What are the ten taboos about dietary supplements?

Judging from many years of practical experience in nutritional consultation, the top ten taboos that need to be avoided with dietary supplements are: avoid taking supplements without indications, avoid taking excessive amounts, avoid replacing meals, avoid combining with drugs of the same effect, avoid blind intake during special periods, avoid taking expired products, avoid mixing and matching ingredients with conflicting ingredients, avoid feeding adult supplements to children, avoid superstitious propaganda of "purely natural without side effects", and avoid blindly following the trend and buying Internet celebrity models. These ten rules are not made out of thin air. They are all bottom lines summarized from a large number of real users’ pitfall cases. Whether you want to supplement vitamins or functional supplements, as long as you touch these rules, there is a high probability that something will go wrong.

I just received a girl in her early 20s last month. I saw a blogger talking about niacinamide for whitening, so she took it for three months without any nutritional testing. As a result, excessive vitamin B3 caused skin sensitivity. She was intolerant of all the good skin care products she used before. Her face turned red like a cooked shrimp when exposed to slight heat. This is a typical pitfall of taking supplements without any indication. Many people think that supplements mean "there is no harm in taking them". This is not true. Excessive nutrition is no less harmful than lack of nutrition. I once had a child who was preparing for exams and was worried that his child would not be able to keep up with nutrition. DHA, lutein, and multivitamins were all given at the maximum dose. I added two extra spoons of protein powder, but my child suffered a gout attack before the exam, and the blood uric acid level soared to over 600. Excessive nutrients increased the metabolic burden. Supplements have always been "replenish only when deficient, and stop when sufficient." It does not mean that the more you eat, the better the effect will be.

There are also many people who take supplements as meals to save time. I met a little girl who was trying to lose weight. She used protein powder and meal replacement powder for three meals for a month. As a result, her aunt stopped for two months and it took half a year to switch back. No matter how complete the nutrients in supplements are, they cannot simulate the complex nutritional structure of natural foods. Without dietary fiber and various active substances, long-term consumption will only wear down the body.

The most common pitfall for middle-aged and elderly people is the trap of overlapping drugs. Many elderly people take antihypertensive and anticoagulant drugs and secretly buy fish oil and nattokinase to take. There was an old man who took the two together for half a year. He accidentally fell and the blood stasis under the skin was almost half swollen. It takes a month to wear off, because the anticoagulant ingredients in the supplement are superimposed with the medicine, which affects the coagulation function. If you need surgery in time, you may have difficulty stopping the bleeding. Before taking the supplement, you really need to ask your doctor if it conflicts with the medicine you are taking.

Oh yes, there are also special periods such as pregnancy, lactation, or those with underlying liver and kidney diseases. Don’t choose supplements blindly. A pregnant mother was afraid of insufficient nutrition, so she bought two multivitamins and took them together. During the prenatal check-up, it was found that vitamin A exceeded the standard, which almost affected the development of the fetus. In this special period, you must first listen to the doctor’s advice on supplements, and don’t make your own decisions.

Speaking of which, there is another point that many people overlook, which is not to check the shelf life before eating. Last year, a young man took out the expired fish oil that he had stored for more than two years and ate it. After three days of eating, he had diarrhea for two days. Many of the active ingredients of expired supplements have been oxidized and deteriorated. Not only are they not nutritious, but they may also breed harmful substances. It is not superfluous to check the shelf life before eating.

There is also the pitfall of mixing and matching. There was a girl who took melatonin, B-complex and grape seeds at the same time in order to adjust her work and rest. As a result, her insomnia became more serious. Later, she discovered that the B-complex she bought had energizing taurine added to it, which counteracts the sleep-aiding effect of melatonin. A quick glance at the ingredient list before taking it can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

There are also many parents who want to save trouble and give half of the supplements they take to their children. Previously, a parent fed his 3-year-old child half an adult vitamin C effervescent tablet. The child suffered from hyperacidity and fever, and was sent to the emergency room in the middle of the night. The dosage of adult supplements is designed based on the adult's weight and metabolic capacity. Children cannot metabolize it at all. If you want to supplement, buy a special children's version. It's really hard to make ends meet.

Nowadays, many businesses promote supplements as "all natural and without side effects", but don't believe it. An aunt who bought online celebrity liver-protecting tablets said that it is fine to take them for a long time. However, after taking them for half a year, I went for a physical examination and found that the transaminase increased a lot. Long-term consumption of those so-called natural herbal ingredients will increase the metabolic burden on the liver. How can there be any absolutely safe supplements?

Finally, don’t follow the trend and buy Internet celebrity products. When white kidney bean blockers were popular a while ago, I could receive more than a dozen consultations a day about diarrhea. Many Internet celebrity products have not been clinically tested at all, and do not have many effective ingredients. Instead, they add a lot of cathartic additives. It is a small thing to waste money, but it is a real loss to the body if they eat it.

There are indeed different views on the use of supplements in the nutrition community. Some people think that as long as the diet is balanced, there is no need to supplement at all, while others think that people with a single diet and irregular work and rest can take appropriate supplements. However, no matter where you stand, these ten taboos are a universal bottom line. Just don’t try and make mistakes with your own body.