDA, more than half of Americans take herbal or dietary supplements daily, with a report by Grandview Research noting the dietary supplements market was valued at $151.9 billion worldwide in 2021. In March 2023, the FDA unveiled its new Dietary Supplement Ingredient Directory, a web page intended to help the public stay informed about the ingredients used in dietary supplements. In other words, the regulation of dietary supplements is much less strict than it is for prescription or OTC drugs. It’s up to manufacturers to ensure that their products do not contain contaminants or impurities, are properly labeled, and contain what they claim. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not authorized to review dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed. While it’s true that vitamins and minerals are essential to health, it’s not true that taking them in pill, capsule, or powder form - especially in megadoses - is necessary or without risks.įor one thing, dietary supplements can sometimes interact with each other, as well as with over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medication. When it comes to supplements, there’s so much hype about their potential benefits that it can be hard to separate fact from fiction.

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