What are nutritional supplements?
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Nutrition supplements contain ingredients that are either common or uncommon to natural foods. These substances are either extracted from a natural food or they are made in a laboratory and are provided in many forms such as pills, powders for drinks and bars. Some examples of the early supplementation include ancient Persian physicians providing iron supplements to soldiers wounded in battle. On the other hand nutritional supplements marketed to the public began as an attempt to fill nutritional voids in the diet. For example, a supplement may help an individual who does not eat dairy foods meet their calcium needs. |
Today, the nutrition supplements industry has evolved into a multibillion-dollar industry. Nutrition supplements are sold in supermarkets, drugstores, stores found in shopping malls, on the internet and by direct marketing. Nutrition supplements include a broad range of individual and combinations of recognized nutrients such as protein and amino acid preparations, essential fatty acids and fish oil, vitamins and minerals, to more obscure substances and extracts such as co-enzyme Q10, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, hydroxy citric acid (HCA), kola nut, bilberry, grape seed extract, phytosterols, choline, lipoic aicd, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and carnitine.
Who needs a nutritional supplement?
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If a person’s diet contains enough calories for normal weight maintenance and is well balanced; containing multiple servings of fruits, vegetables, and dairy products as well as adequate sources of protein including fish or other seafood a couple times a week, than he or she is probably at least meeting the recommendations (RDA/AIs) for essential nutrients. Therefore, he or she would not need to supplement his or her diet to meet basic needs to prevent deficiency and to support general health. |
On the other hand, if his or her diet is consistently imbalanced than that person’s average daily intake for one or more essential nutrients will probably end up below recommendations. For instance, if a person doesn’t eat fish or other seafood regularly, then they might not be achieving the AI for an essential fatty acid. Or, if a person doesn’t tolerate or like milk and certain dairy foods, they might not achieve his or her AI for calcium and vitamin D on a regular basis. Therefore, unrelenting food preferences, food intolerance and allergies, or limited availability of certain foods can certainly necessitate the consideration of a nutrition supplement. In addition, reduced calorie intakes to lose weight can often lead to inadequate intakes of one or more essential nutrients by reducing the volume of food in general or limiting the intake of certain types of foods.
Beyond achieving RDA/AI levels for essential nutrients, many people seek out supplements containing nutrition factors that are purported to optimize the fight against current conditions such as osteoarthritis and obesity to help prevent diseases that develop over years or decades such as osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer. In doing so, essential nutrient levels well above the RDA/AI or other nutrients are sought out in supplementation. Often is the case that even a well balanced diet would not provide the higher level or the unique nutrients, either at all or in adequate amounts. In this case, the diet would have to be supplemented. Excellent examples of nutrients sought out for supplementation include phytosterols and psyllium fiber for cholesterol reduction, glucosamine for joint health, lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health and lycopene and blueberries for prostate health. Another example might be supplementation of creatine to achieve a daily level that would support the development of lean body mass for weight trainers and athletes.
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