Dietary supplements : how safe are they?

Dietary supplements are increasingly popular among a large group of people concerned with preserving their health and fitness. But the question of their effectiveness claims and safety is also at an all
time high. How safe are they?

Consumers and self-care enthusiasts are taking vitamins,minerals, herbs, or other dietary supplements. For some of the most popular like folic acid, calcium/vitamin D , the evidence for benefits is so clearly established that they are automatically included in the diet. For others like herbal supplements, some hesitate into "may or may not help " frame of mind, as it can be dangerous.

May Palmer, an emergency room physician and toxicologist, along with her colleagues, published an article in Lancet, analyzed nearly 500 calls about bad reactions to supplements which included heart attacks, liver failure, bleeding, seizures, and death. Palmer said,
"When I started the study, i thought that maybe the safety problems with supplements really were mild and that my worries were unfounded.
I was very surprised to see how serious the adverse reactions really were."

Dietary supplements are regulated much more loosely than drugs that it's impossible to know how much harm they cause. Perhaps the best way for consumers to know whether particular products are effective is to use a brand that has been subjected to well-designed clinical
studies. Individuals may educate themselves by visiting private health education companies such as Supplement Watch (www.supplement.watch.com) and The Natural Pharmacist (www.tnp.com) who have done a good job of bringing the scientific evidence or the lack thereof for various supplements from the research journals to the public.