Health Benefits/Risks of Dietary Supplements

Author: Manyata Gupta

INTRODUCTION

Dietary supplement are often defined as any vitamin, mineral, added chemical substance, herbal product, botanical, amino acids, or other ingestible products that's added to the diet to profit human health. Dietary supplements are used worldwide and represent a broad category of ingestible products that are distinguishable from conventional foods and medicines. In China, India and Japan, where plants, herbs, botanicals and animal extracts have a long history of use as traditional medicine, regulations are different but relatively stringent in terms of safety and side effects to humans. Dietary supplements come in a spread of forms, including tablets, drinks, gummies, capsules and powders Popular dietary supplements such as vitamins D and B12; minerals like calcium and iron; herbs such as echinacea and garlic; and products like glucosamine and fish oils. Additionally, to vitamins, dietary supplements can contain minerals, herbs, amino acids, enzymes, and lots of other ingredients.