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Excess of everything is bad and so true for supplements also.

Many  people don't get the required nutrition from the food and turn to dietary supplements in a regular diet without even consulting doctors ones. It’s just not stopped here, people recommended to their friend’s relatives or family, without keeping any knowledge of it. This doesn’t only harm them but may cause many disease just because of wrong understanding.

As we know, supplements are using worldwide to correct the deficiency in the body without generally showing any side-effects. Even found no side-effects in the body, it is still advisable to take the supplements, only after consulting doctors , as research reported many adverse events who are on supplements for longer period or who have taken these without doctors advice.  Some of the dietary supplements are well understood and established, others need further study. 

Dietary Supplements

Dietary supplements include many vitamins, minerals, calcium, soy etc. which comes in the form of capsules, tablets, softgels, liquids and powders.

Benefits of dietary Supplements

Supplements are generally given to fulfill the body needs, so that body can function properly and it also helps to reduce the risk of few diseases but these supplements are not permitted to treat any disorder or disease. As correctly said, no supplement can replace food requirement in the body. It is also said that eating food over supplement is better for health. 

Supplements can help to provide an extra nutrients which is lacking in your diet and required in the body and or sometimes in health conditions (such as cancer, diarrhea etc.). It also help remove many deficiencies in the body. For example, large doses of vitamin B3 (niacin) can help to increase "good" high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, Antioxidants, such as vitamin C and vitamin E, which can help to reduce the toxic effect of chemotherapy drugs, but still it is advisable to go for it only on doctors advice. 

Health risk of supplements

It is been reported that overuse of supplement or those which is not recommended, can  create lots of risk in the body. One of research done in Tufts University, published in the journal "Annals of Internal Medicine" reported that more than 1,000 milligrams (mg) per day of calcium intake will cause the increase risk of death from cancer.

Some other dietary supplements can also cause severe reactions like skin sensitivity during radiation treatment while those who are on chemotherapy may be at higher risk for drug interactions with the supplements. So at this point, it is required to take physician advice, before taking any supplements.

Vitamin D and Vitamin C supplement: These vitamins are the most popular supplement, which help to protect bones from disease like osteoporosis, as we are not able to get enough vitamin D from the food. Reports also suggest that, taking vitamin D supplement  more than 100 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) can cause extra calcium absorption, which lead to muscle pain, abdominal pain, and kidney stones and sometimes heart attack.  

Vitamin C is consider to be safe if taken in a prescribed doses. But if it is taken as overdose, it might cause side-effects like vomiting, nausea, heartburn, stomach cramps, headache, and if it is taken more than 2000 mg every day, it might cause severe side-effects like kidney stones and severe diarrhea.The recommended dose for some of these supplements are:

• Vitamin D-400–800 IU/day
• Vitamin C-60-90 milligrams/day

Excess Calcium Intake: Calcium is another essential nutrients for the body, which helps to make our bones strong and a heart healthy, but too much of anything is not good. As mentioned by NIH, more than 2,500 mg of calcium per day in women’s between 19 to 50 years age, and more than 2,000 mg per day above 50, leads to health risk whereas in men’s,  between the age of 19 to 70 is 1,000 mg a day, and 1,200 mg per day for 71 and older age will lead a problem. 

It had been suggested in the Journal of the "American Heart Association", that calcium supplements intake may increase plaque accumulated in the aorta and other arteries whereas, when calcium intake is, in the form of foods rich in calcium such as dairy products etc. will be safer. 

Calcium supplement will only be advised if an individual is detected with calcium deficiency or hypocalcemia. 

Multivitamins and Minerals: These are another supplements which are very commonly used but getting it from the food is really good for health. Many research shown its benefits but other research also shows its harmful health effect.

A study in the journal "JAMA Internal Medicine", taken data from nearly 40,000 women of above 19 years age and published that, women who were on these supplements had an increased risk of dying compared with women who were without supplements.

While the other research in the journal "Nutrients", shows that the use of multivitamin and mineral supplement, help to prevent from many health risk, as without it, might cause some health disorder. For many other health problems, it is advisable to take these vitamins and minerals like pregnant women are mostly recommended by the doctors to prevent any birth defect but it is not required in healthy people. 

Soy Supplement: Soy proteins like in soy milk, Tofu and tempeh are very good sources of protein, fiber and minerals and can be used by some women as a soy supplement as it contains estrogen-like compounds called isoflavones, which help to give relief in symptoms of menopause. However, few studies shows their concerns, as isoflavones found in soy supplements might also increase the risk of breast cancer but it is yet not clear and many studies shows no risk of breast cancer from eating soy source.

At the end, soy intake in the food diet shows no risk of breast cancer but needs to be little cautious while taking soy as a supplements 

The Bottom Line

It might be that some supplement can be beneficial but unnecessary and over uses of have shown harmful effects to the health.  The best way is to consult the doctors for the supplements your body needs. They can also help you to achieve a balance between the foods and nutrients, which you personally need.