What Should I Know Before Using Dietary Supplements?

Remember: Safety First.
Some supplement ingredients, including nutrients and plant components, can be toxic based on their activity in your body. Do not substitute a dietary supplement for a prescription medicine or therapy.

Think twice about chasing the latest headline.
Sound health advice is generally based on research over time, not a single study touted by the media. Be wary of results claiming a "quick fix" that depart from scientific research and established dietary guidance.

Learn to Spot False Claims.
Remember: "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Some examples of false claims on product labels:

• Quick and effective "cure-all."
• Can treat or cure disease.
• "Totally safe," "all natural," and has "definitely no side effects."

More may not be better.
Some products can be harmful when consumed in high amounts, for a long time, or in combination with certain other substances.

The term "natural" doesn't always mean safe.
Do not assume that this term ensures wholesomeness or safety. For some supplements, "natural" ingredients may interact with medicines, be dangerous for people with certain health conditions, or be harmful in high doses. For example, tea made from peppermint leaves is generally considered safe to drink, but peppermint oil (extracted from the leaves) is much more concentrated and can be toxic if used incorrectly.

Is the product worth the money?
Resist the pressure to buy a product or treatment "on the spot." Some supplement products may be expensive or may not provide the benefit you expect. For example, excessive amounts of water-soluble vitamins, like vitamin C and B vitamins, are not used by the body and are eliminated in the urine.
Read more!

What Dietary Supplements Are You Taking?

Working With Your Health Care Providers.

With the abundance of conflicting information available about dietary supplements, it is more important than ever to talk with your doctor and other health care providers (dietitian, nurse, pharmacist, etc.) to help you sort the reliable information from the questionable.

Dietary Supplements -- More Than Vitamins...

Today's dietary supplements are not only vitamins and minerals. They also include other less familiar substances, such as herbals, botanicals, amino acids, and enzymes. Dietary supplements come in a variety of forms, such as tablets, capsules, powders, energy bars, or drinks.

If you do not consume a variety of foods, as recommended in the Food Guide Pyramid and Dietary Guidelines for Americans, some supplements may help ensure that you get adequate amounts of essential nutrients or help promote optimal health and performance. However, dietary supplements are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure diseases; therefore, manufacturers may not make such claims. In some cases, dietary supplements may have unwanted effects, especially if taken before surgery or with other dietary supplements or medicines, or if you have certain health conditions.

Unlike drugs, but like conventional foods, dietary supplements are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for safety and effectiveness. It is the responsibility of dietary supplement manufacturers/distributors to ensure that their products are safe and that their label claims are accurate and truthful. Once a product enters the marketplace, FDA has the authority to take action against any dietary supplement product that presents a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury.

Scientific evidence supporting the benefits of some dietary supplements (e.g., vitamins and minerals) is well established for certain health conditions, but others need further study. Whatever your choice, supplements should not replace prescribed medications or the variety of foods important to a healthful diet.

Potential Risks of Using Dietary Supplements
Although certain products may be helpful to some people, there may be circumstances when these products can pose unexpected risks. Many supplements contain active ingredients that can have strong effects in the body. Taking a combination of supplements, using these products together with medicine, or substituting them in place of prescribed medicines could lead to harmful, even life-threatening results. Also, some supplements can have unwanted effects before, during, and after surgery. It is important to let your doctor and other health professionals know about the vitamins, minerals, botanicals, and other products you are taking, especially before surgery.

Here a few examples of dietary supplements believed to interact with specific drugs:

• Calcium and heart medicine (e.g., Digoxin), thiazide diuretics (Thiazide), and aluminum and magnesium-containing antacids.


• Magnesium and thiazide and loop diuretics (e.g., Lasix®, etc.), some cancer drugs (e.g., Cisplatin, etc.), and magnesium-containing antacids.


• Vitamin K and a blood thinner (e.g., Coumadin).


• St. John's Wort and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs (i.e., anti-depressant drugs and birth control pills).
  

Bottom Line

• Do not self diagnose any health condition. Work with your health care providers to determine how best to achieve optimal health.


• Check with your health care providers before taking a supplement, especially when combining or substituting them with other foods or medicine.


• Some supplements can help you meet your daily requirements for certain nutrients, but others may cause health problems.


• Dietary supplements are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure disease, or to replace the variety of foods important to a healthful diet.
  

Read more!

Reports Confirm Heart Health Protected By Vitamin D

Vitamin D is known to be essential for maintaining strong bones, a healthy immune system and protection against some types of cancer. Now, important new studies suggest there's another major benefit Vitamin D provides...It helps protect the heart.

Recent studies report treatment with activated vitamin D (Calcitrol-vitamin D3) can protect against heart failure. Their results appear in the July issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology.

In the study, activated vitamin D prevented heart muscle cells from growing bigger - the condition, called hypertrophy, in which the heart becomes enlarged and overworked in people with heart failure. The treatments prevented heart muscle cells from the over-stimulation and increased contractions associated with the progression of heart failure.

About 5.3 million Americans have heart failure, a progressive, disabling condition in which the heart becomes enlarged as it is forced to work harder and harder, making it a challenge even to perform normal daily activities. Many people with heart disease or poorly controlled high blood pressure go on to experience a form of heart failure called congestive heart failure, in which the heart's inability to pump blood around the body causes weakness and fluid build-up in lungs and limbs. Many people with heart failure, who tend to be older, have been found to be deficient in vitamin D.

The researchers conclude vitamin D retards the progression of heart failure and protects the heart.

The research team has explored vitamin D's effects on heart muscle and the cardiovascular system for more than 20 years. A number of studies worldwide attest to the vitamin D-heart health link.

The heart health-vitamin D link research adds to the growing awareness that widespread vitamin D deficiency, thought to affect one-third to one-half of U.S. adults middle-aged and older, may be putting people at greater risk of many common diseases.

Pharmaceutical companies are now developing anti-cancer drugs using vitamin D analogs, which are synthetic compounds that produce vitamin D's effects. There's also increasing interest in using vitamin D or its analogs to treat autoimmune disorders.

In a wide range of tissues and cells in the body, activated vitamin D acts as a powerful regulating hormone. In the heart, the research team has revealed precisely how activated vitamin D connects with specific vitamin D receptors and produces its calming, protective effects. Those results appeared in the February issue of Endocrinology.

Sunlight causes the skin to make activated vitamin D. People also get vitamin D from certain foods and vitamin D supplements. Taking vitamin D supplements and for many people, getting sun exposure in safe ways, are certainly good options for people who want to keep their hearts healthy. However, it is important for people with heart failure or at risk of heart failure will likely require a prescription drug made of a compound or analog of vitamin D that will more powerfully produce vitamin D's effects in the heart for improvement in their symptoms.

Vitamin D analogs already are available for some conditions. One present drawback of these compounds is that they tend to increase blood calcium to undesirable levels, so efforts to develop a vitamin D- based drug to treat heart failure are moving a step closer to initial trials in people.

Funding for the study came from the National Institutes of Health.

University of Michigan Health System (2008, June 12). Vitamin D: New Way To Treat Heart Failure?
Read more!