What are the Health Benefits of Dietary Supplement? Risk and Side Effects
Last updated on May 24th, 2023 at 05:43 pm
10 minutes read.
Overview
Nowadays, diet is thought to be much richer than it used to be.
The people’s ignorance of the basic principles of nutrition has led a large part of the population to a non-balanced diet that is high in both calories and fat and low in proteins, vitamins, and minerals
This long-term situation has led to the emergence of various degenerative diseases. In an effort to address this concern, nutritional supplements were proposed to proffer a solution to this problem. (1)
Dietary supplements contain organic or synthetic ingredients intended to supplement the diet, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids (protein), and other phytochemicals that may benefit your health.
Dietary supplements are products aimed at improving the health status and wellness of an individual, which can be taken during meals or at specific intervals to supplement the individual daily diet.
Supplements are required when there is an imbalance in nutrients or the absence of a particular nutrient.
In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about the health benefits and the risk you may have been taking on consuming the dietary supplement. Feel free to skip to any topic you prefer:
What’s Dietary Supplement?
A dietary supplement can be defined as any vitamin, mineral, chemical substance, herbal product, botanical, amino acid, or other ingestible preparation that is added to the diet to benefit human health.
Dietary supplements are used worldwide and represent a broad category of ingestible products that are distinguishable from conventional foods and drugs.
The advantages that nutritional supplements generally offer include a high content of nutrients in small volumes; special nutrient compositions; lack of undesirable accompanying substances such as fats, cholesterol, and purines; and complete coverage of specialized sporting needs. (2)
Virtual all the food nutrients can be found in the form of dietary supplements these days, however, it cannot replace the natural nutrients in our food.
What’s a balanced diet?
You and I know that nutrition plays a very important role in our health.
However, the fundamental question that everybody keeps asking these days is; “Will a conventional and balanced diet without supplements be able to cover all the needs of the human body for a healthy lifestyle until old age?”
Nutritionists and health professionals argued for years that people can get the most important food requirements for their body needs each day from a conventional, balanced, and regular daily diet.
Today’s dietary guidelines from health and nutrition agencies all over the world cover more than 40 nutrients that are subdivided into 6 categories: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water.
A healthy balanced diet can be defined as one that favors “real” fresh whole foods that have been sustaining people throughout the millennium. (3)
Whole foods supply the needed vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fats, and fiber that are essential to good health.
A balanced diet is a mix of food from different food groups-(vegetables, legumes, fruits, grains, protein foods, meat, and dairy).
Eating a variety of food means eating different foods from all the food groups that help to ensure that you receive all the nutrients necessary for a healthy diet.
The components of the Mediterranean diet have been evaluated as substantially beneficial to human health
Classification of dietary supplement
Dietary supplements can be grouped according to their origin (natural or synthetic). They are classified comparably to the texture or form in which they are available. These include:
| Class | Example | Contents |
| Activator | Amino acids | Contains growth hormone and another hormone |
| Carbohydrate | Dextrose | May contain vitamins and electrolytes |
| Food and Foodstuff | Fish oils, minerals, and vitamin | Contain garlic, kelp, royal jelly, yeast |
| Herbs | Ginseng, Fiber | Contains amino acids, another plant source |
| Minerals | Selenium, multimineral tablets | Contains only minerals |
| Multivitamins and multimineral | Vitamin D, calcium supplement | Contains both minerals and vitamins |
| Oil supplements | Cod liver oil, primrose oil | Contains an oil base, with vitamins, mineral |
| Vitamins | Vitamin C, vitamin B | Contains only vitamins |
On the hand, dietary supplements are divided into two categories depending on their intended use, according to the National Agency of Medicines; the European food information council.
1. Food supplements as food products. They are intended to supplement the normal/usual diet.
2. To supplement foodstuffs for special nutritional uses as a beverage. It is made up of special composition as a special diet for a certain population group
For example, for nutrition during the life cycle such as healthy infants, toddlers, elderly, and people suffering from metabolism disorders, or for categories of persons in a special physiological condition e.g pregnant and lactating mothers.
But based on physiological functions, dietary supplements can be classified into three major groups; (1)
Health benefits
For many years, dietary supplements have attained a lot of health claim some of which have been scientifically proven to be real. One thing is certain “supplement cannot replace natural food nutrients” Here are some of the scientifically proven health benefits of dietary supplements:
1. In Cognitive function
Cognitive function is an intellectual process that deals with awareness, alertness, learning capacity, ability to recall and comprehend ideas within an individual.
One study carried out in Australia assessed the effect of vitamin supplementation, i.e., folate, cobalamin, and pyridoxine, on cognitive function in 56 healthy young women with no external stressors.
They were administered high doses of B vitamins (750 g folate, 15 g cobalamin, 75 mg pyridoxine) in tablets or capsules for five weeks.
The result shows that supplementing with folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 enhances memory performance.
Scientific studies had shown that Nitric oxide from nitrate supplements optimizes brain function through modulation in cerebral blood flow.
Another study suggested that some legal dietary supplements could benefit the cognitive performance of healthy young adults, thus military personnel.
“We suggest tyrosine could be used to mitigate the impact of
physiological stress (particularly sleep deprivation) on psychomotor and memory performance,” says the researchers.
However, they recommended that a clear double-blind study on the cognitive benefits of legal dietary supplements, especially among healthy young adults, including military personnel, is needed to perform. (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
2. In Cardiovascular Diseases
Cardiovascular diseases are those diseases that are related to the reduced efficiency or malfunction of the heart.
A series of 11 studies on the association of Omega 3 fatty acid supplements and cardiovascular disease death risk were reviewed, with total patients of 39,044 participants divided into 2 groups (i.e. high-risk and low-risk groups).
The participants were supplemented with an average dose of omega-3 fatty acids containing Eicosa Pentaenoic Acid (EPA) or Docosa Hexanoic Acid (DHA) of 1.8 g/day with a mean follow-up duration of 2.2 years.
The result depicted that the risk of cardiovascular deaths and sudden cardiac death was significantly reduced at 0.87, 95% confidence interval each, while non-fatal cardiovascular issues and all-cause mortality were also reduced at 0.92, 95% confidence interval each.
However, the relationship between the daily intake of omega-3 fatty acid supplements and clinical outcomes failed to be proved, thus the scientists concluded that omega-3 fatty acids supplements should be considered in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Resveratrol is another dietary supplement that is believed to have an anti-oxidative capacity.
Various studies have shown its significant protective effect against heart-related disease issues and its ability to reduce oxidative stress within the body cells.
Resveratrol, combined with an omega-3 fatty acid derived from fish oil, when consumed as supplements, was associated with the reduction of hypertension, stroke, and coronary heart diseases reported by many research projects.
On the hand, other scientists reported that adequate intake of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, vitamin K, zinc, copper, and magnesium (at or above the Adequate Intake level) through food, not supplements was associated with reduced fundamental causes of heart-related disease mortality. (9, 10,)
3. Dietary Supplement in Diabetes
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by high blood sugar levels above the normal range, resulting from a lack of insulin, insufficient insulin production, or insensitivity to insulin, thus affecting major nutrients, especially carbohydrates.
Diabetes is a deadly disorder that can result in several health issues such as retinopathy (impairment of vision), neuropathy (pain from nerve damage), nephropathy (impairment of kidney function), and other organ-related failures.
Research has been done to ascertain whether dietary supplements effect can promote health conditions in diabetic patients. Some of the dietary supplements tested in clinical trials include; chromium, omega-3 fatty acid, and alpha lipoic acid.
Among the 3 supplements above, only alpha lipoic acid positive effect on diabetes, while some studies on chromium and omega-3 fatty acid found little or no efficacy on diabetic patients.
The alpha lipoic acid sources include liver, potatoes, Brussels, spinach, sprouts, peas (agwa, akidi, agbugbu-fiofio, uzaaku), broccoli, and yeast.
This implies that eating the mentioned food can play a positive role in regulating sugar levels in a diabetic person
There’s a claim that supplements such as vitamins, minerals, botanicals, and amino acids have provided healthier and safer replacements for traditional and costly medicines.
The use of dietary supplements is anticipated to encourage good health and improve diabetic patients. (11, 12)
4. Supplement in Athletes
Athletics is a sport, including a range of games such as races, football, swimming, jumping, throwing resistant gym activities, etc. An athlete is a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.
Athletes need energy and body-building food for their various respective sports requirements; they have an increased demand for nutrient-dense food than average adults; this is to cover up for what has been lost during training or competition.
But due to insufficient time for most athletes, preparing nutrient-dense food that will provide all requirements to their bodies may not be achieved. Coincidently, available dietary supplements seem to be a better option.
The use of dietary supplements among athletes is aimed at improving their overall performance and helping them to meet their dietary requirements, such as calories, proteins, and carbohydrates.
However, inappropriate use of food supplements might lead to health complications. Additionally, athletes are also tightened by anti-doping
regulations to prevent such practices.
According to Omar food supplements plays a vital role in the life of athletes with some examples of their health benefit given;
Antioxidants such as Vitamins C, selenium, beta carotene, and vitamin E help to prevent tissue damage in athletes and facilitate proper utilization of oxygen in the muscle for flexible contraction.
Amino acid supplements that serve as nitrogen sources such as; lysine, tryptophan, arginine, and tyrosine prevent muscle breakdown caused due to the increased nitrogen loss due to heavy exercise.
Glucosamine supplements help athletes, especially soccer players (who suffer frequent knee and joint injuries), by promoting joint health and boosting cartilage’s structural integrity and durability. (13, 14)
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5. In Cancer
Cancer is a generic name for abnormal cells with an abnormally rapid growth rate.
It can be either malignant or benign cells, thus affecting health. Its significance makes it one of the leading causes of mortality because of its rapid ability to spread to different parts of the body.
It is not strange that the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) such as herbal and dietary supplements is well-documented and common in patients, particularly those suffering from cancer.
A pigment “lycopene” in the carotenoid, responsible for a tomato’s red color, effectively controlled cancer reported by a group of researchers at Harvard University in the mid-50s and attributed that lycopene effectiveness is as a result of its powerful antioxidative properties.
Calcium is another supplement widely used in several health issues. An observational study using meta-analysis supports an association between higher calcium intake and reduced risk of breast cancer.
Higher calcium intake in a meta-analysis was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal (colon and rectum) cancer.
Another group of scientists in their study reported that dietary antioxidant supplements via food have a promising effect on non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), while oral antioxidant supplements have not shown promising results.
The study recommended that upcoming research related to cancer issues should focus on antioxidant supplements taken through food consumption. (15, 16, 17)
6. Dietary Supplement in Obesity-induced Erectile Dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction, also known as impotence, is a sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis during sexual intercourse.
Erectile dysfunction is the most common symptomatic manifestation of multiple diseases of sexual dysfunction that affect men after 40 years of age.
It was estimated that over 150 million men were affected with one or more erectile-related dysfunction worldwide, and by 2025 it was forecasted to affect around 250 million men.
Dietary supplements play an important role in ameliorating this condition, with several research shed light on their efficacy on erectile dysfunction.
A 2021 review on the effect of dietary supplements on weight loss reported that dietary supplements and alternative therapies for weight loss have a limited high-quality evidence base of efficacy.
Thus practitioners and patients should be aware of the scientific evidence of claims before recommending use.
Another scientific study on the efficacy of herbal dietary supplements carried out on 24 men shown supplements with ginseng significantly improved erectile function.
The study suggested that ginseng may be an effective herbal treatment for erectile dysfunction, however further, larger, and high-quality studies are required before firm conclusions can be drawn says the scientists.
Other research that has shown the positive effect of dietary supplements (spirulina platensis and S. platensis) on obesity and erectile dysfunction was in rats and not humans. (18, 19, 20, 21, 28)
7. In Bone Mineral Density (BMD)
The amount of bone minerals contained in bone tissue is called bone mineral density. It reflects the strength of bones in an individual represented by the availability of calcium of such an individual.
Insufficient bone mineral density is associated with bone fragility
at a later stage in life, which leads to a high risk of developing bone-related diseases such as osteoporosis.
To cater to this risk, individuals need to ingest food containing sufficient calcium at the early and mid-stage of life as a means of primary prevention. Intake of food containing adequate calcium should extend through the elderly stage.
Several studies have proved the efficacy of calcium supplements in bone mineral density, one of which was conducted among adolescent girls aged 15-16 in New Zealand.
The study determined the effect of calcium on bone mineral density for 3 years (2 years of supplementation and one-year follow-up).
The result shows that the group of girls who ingested a supplement of dairy products containing mean calcium of 1160mg/day had an increase in BMD at the trochanter, lumbar spine, and femoral neck compared to those in the control group.
The study further shows that the supplementation does not cause adverse health issues on body weight, blood lipid profile, fat, and lean mass.
But, during the follow-up period (a year after the supplementation period), it was found that the majority of the girls returned to their regular diet, which signifies their selection of the supplemented dairy product is hard to maintain. (22, 23, 24)
Risk and Side Effects
Users of dietary supplements often increase the dosage or frequency. As a result, doses become less and less effective. Thus, the human organism is forced to work harder to eliminate the extra amounts of supplements taken.
All these factors lead to the appearance of side effects due to the toxicity of dietary supplements, which depends on the factors including;
(a) The dosage, because exceeding the recommended dosage may cause side effects
(b) The duration of intake is related to the fact that the human organism is overloaded, owing to specific substances that the supplement contains, till the substance is eliminated.
(c) The special chemical properties of some substances and their interactions with other foods and substances.
(d) The person’s weight who takes those supplements.
(e) Age, because lots of supplements are not recommended for under-age persons or the elderly.
(f) The individual capacity, because each person reacts differently in the face of various substances. No supplement is innocent.
For instance, some overdose of fat-soluble vitamins causes hypervitaminosis.
Protein overdose damages the kidneys and the liver. A lot of carbohydrate intake in the form of powder can cause a fat increase.
A large dose of fatty acids may lead to some inability of the organism to form some muscle proteins. Also, performance-enhancing drugs may cause endocrine disorders.
Long-term use of kava and comfrey may negatively lead to weight long and damage the liver.
One review suggested that some dietary supplements may contain harmful compounds and because the marketing of dietary supplements is too loose by legal control such products are available in the market.
Thus it’s crucial to make certain changes in the regulation, to guarantee the safety of dietary supplements. (25,26, 27, 29, 30)
Therefore it’s important you buy your dietary from a highly trusted industry/marker.
Conclusion
Dietary supplements can benefit your health in so many ways such as mental alertness and memory enhancement, support heart health, regulate sugar levels, help maintain healthy bone and weight loss, and protection you from oxidative stress.
Scientists and health professionals agree that dietary supplements can be under certain conditions beneficial to your health but should not replace the natural nutrient you obtain from food.
The market for dietary supplements taken to improve the health or well-being of the customer is enormous. However, these products are not necessarily safe for everybody.
Like regular drugs, supplements with active ingredients that provide a physiological or pharmacological effect are likely to also cause adverse effects in susceptible individuals.
Self-prescription of dietary supplements to patients, older people, pregnant women, young persons, and people living with disabilities should be avoided but if you intend to take any supplement you should seek advice from your health professional.
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MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
The content provided in living Good Blog is for informational and educational purposes only. It’s not intended to provide medical advice or take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal doctor. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Living Good Blog takes no responsibility for possible health consequences of any person(s) reading or following the information in this educational content. Viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medication, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program
