How Effective are Nutritional Supplements in Improving Health

Nutritional supplement can be defined as any minerals, vitamins and chemical substances or herbal product that is added to the diet to improve the human health. Scientists and nutritionist agree that supplements can be under certain conditions beneficial to human health but not replace complete and balanced meals of foods which are necessary for healthful diet. In recent studies of China and Japan shown that where plants, herbs and animals extracts have long history of use as traditional medicine, regulations are different but relatively stringent in terms of safety and side effects of humans.

Multivitamin Supplements
Multivitamins supplements are the combination of vitamins like calcium and antioxidants. These are used for improving the neurological functions and perinatal depression.

Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements
Calcium supplements are also used for the treatment of bone problems like osteoporosis. But the recent viewed analyzed that these supplements of calcium are negative risk effect on human health and so should not be used as routinely. Ca or combination of Ca and vitamin D increased the risk of myocardial infarction (relative risk 1.24) and the composite of myocardial infarction or stroke (1.15).

Scientists concluded that Ca supplements with or without vitamin D modestly increase the risk of cardiovascular events, especially myocardial infarction.

Little food that contains vitamin D sunlight is the natural source of vitamin D and dairy products are the source of calcium.

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Iron and Zinc Supplements
Iron and zinc is the important element and maintaining the 300 enzymes functions. Zinc supplementation reduces the risk of respiratory infections like diarrheal, Oral Zn is therefore recommended for the treatment of acute diarrhea in young children. Oral iron supplements are the cheapest, safest and most effective treatment for iron deficiency anemia.

Weight Loss Supplements
Flavonoid supplements are used for weight control. Scientists concluded that intake of food rich in flavonoids may contribute to weight maintenance in adulthood and prevent obesity. Cherries, apples and bitterroot are the full source of flavones that control the obesity.

Omega 3 and 6 Fatty acids Supplements
Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) considered being important in human physiology. The most widely available dietary source of omega-3 FAs is oily fish, such as salmon. A review in 2014 analyzed the influence of omega-3 PUFAs status and intake on brain function, cardiovascular system, immune function, muscle performance and bone health in older adults. Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids significantly reduced the risk of cardiovascular deaths at 0.87, sudden cardiac death 0.87, all-cause mortality 0.92 and nonfatal cardiovascular events 0.92.

The scientists concluded that dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids should be considered in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events.
Food that contains omega fatty acids is:

• Olive oil
• Fish
• Flax seeds
• Chia seeds
• Walnuts
• Soya beans
• Eggs

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Scientists and health professionals agree that dietary supplements (DS) can be under certain conditions beneficial to human health, but should not replace complete and balanced daily meals of foods.