FAQ's
What is in food supplements?
Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients that the body needs in very small amounts to work properly. Most of them cannot be manufactured by the body and need to come from the food we eat.
As well as vitamins and minerals, food supplements may also contain other ingredients such as herbs, amino acids, amino sugars, enzymes and essential fatty acids.
Particular nutrients perform one or more specific functions within the body. For example, calcium and vitamin D work together to build strong bones and teeth; vitamin D also supports our immune functions and calcium is involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. Vitamin C helps keep cells healthy and facilitates the absorption of iron whilst iron is involved in the production of red blood cells, along with riboflavin (vitamin B2) vitamins B6 and B12 and folic acid.
Can people get all the nutrients they need from their diet?
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is the best way to get all the nutrients the body needs. However, surveys show that many people do not meet dietary recommendations such as eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day or oily fish twice a week. Some groups of people in particular may find it difficult to achieve recommended nutrient intakes through diet alone. These include young children and adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women, housebound or institutionalized elderly people, smokers, heavy drinkers, and anybody on a restrictive diet, such as vegans, vegetarians and people trying to lose weight.
Nutrients can also be lost from food as a result of poor methods of storage, preparation and cooking. In addition, busy lifestyles mean that people are more inclined to skip meals and grab individual snacks without giving thought to putting together properly balanced meals which would provide the right mix of nutrients.
What happens if people don’t get all the vitamins and minerals they need?
Nutrition underpins good health and a considerable body of research has highlighted links between inadequate intakes of vitamins and minerals and poor health.
A 2011 study[1] found that, at that time, poor diet cost the NHS an estimated £5.8 billion a year, an economic burden greater than that of smoking related diseases. It is estimated that 70,000 premature deaths could be prevented each year if diets matched nutritional guidelines. This is more than 10 per cent of current mortality and the health benefits of meeting nutritional guidelines have been estimated to be as high as £20 billion each year.[2]
There are now strong links between low intakes of particular nutrients and the risk of developing chronic disease including some cancers, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and depression.[3]
During pregnancy, insufficient nutrient intake can have long-term health implications for the health of the child. Women who are trying to conceive, and pregnant women should take a folic acid supplement of 400 micrograms up to week 12 of the pregnancy to help prevent neural tube defects such as Spina Bifida in the unborn foetus[4]. Recent years have also seen a re-emergence of cases of rickets in babies and children which is caused by vitamin D deficiency, often in the mother; government advice is for all pregnant and breastfeeding women to take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D.
As well as vitamins and minerals, intakes of marine omega-3 fatty acids have an important role to play in maintaining health[5]. There is evidence that omega-3s can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, help maintain cognitive function during ageing and may help to prevent some types of dementia and depression.
How do I know if I need a dietary supplement?
Because many products are marketed as dietary supplements, it is important to remember that supplements include vitamins and minerals, as well as herbs, botanicals and other substances.
Some supplements may help ensure that you get adequate amounts of essential nutrients or help promote optimal health and performance if you do not consume a variety of foods, as recommended in the MyPlate and Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
However, dietary supplements are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure disease. 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.
Do not self diagnose any health condition. Work with your health care provider to determine how best to achieve optimal health and always check with your health care provider before taking a supplement, especially when combining or substituting them with other foods or medicine.
How can I get more information about a particular dietary supplement such as whether it is safe and effective?
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. This is partly due to the way dietary supplements are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Research studies in people to prove that a dietary supplement is safe are not required before the supplement is marketed, unlike for drugs. 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. If the FDA finds a supplement to be unsafe once it is on the market, only then can it take action against the manufacturer and/or distributor, such as by issuing a warning or requiring the product to be removed from the marketplace.
The manufacturer does not have to prove that the supplement is effective, unlike for drugs. The manufacturer can say that the product addresses a nutrient deficiency, supports health, or reduces the risk of developing a health problem, if that is true. If the manufacturer does make a claim, it must be followed by the statement “This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”
Where can I find information about the use of dietary supplements for a particular health condition or disease?
Scientific evidence supporting the benefits of some dietary supplements (e.g., vitaminsand 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.
What is the difference between the RDA and DV for a vitamin or mineral?
Many terms are used when referring to either the amount of a particular nutrient (such as calcium or vitamin D) you should get or the amount in a food or dietary supplement. The two most common are the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and the Daily Value (DV). These terms can be confusing.
RDAs are recommended daily intakes of a nutrient for healthy people. They tell you how much of that nutrient you should get on average each day. RDAs are developed by the Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. They vary by age, sex, and whether a woman is pregnant or breastfeeding; so there are many different RDAs for each nutrient.
DVs, established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are used on food and dietary supplement labels. For each nutrient, there is one DV for all people ages 4 years and older. Therefore, DVs aren’t recommended intakes, but suggest how much of a nutrient a serving of the food or supplement provides in the context of a total daily diet. DVs often match or exceed the RDAs for most people, but not in all cases.
DVs are presented on food and supplement labels as a percentage. They help you compare one product with another. As an example, the %DV for calcium on a food label might say 20%. This means it has 260 mg (milligrams) of calcium in one serving because the DV for calcium is 1,300 mg/day. If another food has 40% of the DV for calcium, it’s easy to see that it provides much more calcium than the first food.
You can view the DVs for all nutrients on the following webpage: https://dsld.od.nih.gov/dsld/dailyvalue.jsp.
Where can I purchase dietary supplements?
Dietary supplements are available without a prescription through a number of retail outlets including grocery stores, drug stores, general merchandise retailers, natural food stores and specialty health and nutrition stores. Many dietary supplements can also be purchased online through the Internet.
How do I know if the supplement that I purchased contains the ingredients that it claims on the label or if it is contaminated?
You should be aware that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not analyze the content of dietary supplements. However, FDA has issued Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) for dietary supplements, a set of requirements and expectations by which dietary supplements must be manufactured, prepared, and stored to ensure quality. Manufacturers are expected to guarantee the identity, purity, strength, and composition of their dietary supplements. For example, the GMPs aim to prevent the inclusion of the wrong ingredients, the addition of too much or too little of a dietary ingredient, the possibility of contamination (by pesticides, heavy metals such as lead, bacteria, etc.), and the improper packaging and labeling of a product.
Who is responsible for overseeing the regulation of dietary supplements in the United States?
In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has regulatory responsibility for dietary supplements. FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering “conventional” foods and drug products (prescription and over-the-counter). Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, the dietary supplement manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement is safe before it is marketed. FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market.
Credits: The above FAQ's / Articles have been taken from the website https://www.hsis.org/. We give full credit to this site and their authors.
Credits: The above FAQ's / Articles have been taken from the website https://ods.od.nih.gov/ We give full credit to this site and their authors.
References:
[1] The economic burden of ill health due to diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity in the UK
[2] The Cabinet Office.Food Matters.Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century. 2008
[3] World Health Organization.Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series 916. 2003.
[4] Vitamins, supplements and nutrition in pregnancy
[5] Role of fatty acids and micronutrients in healthy ageing