Nutritional supplements adding to your health

Nutritional supplements refers to a wide range of products that are designed to enhance your health, improve athletic performance, or otherwise affect your physical or mental well being. These can include vitamins, sports supplements, weight loss products, teas, herbs, and anti-oxidants. Nutritional supplements can be found in almost all health food stores and many traditional stores as well.

Throughout history, nutritional supplements have been used to treat a wide range of ailments and to improve health. Many traditional medicines come from what may be considered supplements. Perhaps one of the most common forms of nutritional supplement is the vitamin. Many people take multi-vitamins, and doctors often recommend such use. Some vitamins can be risky if taken in excess, however, so an awareness of the safety of such vitamins is essential. An excess of Vitamin A, for example, can lead to liver damage and other unpleasant side effects. Consult with a doctor before taking anything vitamin supplements.

Other popular supplements are used in sports, where they are used to enhance performance and speed recovery. Many supplements used for these purposes cause debate as to effectiveness, and some have been pulled from the shelves. Ephedrine is one recent example. Used in many weight loss products, ephedrine caused serious heart problems for some users and is now a regulated substance. Creatine is another supplement of possible unknown side effects. Some people claim that it causes liver damage, while others say that it is safe when used appropriately.

One of the most important things to know about nutritional supplements is that they are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is why many product claims on packaging labels and advertising materials include the message, "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration" or something similar. Because supplements are not regulated, the manufacturing, processing, and packaging methods can vary a great deal from one product to another. When using supplements, be sure to research the company and choose a reputable supplier. The safety of supplements may also be unknown due to the lack of regulation. Again, careful shopping is necessary.

Many producers and users of supplements claim that they are safe because they are natural or made from "all natural" ingredients. While this may seem like a logical claim, consumers must use their best judgment when considering the use of supplements. Many substances found in nature are not safe, and are in fact toxic, poisonous, and even deadly. After all, poison ivy is "all natural," but you likely won't want to rub it all over your skin, even if a great sales pitch tried to convince you that it's the best moisturizer around.

Some nutritional supplements can be useful and aid your health. Just as with any consumable, careful shopping and research is essential to your good health. If a claim seems too good to be true, it likely is. Be aware of product pitches and use good judgment before purchasing and using any nutritional supplements. Buy supplements from a reputable company and manufacturer, and when in doubt, consult a physician before beginning a supplement routine.

What you should know before taking supplements

These days there is plenty of controversy and debate over whether it is beneficial to take various supplements. There are many kinds of supplements out there all with different intentions. There are food or meal supplements, weight loss supplements, strength enhancing supplements, and performance enhancing supplements, just to name a few.

While I do believe that certain supplements can provide some benefits for weight loss and increased fitness, taking the wrong ones or taking too high a dose can create some unwanted serious side effects. If you are either currently taking any supplements or are considering taking any then follow these tips to ensure they will not do you more harm than good.

For starters, get a physical checkup from your doctor. Talk to the doctor about what supplements you are taking or are looking to take and explain what you want to take them for whether it is for weight loss or to increase your strength for fitness. Your doctor can make sure that you have no conditions that would be adversely affected by them and may also have other recommendations as well.

Do your homework and learn as much as you can about the supplements you want to take. Many weight loss supplements for instance are only a meal replacement with a very high cost. You can start by using the internet to do searches on them. Here you can get plenty of information on them. You can also ask the local pharmacist, a qualified fitness trainer, or a qualified nutritionist about them for an even more in depth look at them.

Stay away from supplements that do not list all the ingredients or are a new, unusual, or unknown type. Stick with supplements that have a good brand name, use pharmaceutical grade ingredients, and make no lofty claims as to what their supplements will do for you like rapid weight loss for example.

When you do find a suitable supplement to take, never exceed the recommended dosage for any reason. No matter how good a supplement is, more is definitely not better. There is a very good reason why the manufacturer listed the dosage they did. Increasing that dosage with the belief that it will increase the effects of the supplement is the main reason people get sick or injured from using them.

If at any time you develop any side effects from the supplements you are taking, stop taking them immediately! The weight loss, strength, or general fitness boost you are trying to get from them is not worth compromising your health for. You may even want to consult with your doctor in case treatment is needed to ensure against further incident from the effects you may be having.

Many people take many different supplements every day for various reasons and some people do report positive results from them. There are supplements out there that are beneficial to take to help you with your weight loss and fitness goals, but just remember that there are a lot of bad ones too. If you are considering taking any supplements, follow these guidelines and more important, follow good common sense.

The shell game that is the proprietary blend nutritional supplement

Recently I wrote an article entitled "Terms, Terms, Terms, An Inside look to buying supplements" which can be found on the Gurus and Guests section of my private forum. The article covered many of the misleading marketing terms buyers have to deal with in an attempt to make informed decisions on the supplements they spend their hard earned money on. Some of the more potentially misleading commonly used marketing terms I covered were:

"Clinically proven"

"Patented"

"Doctor recommended"

"All natural"

"Scientifically formulated"

"Research proven"

"Used for thousands of years"

Readers interested in understanding why the above terms can be so misleading, can read my write-up on each of those terms.

In a nut shell, I went onto cover each of these common marketing terms that are used to sell supplements to unwitting consumers and explained each in detail as to what I view as their common misuse within the market place.

However, one term I didn't cover, was "proprietary blend? which in many cases is the most potentially misleading term of them all, though not a term always seen in ads per se, but at the side of the bottle.

Thus, why I felt it was a separate topic to be covered at a later date as it does not fit under the classic definition of a commonly used marketing term found in ads. I also decided to cover this term in a separate article as it requires much more space dedicated to it then the other terms needed for reasons that will be apparent shortly.

Proprietary blends are not inherently a negative for the consumer, though they are inherently confusing for the buyer in most cases.

A supplement that lists a "proprietary blend" on the bottle can be there for one of two reasons:

(a) to prevent the competition from knowing exactly what ratios and amounts of each ingredient present in the formula to prevent the competition from copying their formula exactly (commonly referred to as a "knock off") or

(b) to hide the fact that the formula contains very little of the active ingredients listed on the bottle in an attempt to fool consumers.

Sadly, the latter use is far more common then the former. They see a long list of seemingly impressive ingredients listed in the "proprietary blend" none of which there is amounts that will have any effects. This is commonly referred to as "label decoration" by industry insiders. The former use of the term is a legitimate way for a company of a quality formula from having the competition copy or "knock off" their formula and the latter use of the term is to scam people.

So how does the consumer tell the difference?

They can't, or at least they can't without some research and knowledge, which the scam artists know few people have the time and energy to dedicate in finding the answers. Although there are a few tips the consumer can use to decide if a product with a "proprietary blend" is worth trying, no one, not even me, can figure out exactly how much of each ingredient is in the blend or in what ratio of each is contained within the formula, hence why the honest and not-so-honest companies employ "proprietary blends" so often.

Thus, we have something of a conundrum here and conflict between a company making a quality formula attempting to protect that formula from other companies vs. the company simply looking to baffle buyers with BS.

There are at least some basic tips or food for thought here regarding this problem. A formula that contains say 10 ingredients in a "proprietary blend" is by no means defacto superior then one with three ingredients in it. It's the dose that matters. Clearly, it's better to have higher amounts of ingredients that will have some effects vs. a long list of ingredients in doses too low to have any effects.

Sometimes it helps to look at both -- what's in the blend and how much of the blend actually exists. As an example, if say the blend is 300mg total and contains ten ingredients, that's only 30mg per ingredient, assuming (and you know what they say about assuming!) that each is found in equal amounts. Clearly, for most compounds out there, 30mg wont do jack sh*&.

On the other hand, if say the blend is 3000mg (3 grams) and contains three or four ingredients, there is at least a better chance that the formula contains enough of each (and remember, we can't tell how much of each is in there as that information is "proprietary") to have some effects you are looking for such as an increase in strength, or a decrease in bodyfat, etc.

Unfortunately, the above examples are so vague as to be close to worthless as it's easy enough to formulate a 3000mg blend where all the ingredients are worthless to begin with or a 300mg blend that contains compounds that only require small doses to have an effect and or can be toxic at higher doses.

For example, the mineral zinc tends to be no more then 30mg in most formulas and no more is needed nor recommended. Much of this comes down to the consumer knowing what the various ingredients are and how they work (to decide if they are even worth using in the first place) then deciding if the said blend appears to at least contain a dose that would have the desired effects, which just brings us back to my prior comment: most people have neither the time or inclination to research all that info just to decide if they want to use a product and thus the many "proprietary blends" on the market that are no more than a long list of under-dosed ingredients.

Wish I could be of more help giving specific advice to readers of this here article as to what makes a good blend and what constitutes a poorly made blend, but the above advice is the best I can do under the circumstances. Although a "proprietary blend" is not by default a negative to the consumer, it is by all means the poster child for the well-known Latin term Caveat emptor which translates into English as "let the buyer beware".