Benefits of dietary supplements. Dietary supplement - what is it? Are dietary supplements harmful or not? The difference between dietary supplements and drugs

Currently, the number of dietary supplements is growing at an alarming rate. Every day hundreds of products are thrown onto the market, often of questionable quality, but with bright advertising and unlimited promises. The composition of dietary supplements becomes more complex, the number of constituent substances increases, and in some dietary supplements it reaches 40.

Since, by law, dietary supplements should not contain potent, poisonous or medicinal drugs, the vast majority of manufacturers do not conduct any clinical trials of their products, and if they do, these tests do not stand up to criticism.

It is worth noting that reliable tests are still carried out, but these are the exception that proves the rule.

It would seem that there is nothing wrong with dietary supplements, because, as mentioned above, they do not contain potent, poisonous or medicinal drugs. But as always there are many “BUTs”, and here are some of these “BUTs”:

One dietary supplement contains several active components, each of which is potentially safe, but no one knows their interaction in the body.

The vast majority of people who use dietary supplements do not know the content of the substance included in their composition in their body, which can lead to an increase in the content of this substance. Often, a deficiency of any element in the body is a much more benign condition than its excess.

No one knows for sure the interaction of dietary supplements with medications that the patient may be using or will use.

Based on the composition of the dietary supplement, a doctor can only theoretically assume the result of its interaction with the drug.

Even a person who considers himself healthy may have some kind of disease. The effect of the overwhelming amount of dietary supplements on the course of the disease has not been studied.

Specialists who have practice working with dietary supplements or monitoring the general patterns of their effects on health are concerned about a number of important issues. Several main risk groups and negative aspects that arise from long-term and uncontrolled use of dietary supplements have been identified:

1. Insufficient knowledge of their action, and therefore the existence of dietary supplements with unconfirmed effectiveness.

An example is antioxidant vitamins. It seemed that they were the future in preventing cancer and coronary heart disease.

However, these hopes were not to be realized. Extensive research has shown that beta-carotene supplements not only do not prevent cancer and heart attacks, but may actually contribute to their occurrence. The issue turned out to be so serious that even the WHO issued an appeal in which it called for the abandonment of such additives.

2. Side effects caused by the components included in dietary supplements.

Just a few examples:

o St. John's wort prolongs the effect of anesthetics, which means it should be discontinued during upcoming anesthesia.

o Ginkgo biloba reduces blood clotting, so it is dangerous for pregnant women, as well as for those who are undergoing surgery.

o When used by pregnant women, mint can cause miscarriages.

o Senna - dehydration and intestinal atony.

o Ginseng, which is part of a large number of dietary supplements of the “tonic group”, is contraindicated for hypertension and tachycardia.

o Chromium, which is present in many dietary supplements intended for weight management, can cause kidney damage when used in large doses. This means that annotations for drugs containing chromium should warn against their use by people suffering from kidney disease or simultaneously using drugs with nephrotoxic side effects.

o Many common herbs contain toxic compounds. For example, pyrrolizidine alkaloids cause tumors of various locations, damage to the cardiovascular system and liver. In many countries, henna, boletus, borage, crosswort, coltsfoot, and fireweed (willowherb) have been withdrawn from use.

3. Insufficient knowledge of the compatibility of the included components.

Recently, drugs containing 40 or more components are increasingly appearing on the market. Clinical trials are needed to understand how well they “rhyme.”

4. Risk of overdose.

Overdose is possible due to unclear instructions for use or the simultaneous use of several dietary supplements with the same potent substances. For example, wormwood (Artemisia absintium) contains active narcotic derivatives that can cause disruption of the central nervous system and worsen the mental state of the body. Wormwood can appear under more than a dozen names: wormwood, absinth, mugwort, warmot, magenkraut, herba absinthi, etc.

For example, Sleeping Buddah (manufactured in China) contains the potent substance estazalom (benzodiazepine), which can cause serious adverse reactions. Extremely dangerous for pregnant women.

6. Unpredictable interactions of dietary supplements with other medications that a person takes.

The fact is that dietary supplements are rarely bought by absolutely healthy people. They are usually used during periods of exacerbation of chronic diseases, before and after surgery, during pregnancy, that is, when other medications are also taken. How they interact with each other is unknown.

7. Adverse effects of dietary supplements on the fetus during pregnancy.

Pregnant women should be identified as a high-risk group: the effect of dietary supplement components on the fetus and the woman’s health has been poorly studied.

It happens that dietary supplements are prescribed either to those who do not need them, or to those who no longer need them. The use of dietary supplements can replace proven methods of treatment, as a result, patients lose valuable time and come to doctors in the later stages of the disease - such cases are known to oncologists.

9. Some dietary supplements use components of animal origin, which may pose a certain risk of developing prion-type diseases (“mad cow disease”, bovine encephalitis).

biological supplement active health

Most leading doctors and scientists around the world are confident that an ideal safe and reliable way to improve health, maintain longevity and facilitate the treatment of diseases has been found.

Dietary supplements are a unique group of medicines that are intended for use by both healthy and sick people.

The concept of a “healthy person” is conditional, since health criteria differ among different ethnic and social groups and are assessed differently in different periods of history.

It is more likely to speak of a clinically healthy person than of an absolutely healthy person. Health is not a fixed state. Several intermediate states can be distinguished in it.

1. Absolute health is a theoretical criterion, which is a reference point when studying the processes occurring in the body.

2. Clinical health - divided into two stages:

A. Compensatory stage - when, by attracting internal reserves, the body maintains a state of homeostasis. At this stage, a dynamic equilibrium is established, in which physiological parameters change within normal limits. At the same time, the body has a high adaptive ability.

Considering that in the conditions of modern life, the body’s reserve capabilities are under pressure from an unfavorable environmental situation, psycho-emotional and physical stress, changes in lifestyle and nutrition, at this stage, to maintain health, it is advisable to use dietary supplements containing vitamins, microelements, dietary fiber, antioxidants, adaptogens , as well as promoting the removal of metabolic products and other harmful substances from the body.

B. Disadaptation - when the body's internal reserves are not enough to maintain homeostasis. As a result of the prolonged influence of unfavorable factors on the human body, the body’s adaptation mechanisms and self-regulation are disrupted.

At this stage, initial manifestations of metabolic disorders occur, toxic metabolic products accumulate in the body, the neurohumoral regulation of the body, the functional activity of the immune system, intestinal microflora and other protective mechanisms of the body are disrupted.

One of the most important disorders at this stage should be considered a decrease in the body’s antioxidant defense, leading to disturbances in its functional activity at the cellular level.

To correct these changes, taking dietary supplements is vital. It is advisable to use dietary supplements containing vitamins, microelements, polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins and amino acids, dietary fiber, adaptogens, antioxidants, immunostimulants, eubiotics, restoratives, and help cleanse the body.

3. Pre-disease is a state of accumulation of maladaptive changes in the body. Pre-disease is an intermediate state between health and disease. At this stage, the body’s defenses are mobilized, aimed at compensating for possible violations, failure of adaptive and compensatory reactions, aggravation of the manifestations of peroxidation syndrome against the background of a persistent decrease in antioxidant status, immunodeficiency states develop, and persistent metabolic disorders may also develop.

As a result of these disorders, the body's nonspecific defense is significantly reduced, which is manifested in a decrease in overall vitality, increased fatigue, and a tendency to bacterial and viral diseases against the background of the formation of immunodeficiency states. Pathological changes form in internal systems.

During this period, the prescription of classical drugs is premature, and the use of dietary supplements is optimal. Along with dietary supplements used for maladaptation, it is advisable to start taking dietary supplements that affect various organs and systems for the purpose of prevention. In this case, the emphasis should be on parapharmaceuticals.

The development of the disease occurs according to certain laws.

Pre-disease condition is the first stage of the disease. It passes into the stage of the disease itself, which is characterized by the most pronounced general and local manifestations characteristic of each specific disease. At this stage, dietary supplements are used as background or auxiliary therapy. Dietary supplements are actually becoming a necessary remedy along with traditional medications, and doctors are increasingly including them in the treatment regimens of their patients.

4. The disease is characterized by the most pronounced general and local manifestations, characteristic of each specific disease.

At this stage, dietary supplements are used as background or auxiliary therapy. In fact, dietary supplements have long been recognized as necessary means along with traditional medicines.

In modern therapy, the impact on certain physiological and pathological processes and on the entire body is carried out with the help of agents foreign to the human body. Most of these agents are toxic to some degree.

Unlike classical drugs, which act quickly and strongly, but give side effects, dietary supplements are taken for a longer time, their effect is mild, without adverse reactions. The use of dietary supplements allows you to consistently and purposefully restore the body without causing damage to it.

When using dietary supplements, the physiological and pathological process is influenced by substances related to the body and physiologically necessary for it. At the same time, dietary supplements do not cause defensive reactions.

When using dietary supplements as auxiliary therapy, it has been established that it is possible to reduce the doses of basic medications by 1.5-8 times, shorten the overall treatment time for the disease, lengthen the period of remission and reduce the timing of prescribing basic medications, switching to monotherapy with the use of dietary supplements after acute symptoms have resolved .

Moreover, dietary supplements affect the entire body as a whole, and not just one organ. According to the form of influence, dietary supplements can be either etiological (eliminating the cause of the disease, such as vitamins, micro- and macroelements, dietary fiber included in dietary supplements) or pathogenetic (affecting the cause-and-effect chain of disease manifestations, such as dietary supplements, containing phytocomplexes). In some cases, dietary supplements also have a symptomatic effect.

Ideally, human life is imagined to be stress-free, fresh and high-quality food is consumed, there is no environmental pollution, exercise and the absence of many other components that negatively affect the human body. But at the moment this is not the case, all these factors exist, and they have a detrimental effect on our body. The human body cannot stand it, begins to weaken, chronic fatigue, lethargy, depression appear, and concentration is impaired. It is very difficult to diagnose this disease. In this state, the human body is both healthy and sick at the same time.
We feel terrible and this negatively affects our perception of the world around us and our worldview. One of the solutions to these problems is a world without problems, or where everything is fine, there are no material, financial, social or environmental problems. But this is a utopia, and such a world does not exist. We have to use what now exists and surrounds us. This is a new or long-forgotten, old trend in medicine - dietary supplements. BAA (Biologically active food additives) is a concentrate of natural biologically active and nutritional substances obtained from mineral, plant and animal raw materials through chemical synthesis. Supplements do not have a clear boundary between drugs and non-medicines.
The natural raw materials used in them can also be used in medicines. Dietary supplements restore the balance of nutrients in the human body, strengthen and improve health. One of the main directions of their use is the restoration of missing substances in the body on the path to recovery. This helps to increase life span, reduce risk factors and prevent certain diseases. In practice, it is already known that the lack of certain nutrients is one of the many causes of a particular disease. For example, when doctors considered insufficient intake of calcium, dietary fiber, grain products, and vegetables by the human body, it contributed to the development of coronary heart disease in patients.
Another advantage of dietary supplements is that the decision to use them can only be made by the person himself, based on his state of health. But we must not forget that making this decision carries responsibility. Specialists involved in dietary supplements are aware of cases of ineffectiveness of some of them. Some components of dietary supplements may cause side effects or distort the effect of medications that you take together. Long-term use and lack of supervision by a specialist over their use can cause an overdose. Therefore, control and moderation are needed in everything. Now in Russia over 4,000 dietary supplements are already known and used, and it is very difficult even for specialists in this field to understand this diversity.

So, my pros when taking dietary supplements

Food products do not contain the required amount of microelements, vitamins and other beneficial substances needed by the body.

Such information is now found at every step, and the number of foods that need to be eaten daily is simply shocking: 2 fruits, 3 vegetables (potatoes are not considered a vegetable), 100 g of meat, 100 g of fish or seafood, 100 g of cottage cheese, 200 ml kefir or milk, etc. and so on….

I won’t list them in full, but, in my opinion, the volumes look terrifying. I have a very slow metabolism, and when I read about the number of foods I need to eat daily, I get saturated just by looking at the list.

My eternal opponent, Mom, an encyclopedia of health recipes, last time reported that to restore zinc in the body, you need to eat 4(!) bananas daily. Naturally, I had a reasonable question: “And what size will my waist be after a couple of months of this diet?”

I can’t get zinc from other products - chocolate, oysters, lamb, wheat germ and pumpkin seeds for various reasons, I don’t eat some things, I don’t have some things in stock. Moreover, daily 100 grams. the same seeds contain only 70% of the daily requirement for zinc, as, by the way, daily 100 grams. chocolate.

2. The impossibility of obtaining some essential vitamins and microelements from food.

I often come across information about the lack of selenium, a powerful antioxidant, in the diet of Belarusians. This essential element is missing from our diet for the simple reason that it is found mainly in seafood - fish, crabs, shrimp, squid, lobsters, etc., and we are not a maritime country. In addition, our soil contains little selenium, so the products growing on it are therefore not rich in selenium.

It’s difficult to “eat up” on selenium with seafood. Even if you are lucky and you like shrimp, you will have to eat 100 grams of them every day, for some it is expensive, for others it will get boring. For obvious reasons, we will not discuss lobsters and lobsters 😉

What remains is fish containing selenium. It is doubtful that the required amount of selenium can be obtained by eating the usual portion - a couple of pieces of fish per week.

We are trying to replace it with other products. Options: wheat bran, sprouted wheat grains, corn grains, tomatoes, brewer's yeast, mushrooms and garlic, wholemeal products, kidneys (pork, beef), liver, heart, poultry eggs, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts.

The lists of suggested foods always seem so big, but if you really look at them, what can you offer your family to include in their daily diet?

Wheat bran and sprouted wheat grains? Sometimes acquiring them is a real problem, much less getting your husband and children to eat them. Kidneys, heart and mushrooms - don’t even show them to your children, products made from wholemeal flour - no one wants to eat, and especially my husband (that’s how I got him 😉).

What remains is garlic, a tasty and mysterious product. The mystery is when to eat it - in the morning, and breathe on your colleagues, or after work, and breathe on your family?

Tomatoes are great until the season ends and pink dummies with a plastic sheen, proudly called tomatoes, appear on store shelves. Of course, I didn’t measure the level of selenium in them, but I suspect that it’s not only low there, it’s simply not there. Well, what kind of selenium is in plastic?

Brewer's yeast. At first I was happy, here it is - buns that are practically loved. But everything turned out to be much sadder, yeast should be eaten raw...

Brazil nuts are being eliminated from the diet due to their cost being equal to the cost of lobsters.

There are two products left that household members will eat without being capricious - eggs and seeds.

If you have less capricious household members, I can only say one thing - you are lucky.

But even if you are able to drink tea with wholemeal bread with a thin layer of yeast spread on it, that's still not all. It is advisable to take selenium together with vitamin E, since its deficiency does not allow the body to use selenium, even if taken in high doses, and with vitamin C. And this is another list of products for daily use...

3. Almost all negative opinions were expressed by people not associated with medicine, all positive ones were expressed by scientists and people in white coats.

When I tried to find a refutation or confirmation of my opinion on the Internet and the press, I discovered an interesting pattern.

Most doctors and representatives of science did not express their negative attitude towards dietary supplements. I asked the opinion of doctors and pharmacists. The result turned out to be approximately the same - 90% of medical workers are in favor of using dietary supplements. (The survey does not claim to be scientifically reliable.)

But if you are interested in the opinions of people who have nothing to do with medicine, the conclusion can be drawn exactly the opposite - 90% believe that taking dietary supplements is not worth it. Perhaps I would have submitted to the opinion of the majority, but the whole point is that I did not come across any substantiated points of view.

Do you know which argument is most common?

“If you really want to take care of your health, it’s better to eat more seasonal vegetables and fruits, as well as honey and nuts.”

And variations on the theme:

"What for? It is better to boil chicken breasts with pineapple. Delicious!" (taken from the Internet).

I love fruits and vegetables, I try to eat them whenever possible, but I doubt that they will help alleviate painful conditions such as migraines, loss of appetite, enlarged thyroid gland or allergies.

4. Abroad, dietary supplements are regularly taken by the majority of the population.

And, although “abroad” is not a decree for us, I will give a few numbers. According to statistics, in Japan about 90% of the population regularly take dietary supplements, in the USA - 80%, in Europe - 65%, in Russia - 7-15% (not so long ago this figure was 3%). In Japan, at the state level, a program was adopted to restore the health of the nation, which is based on the intake of dietary supplements.

The health-conscious foreigners I met made an indelible impression. The Germans who came to my friends, in the opinion of “our host,” consumed vitamins “just by the handful.”

I don’t know how it really was, however, the guest from Germany, at 65 years old, felt great and looked no more than 45.

I admit that the person simply has a good constitution and his whole life is a continuous holiday, but the fact remains that the clear example made a strong impression.

5. Health.

I do not belong to the category of absolutely healthy people (I suspect that this category is scanty), and natural supplements are an opportunity to reduce illness to a minimum. They contain substances that we do not receive enough due to poor ecology, poor-quality food and the modern rhythm of life.

Please note that I am not talking about treating the disease; here we need a medicinal way to get rid of the problem, but about making the course of the disease easier, and recovery faster, and also trying to completely eliminate the problem.

I don't think this can be done with products.

It is well known that bananas contain the joy hormone serotonin, however, being in a depressed state and eating a few bananas, you are unlikely to suddenly become cheerful, and the world around you will be painted with colorful colors.

I have a post about strengthening capillaries, where I wrote about water, which I drink from time to time. As a “food” alternative, to strengthen blood vessels they offer: avocado, broccoli, cereals, pomegranate, grapefruit, green tea and asparagus. Honestly, I couldn’t choose foods for daily use, some I don’t like, some lower my blood pressure, and some you simply won’t eat every day.

6. Beauty.

A very important point. Where can I get calcium to replenish it in the body after pregnancy and childbirth?

I also know what’s in cottage cheese, cheese, and dairy products in general. But the six-year experiment did not help. When consumed 100-150 g. cottage cheese in the morning, terribly peeling nails, the peeling became less terrible. And I started to worry that I would end up hating dairy products after eating so much of them.

True, finding good calcium-containing preparations turned out to be not an easy task. Only recently have I found the supplement that suits me best. Although I continue to include cottage cheese, cheese and milk in my diet regularly.

What about hair and skin in need of support?

Do antioxidants slow down the aging process?

What about supplements that help regulate metabolism?

I really need all this, but I’m not able to endlessly buy “special” products and cook dishes, practically for myself, because no one will eat celery instead of boiled potatoes. Well, as I said above, I simply cannot eat that amount of food every day.

7. Laziness is the engine of progress 😉

Another reason for my love for dietary supplements, which I honestly admit, is “ordinary laziness.” All I can do is brew herbs to gargle when I have a sore throat.

There were, however, several more experiments on conscientiously brewing and taking hops and a series of hops for a month for treatment. The experiments turned out to be failures. The hops did not have the desired results, and just the memory of the series now makes my cheekbones ache :)

And peeling egg shells from the inner film and then grinding them turned out to be terrible. And eating them later turned out to be another task.

Update from 07/06/2015: if you, like me, are concerned about seasonal allergies, then read the article about the method using harmless biological additives, I have already tried this method on myself, although only once so far)), and I was very pleased with the result.

Therefore, I no longer obtain anything with “backbreaking labor,” but spend this time choosing stores specializing in dietary supplements and vitamins, and reading articles about what is best to take and for what diseases.

My cons

You won’t believe it, but I didn’t find a single solid “against”. I even consulted the Internet, but all the proposed options were very conditional, and it was quite possible to fight them. Look here:

Dietary supplements are often counterfeited.

Therefore, under no circumstances do we buy them secondhand from distributors or through unknown stores. The manufacturer and distributor must have experience and reputation. These exist.

2. Risk of overdose.

We carefully and thoroughly study the quantities and when to take supplements and vitamins, and then also carefully study the information on the packaging.

3. Dietary supplements may be incompatible with each other and medications.

We do not treat all diseases at once, and very carefully start taking a new drug.

4. The components included in the supplements may have side effects.

Side effects occur in the same way as with herbs and products. If I know that I can’t have chocolate, I don’t eat it; if I have an allergy, I don’t take it.

5. Insufficient knowledge of their actions.

And, consequently, the existence of dietary supplements with unconfirmed effectiveness.

Don't experiment with new, unstudied supplements.

6. The biggest disadvantage is an unscrupulous manufacturer.

Which may not indicate the content of large amounts of microelements, salts, vitamins or any other harmful substances.

But he may not exactly indicate where the herbs he sells are collected and how many pesticides the corn he offers contains.

Therefore it would O I buy most of my dietary supplements and vitamins from the online pharmacy iHerb, which I trust because of my many years of shopping experience and many really high-quality products.

Bottom line - I am for dietary supplements, but with a reservation.

No matter the quantity of supplements taken, they will not replace a complete, balanced diet.

Supplements are not drugs, so we do not expect them to cure diseases.

There are contraindications for taking them, so before taking them, you need to consult a doctor (I myself consult only on occasion, and I am not an example in this matter).

(Updated 10/07/2016). When I sent this article to the Google+ feed, one of the readers dropped a link to a video in which Professor A. Kovalkov expresses his opinion (I think, authoritative for many)) regarding the use of dietary supplements. Take a look, the video is short, but interesting and quite convincing.

I wish everyone health and beauty that does not depend on taking medications and dietary supplements :)

Are you tired?)) Then read more:

One comment

Natasha, I understand you perfectly)). In this matter, I am categorical only for myself and my family - I don’t take dietary supplements and multivitamins and don’t give them to my family (and they don’t even ask) But my rejection of these progress drugs is based solely on my own well-being - I feel great (ttt) with that diet and the lifestyle that I adopted for myself many years ago. But I had no luck with dietary supplements - a couple of times orthodontists advised me, I took them... and I got sick, I got sick, just like before)). The husband laughed and got angry - he needed a healthy, blooming wife, but I still couldn’t get out. Only careful attention to myself, a change in diet, a change in habits, traditional medicine (yes, this is time and work) helped me recover, and, moreover, improve my health thoroughly.
You know, as a child they treated me simply - they gave me a pill and that’s it. It doesn’t help - they gave me more, I got sick again - to the doctor, to the hospital, for injections... As a result, I was young and completely unhealthy. the sores came one after another. The sad experience has done its job - I don’t believe in dietary supplements and vitamins, but I don’t deny that it helps others).

Natalya K Reply:
September 9th, 2014 at 00:20

And, alas, I can’t even imagine how I could establish proper nutrition and lifestyle, although I try and try...
But that’s not even the point, I naturally have little energy: low blood pressure, easy fatigue, even my hair grows to a certain length, and then it “doesn’t have enough strength” and I feel the need for additional nutrition, if I don’t get it with products. But this is all, of course, very individual. My husband, on the contrary, has a lot of vital energy, but he works without any regime, eats when he has to, more often at night, sleep schedule - I don’t even want to get upset again... And I just don’t see any other way out but to periodically slip him the dietary supplements I have chosen. On the one hand, independent men are good, but on the other hand, what can you do with him...
And I know your point of view very well, and I like it))) But so far there has not been a person in my circle who would build a life based on proper nutrition, traditional medicine, etc. I had no one to follow as an example!!! Now I have 🙂 I’ll come visit; I’ve got a few questions about nutrition since yesterday.

Irina Lirnetskaya Reply:
September 9th, 2014 at 12:06

Natasha, I’m the same thing - hypotensive with chronic fatigue))). But the impossible is possible: now, at post-Balzac age, I feel better than at 17-20 years old. Then the morning began with dizziness and yellow circles before the eyes, and in the afternoon - nausea and stomach pain. Zero energy. I remember my husband near Alushta wanted to climb some mountain, but I couldn’t climb any)). There was no strength. With such health, I managed to give birth the same year, although the doctor warned that the second one would only be in 3-5 years, not earlier!
Yes, and I started changing my habits only when it really hit me.) I think in this matter you and I are equal: you found your path to health, I found mine. The main thing is that the effect is good.

And I, only thanks to dietary supplements, extended the life of my parents, when 10 years ago, after another resuscitation, the doctors abandoned them. They are now 82 years old, and the last cardiologist who refused to treat them died of heart failure at 45 years old.
So I welcome the use of dietary supplements that have undergone clinical trials in my country and even their capsules are made from agar-agar, and they themselves are made on the basis of sprouted grains of cereals and medicinal herbs - phytocomplexes.

And my stay in radioactive zones with almost complete damage to the pancreas in one year led to almost normal functioning. And now I look not 57 years old, but 45...

The only thing I don’t like when choosing dietary supplements is the intrusive service and unprofessionalism of distributors, and sometimes even doctors - just to sell at any cost.

I personally have a contradictory attitude towards dietary supplements.
It seems to me that a lot is in our heads, because each of us is looking for that very pill that will solve all our health problems, make us slimmer, happier, etc.
But there is no such thing, probably, the main thing is the very meaning that we put into this tablet with our thoughts, I don’t know...

And I am categorically against dietary supplements. No, of course, they are a real salvation for many people, since the way we eat is truly lacking in essential vitamins and minerals. And where do they come from in buns, sweets, modern meat and dairy products? I just try to eat as many fresh vegetables and fruits as possible, drink green smoothies and it helps me)))

Natasha, what an interesting and controversial topic you raised! I, too, am always tired with low blood pressure and circles under my eyes. I haven’t taken dietary supplements yet, more and more vitamins... I also keep hearing from people (not related to medicine) that dietary supplements are bad. Only here is a clear answer to the question “Why?” They dont have.
I read your comments and Irina Lirnetskaya’s :) I really trust you on these issues, but the points of view are different :) In general, I will increase my experience by reading your blog and Ira’s blog and trying out your recipes for youth and health!

Natalya K Reply:
September 10th, 2014 at 10:26

Julia, this will be the most correct decision - finding your golden mean :) Everyone chooses the most suitable option for them. For example, I couldn’t take flaxseed oil in its pure form - the taste was unbearable, I felt nauseous, I threw away almost half a bottle, now I take it “packed” in capsules, and this is already a dietary supplement.
And the rest is not so simple, before including supplements in my “diet” I tried many folk recipes, including those suggested by Ira (whom I also trust very much). I will not write which recipes exactly, because if they did not have an impact on me, this does not mean that they will not help others either. Let me give you a “neutral” example: I spent a long time restoring my hair using bread masks. The process was terrible, spreading an unpleasant paste onto your head and hair, which tends to fall off during spreading and stain both the bath and clothes, then dries unpleasantly on your hair, and then you have to manage to wash it out of your long hair - it was difficult. Well, the smell of bread that constantly haunts me, it seemed to me that even shampoo couldn’t overcome it, but I’m still a woman, not a combine operator 😉 But I conscientiously endured a month, or even more, of regular masks, but there was no result at all 🙁 Therefore, now I prefer products that are at least more convenient to use. But I repeat once again - this is just my opinion, it helps other people :))
At the moment I combine both folk experience and scientific achievements. Right now there is just such a “compromise” on the head - burdock oil is smeared on the ends of the hair, an American vitaminized serum is sprayed on the roots to stimulate hair growth 😉

Irina Lirnetskaya Reply:
September 10th, 2014 at 12:47

No, no, no, I didn’t even try to use a bread mask, I just imagined this fascinating process and the desire disappeared. I have another recipe)), I’ll write it down as soon as possible. It’s easy and simple, and the result is amazing)). And the simplest thing is kefir. This is when the hair becomes dull and splits. Apply 30 minutes before washing, then wash your hair as usual. Revitalizes and nourishes hair quite well.

Julia Reply:
September 10th, 2014 at 15:09

And I still sometimes make a hair mask with kefir: half a glass of kefir, 1 egg and 1 tsp. cocoa powder. For 20 min. It seems to strengthen hair quite well. But even now, on Ira’s advice, I use pepper tincture.
I’ll also take a course of vitamins for my hair, just to be sure :)
I made a mask out of bread once, a very long time ago. I got tired of it and never experimented with bread again.

Personally, no matter how many dietary supplements I used, I didn’t notice anything bad, only everything positive. According to, if you eat everything indiscriminately, there is little good. One of my friends once said: “If it weren’t for dietary supplements, I would have died a long time ago.” So I’m FOR.

I have nothing against them!! These vitamins especially help women who are always on diets!
And men and children can and should get all the necessary vitamins and nutritious and very tasty food!!

I am for taking dietary supplements in reasonable quantities. I was first convinced of their real necessity by the results obtained by my mother. Now both myself and my family regularly take vitamins and dietary supplements, of course, produced by companies that we have tested. Naturally, a balanced diet comes first.

Natasha, I read your article about Badah and all the comments on it. You wrote everything so well, and about bananas - I smiled!)) I also have nothing against Buds. But somehow I haven’t really used them yet. Previously, I remember, in a children's clinic, the doctor often wanted to foist it in order to sell it.
You know, I also started to feel very unwell now. I need to go get examined. Or hormonal changes in the body have already begun. What do you recommend, who is the best person to get information from and where to buy the necessary supplements?
Probably at the pharmacy?

Yes, interesting discussion! 🙂 So many people, so many opinions! Indeed, here everyone decides for himself.
In the comments to your previous article, I wrote the opinion of my pharmacist friend. She doesn’t mind either, but still prefers medicine. Mainly because control over dietary supplements for what is stuffed into them is carried out only at the stage of product licensing. Once the product has passed this stage, control is NO longer carried out! Unlike drugs.
So, if you are going to consume it, then only use products from well-known companies that value their reputation.
I myself don’t take anything regularly, although I started drinking Chinese calcium powder with my child. I don’t really know whether he gives something or not. How to check this?! (rhetorical question:))

Galina

You won’t believe it, but when I wrote this comment yesterday, that is, tonight, I also had the same question on the tip of my tongue! 🙂
At that moment I would not refuse the pie. Just like it is now! 🙂 I’ll at least go have breakfast... :P

It was very interesting to read both the post and the comments. I am a “former” pharmacist (changed my occupation) and I also have my own opinion about dietary supplements. I do not consider dietary supplements to be evil, but they are also good. The real positive impact of dietary supplements on the body is difficult to determine, because they do not undergo clinical or pre-clinical trials. For me, these are just ordinary food additives, 70-90% working on the placebo effect and 30% due to the vitamins they contain. I especially don’t trust the products of Evalar and other domestic manufacturers.

Elena the beautiful

And I have a positive example when a person felt better after taking a dietary supplement. But in my opinion, you should first consult with your doctor so that he approves the dietary supplement that you want to start taking and so that it does not have a detrimental effect on your health.
A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer. After he was prescribed and had an operation to remove part of his stomach, he became increasingly worse. Someone recommended that he take a dietary supplement. He lost a lot of weight, it was painful to look at him, but probably a few months after he started taking the dietary supplement, his health improved, he gained 10 kilos and it was clear that he began to feel much better. He has been taking this dietary supplement for more than six months, and at the last examination, no metastases or recurrence of stomach cancer were detected. I think this dietary supplement is called escozine, I don’t remember the exact name. If anyone is interested, I can check with him))

BIO active additives: benefit or harm?

Black list of dietary supplements: hellebore and others
Victims of Linus Paulling and vitamin overdose:
best the enemy of the good
"Placebo effect": the main thing is to believe
Misinformation that costs lives
Shark cartilage
Viturid - another panacea?

In recent years, bioactive supplements (BAA) have rapidly burst into our lives. They have replaced medicines on the shelves of pharmacies, annoying distributors offer them in the subway and underpasses, and they are delivered directly to your home by couriers from TV shops. How safe are dietary supplements?

In the USA, complications associated with taking dietary supplements are being studied very actively. Recently, one American agency published rather gloomy data: more than 2.5 thousand cases of side effects caused by dietary supplements have been officially registered, as well as more than 100 deaths associated with them. But of course this is the tip of the iceberg, and no one knows the true number of complications from dietary supplements. The conditions for their sale and reception are such that it is very difficult to link any incident with the dietary supplement. Ephedrine supplements account for the most victims - 900 registered complications and 44 deaths.

In second place in terms of yield of death are the so-called “diet teas” or “teas for weight loss,” the hormonally similar substance DHEA (can be hidden under different names) and even vitamins in high doses.

Manufacturers and traders of dietary supplements gained freedom in 1994, when a new regulatory law was passed in the United States. After this, a real boom began in the trade in dietary supplements. Supplements generously promised to slow down aging, reduce weight, improve memory, cleanse the body of toxins, protect the heart and even prevent the development of cancer. In Russia, dietary supplements promise even more, and cancer is offered not only to prevent, but also to cure.

The traditions of herbal medicine have deep roots, but we were still not ready for the advent of dietary supplements. Sometimes exotic plants that are not familiar to our medicine are used in dietary supplements. And those herbs that our doctors know are, as a rule, indicated on the packages under rare names that we do not use (after all, the more mysterious the composition of the dietary supplement, the higher its price).

And without knowing the composition of the herbs, it is impossible to assess either the effectiveness of the additive or its danger. Sometimes the degree of misinformation reaches the point of absurdity. Just one example. A friend of one of my patients was advised to take herbal tea "Gonseen", produced by the company "Doctor Nona", to cleanse the body. After two weeks of regular use, his sleep was disturbed and a strong diuretic effect developed. And all this started at a dose five times less than what was recommended. He turned to me for advice. But the composition of this tea was given in a Jesuitical way: of the eight herbs, only four were familiar, two were probably familiar (assuming that their names were given with slight errors), and neither a search in my extensive library nor in World Wide Web of the Internet. The known herbs were quite neutral, but what was hidden behind the others, and to what extent they were responsible for the development of complications (after all, maybe it was just a coincidence), it was impossible to establish.

Of course, the list of dietary supplements, like all other drugs and products, should contain the Latin names of herbs accepted in the scientific world. Only this will allow you to at least somehow navigate the world of dietary supplements. But manufacturers prefer to create fog, hiding behind some “Ma Huang” the familiar and unsafe ephedra. And behind Thai weight loss pills are drugs.

By the way, if psychotropic narcotic substances are officially found in Thai tablets (although for some reason this does not interfere with their advertising in newspapers and direct sales), then one can only guess about the incomprehensible dependence on products like Herbalife. I will not share rumors, I will only tell you about one of my patients with severe neurosis, panic attacks and an accompanying bouquet of diseases of the internal organs with severe weakness, who was “hooked” on Herbalife for two years. At the first appointment, when asked about taking regular (certified) vitamins (for example, undevit), the patient began to talk with a sparkle in her eyes about how she was taking much better vitamins in Herbalife.

According to legend, these are better purified vitamins. Although, what they need to be cleaned from so thoroughly is unknown to science. Moreover, there are only a few pharmaceutical giants in the world - producers of individual vitamins (located in “third world countries” due to environmental problems), from which all other pharmaceutical factories (small and not so small) purchase absolutely the same vitamin raw materials and produce various complexes (differing in the composition of components, brand promotion and, accordingly, in price).

Herbalife is also a “cellular nutrition” from a long list of herbs (I already shared my doubts with you about long-term use of any herbs at the beginning of this book). Distributors advise taking all this joy in natural doses (business is business). So, two years of taking the same herbs is obvious poisoning (taking into account her serious condition: physical and mental). But here’s an interesting detail: while praising the cleansing properties of Herbalife, the patient gave one example for credibility. One day she recently ran out of her favorite medications. And there was a forced break in receiving them for about ten days (money problems got in the way). At the end of this break, all her illnesses worsened, and even new symptoms appeared (typical withdrawal, like when weaning from a drug). Moreover, she did not accept my doubts about this, completely convinced that her body was simply so accustomed to good, expensive vitamins that it could not live without them. She even figuratively compared her habit of “cellular nutrition” with people’s habit of a good Mercedes (as if they wouldn’t agree to anything less). But, I hope, it is already obvious to you that this dependence is clearly not from vitamins.

I don’t know how her love for the “good” ended. At the second appointment three weeks later, she showed some improvement (panic attacks, which in the past were resistant to tranquilizers and other chemicals, disappeared from homeopathic medicines), but weakness (mainly from chronic intoxication) remained. She didn't make an appointment with me anymore. Apparently, financial difficulties had an impact - after all, her favorite Herbalife is very expensive (and the Bolivar could not stand it for two).

Black list of dietary supplements (components of dietary supplements that are particularly hazardous to health)

Hellebore

Lately, hellebore powder, a plant of the ranunculaceae family, has become very popular. Ladies are sweeping away the miracle remedy in the hope of losing weight in record time, and at the same time “cleaning” their body of toxins. The fact that the weight remains in place is not so important. The worst thing is that it can cause harm.

In homeopathy, microdoses of hellebore (other names are black hellebore or hellebore - Helltborus niger) are used mainly for conditions close to prostration and loss of consciousness. Such conditions are observed with severe infections (for example, meningitis), drug abuse, and severe depression. Even in homeopathy, it is not recommended to take too weak dilutions of the drug (naturally, prepared only in a homeopathic pharmacy) due to its toxicity. Even the name of the buttercup family indicates the poisonous, “fierce” effect of these plants. Black hellebore root extract, when accumulated in the body, causes heaviness in the head, dizziness, a state of intoxication, sometimes nausea and vomiting (of central origin), and arrhythmia. When horses were poisoned with black hellebore leaves, they experienced severe weakness, increased heart rate and breathing, and diarrhea and death by the end of the second day. Thank God, no one eats its whole leaves. Usually “healers” recommend taking hellebore “at the tip of a knife” (although everyone’s knives are different, and gullible people often do not want to limit themselves to “useful herb”).

Ephedra

Often called ma huang, epitonin, sida cordifolia. This plant contains ephedrine and related stimulants. Complications from ephedra include cardiac arrhythmias and psychoses, heart attacks and strokes. By the way, some states in America have already banned dietary supplements with ephedrine.

Chaparral or dwarf oak (Chaparral)

Dietary supplements in the form of tea or tablets promise to prevent the development of cancer and “cleanse the blood.” They are associated with serious liver damage. Two deaths and dozens of cases of hepatitis and other liver diseases were reported.

Comfrey

Comfrey root has long been used externally to reduce swelling, but later began to be used internally. It contains alkaloids that are toxic to the liver and have been shown to be carcinogenic in animal studies. There has been one reported death from this supplement. It is banned in Canada and Germany.

DHEA (dehydroandroepisterone)

A hormone that is converted in the body into the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone. Labels for this supplement indicate that it may fight aging. There is no data to support this. But the supplement can increase the risk of developing cancer or lead to liver damage, even in cases where it is taken for a short time. 31 cases of side effects were registered.

Diet teas

This is what is usually called in the USA for herbal mixtures containing components such as senna, aloe, rhubarb, buckthorn, joster, and castor oil. All of them have a laxative effect and at the same time wash potassium out of the blood, contributing to arrhythmia. These types of tea are associated with side effects - diarrhea, nausea, and with long-term use - liver damage, intestinal atrophy and chronic constipation.

Pennyroyal: sometimes leads to spontaneous abortions

Sassafras- used to be used as a flavoring additive in the production of butter and beer, but is now prohibited in the United States. However, it is still sold in various “tonics” and teas. There is evidence that it causes liver cancer.

Victims of Linus Paulling and vitamin overdose (the best is the enemy of the good)

Vitamin C

Thanks to the aggressive advertising of the American Irvine Naturals campaign, in recent years the idea has become popular in Russia that almost all serious diseases, including cancer and atherosclerosis, can be cured with loading doses of vitamin C. “Clean blood vessels make your heart lighter” is the advertising motto used to promote Lysivit-S. The company emphasizes that the discovery belongs to the winner of two Nobel Prizes, L. Pauling. True, he does not specify that the famous physicist and chemist received the prize for topics far from medicine, and his interest in medicines and vitamins arose only in his old age. However, large-scale clinical studies conducted by American doctors after the laureate’s death yielded shocking results: loading doses of ascorbic acid do not prevent, but rather help the development of atherosclerosis and kidney stones. But the negative results of clinical trials did not stop its spread, since Lyzivit-S was cunningly registered not as a medicine, but as a food additive.

Vitamins A, E, D

Over the past few decades, medicine has placed great hopes on vitamin preparations (which also include microelements) in terms of protection against various diseases and stopping premature aging caused by aggressive free radicals (formed in the body under the influence of poor environment and smoking). Vitamin tablets have become a hot commodity in pharmacies, bringing billions in profits to their manufacturers. Vitamins A, C, E and beta-carotene (used by the body to synthesize vitamin A) were especially advertised as “anti-radicals”. But can vitamins really work miracles? The optimism of previous years is being replaced by sobering up. “This is the biggest disappointment of my life,” admitted Dr. Charles Hannekens of Harvard University, presenting the results of a study conducted under his direction. Over the course of twelve years, 22 thousand doctors drank beta-carotene tablets or placebo (pacifiers). As a result, it became clear that the drug does not help either against cancer or against any other disease. In other studies conducted in the USA and Finland on smokers, the result was even more disastrous. For example, in Finland, 30 thousand smokers took beta-carotene, vitamin E or a placebo for four years. The incidence of lung cancer among beta-carotene consumers was 18% higher than other participants in the experiment. They were more likely to die from a heart attack. The longest life expectancy was observed in smokers who took placebo. After summing up such disappointing interim results, the experiment had to be stopped. It also turned out that in smokers, even a small overdose of vitamin A (or its predecessor, B-carotene), contributes to the development of cancer, since their highly carcinogenic compounds are formed inside the body. So smokers (even passive smokers, that is, those who are regularly “smoked” by loved ones) should not even get carried away with carrot juice.

But non-smoking citizens especially cannot relax. An overdose of vitamins A and D in any case causes intoxication and is dangerous for the liver and kidneys, and during pregnancy can cause fetal defects.

To close the topic of vitamin overdose, we can remember about other vitamins - water-soluble - group B. Their excess supply in the composition of drugs (natural overdose, that is, with food, is practically excluded here) is also fraught with various complications for the weak point of a particular person (according to the principle: where it’s thin, that’s where it breaks). But, fortunately, excess water-soluble vitamins usually do not accumulate and are well excreted by the kidneys (if they are in order). There is even a joke that Americans (the most passionate fans of complex vitamins) have the most expensive urine in the world.

Not just a vitamin

How can we explain the negative research results?

It has long been known that consuming vitamin-rich vegetables and fruits is good for health and reduces the likelihood of cancer. But can the protective effect of vegetables and fruits be reduced to the action of several vitamins? After all, even the group of carotenoids includes not only beta-carotene, but also more than a hundred other little-studied bioactive substances found in fruits and vegetables. You can also remember about fiber, which is necessary for cancer prevention, about the particularly useful structure of water (similar to the structure of melt water) in the juice of raw vegetables and fruits, about bacteria in fermented milk products that normalize intestinal flora. Replacing all this with just vitamins will not be enough.

Selenium

Recently, selenium has been promoted (often included in vitamin complexes) as a powerful antioxidant that slows down aging. May be. But first, it should be noted that selenium, in principle, is not included in the metabolism of humans (and animals too). That is, this element is simply not found in the body of an ordinary healthy person (animal). Elemental selenium is low toxic. All selenium compounds are highly toxic. Toxic selenium diseases of livestock (known as alkali disease) have been described in various countries (in several areas in Canada, Columbia, Kansas, Nebraska and others). The soils there contain selenium in life-threatening concentrations. Alkaline disease is manifested by severe weakness, anemia, liver pathology, and convulsions. Selenium actively replaces the sulfur of proteins (more precisely, the amino acids methionine, cystine and cysteine), which leads to the destruction of keratins, and, as a consequence, to hair loss and splitting of nails. True, when taking selenium preparations it does not come to such a nightmare, since it is dosed in micrograms. And thank God!

"Placebo effect": the main thing is to believe!

Although, many of our bioactive food supplements sold in pharmacies or green shops are not at risk of an excess of any vitamins. Whatever pharmaceutical dietary supplements you take, all of them, as the advertisement claims, have been tested and approved by the Ministry of Health. The gullible buyer has no idea that the product was only tested for safety and the Ministry of Health guarantees that you will not be poisoned by it. But they are not officially tested for their usefulness and content of declared vitamins (since these are not certified medicines). One of the unofficial checks (commissioned by the TV program “Vprok”) showed that when taking many well-advertised remedies (for example, “longevity”), one will only have to rely on the placebo effect (improving well-being only through faith and self-hypnosis). And in order to get a daily dose of the most common simple vitamins (C, group B), you need to drink about 40 tablets of this bioactive supplement, which is inconvenient and, of course, expensive.

Misinformation that costs lives

Shark cartilage

It is much more dangerous if a pacifier is presented as a panacea for cancer. After all, the consequence of such “treatment” is, at best, terribly advanced stages of the disease (at worst, even poisoning).

Advertising hammers a clear idea into people's heads: sharks don't get cancer - it's all about the special properties of their body. Shark cartilage is sold with a bang all over the world and in Russia, however, the number of cancer patients not only does not decrease, but is also growing steadily. At a conference of the American Association for Cancer Research, it was found that sharks, like humans, are susceptible to cancer. According to the results of research by American oncologists, 23 forms of cancerous tumors were found in sharks, including liver cancer, and the healing properties of drugs from shark cartilage are simply a myth.

Viturid - another panacea?

Another “near-cancer” sensation was born in the city of Petrozavodsk. “Viturid” appeared - a 0.003% solution of mercury dichloride or sublimate. Its author, biochemist T. Vorobyova, claims that it is highly effective in the treatment of cancer, AIDS and other viral and bacterial infections. Thus, viturid is a panacea. After a successful advertising campaign, cancer patients from all over the country went to Petrozavodsk. True, there is no scientific data on cancer patients cured in this way. As always, there are only general phrases and thick noodles hung on people’s ears. There are also several well-known cases about the sad experience of some cancer patients using this course of treatment. Complications from this treatment are mercury intoxication with its various manifestations (the very possibility of which is for some reason denied by the “inventor”, although the doses there are clearly far from homeopathic), especially affecting the kidneys. But unlike official chemotherapy, such sacrifices were made absolutely in vain - the tumor did not shrink after these courses; on the contrary, it progressed.

Near-cancer sensations on the assembly line

The authors of “sensational” treatment methods (by the way, often not doctors, but biochemists, “food scientists”, apparently without the Hippocratic Oath it is more convenient to engage in such a business) always use the same scheme. First, they formulate their idea of the causes and mechanisms of development of any disease, in which well-known facts are mixed with fiction (in the case of vituride, this is the loss of some mysterious “polarization” by a cancer cell). Then they explain that their drug (or method) restores exactly what is damaged during the development of the disease, but they “forget” to indicate in which scientific studies this was established. And to reinforce the learned material, they tell beautiful tales about thousands of patients whom they allegedly cured after doctors abandoned them. Such “noodles” are enough for a patient. But history, as a rule, is silent about such well-known statistics as the percentage of those cured, how long they are observed, what are the complications after treatment, what are the contraindications and restrictions when using a given drug or method.

It is unlikely that a drug will be discovered that can cure the entire population of the Earth with cancer, since tumors, the bouquet of concomitant diseases, and the constitution of people are different, and in principle there cannot be a single remedy. Only joint management of a cancer patient by a homeopath and oncologists can really save a person’s life (or, in an advanced stage, at least make it as easy as possible and prolong it).

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