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There are a ton of supplements out there, that you can find in just about any store – from your neighborhood drugstore to Amazon. Made from vitamins and other dietary essentials, these supplements are marketed to help with any type of health concern, including weight loss, joint support and even stress relief. Some of their benefits may seem too good to be true, and in some ways they are too good to be true.
Dietary supplements might not be as beneficial to your health as you may think. They achieve their intended benefits through adding extra vitamins, minerals and nutrients to your diet. For example, if you are looking for immune support, a supplement made from vitamin C might help you with this - but their could be an unwanted side effect.
Our bodies need a certain amount of each vitamin and mineral, and having less or more can bring imbalance. So if you are getting the right amount of a particular vitamin from your diet, and then take extra pills with that same vitamin, you can put yourself at risk of side effects.
Taking in too much of a particular vitamin can lead to nausea, heartburn, abdominal cramps or headache - depending on which vitamin. But all extra vitamin intakes can hurt you.
The best way to avoid over-doing it on any supplement is to fill your diet with vitamin-rich foods and skip the capsules. If you want more vitamin C for immune support, eat more citrus fruits; if you want to boost your metabolism with magnesium, eat more almonds; and if you want vitamin B more energy, eat more eggs.
