Do supplements work or is it just a waste of money?

I feel I need to address my feelings on supplements. I often here patients say they buy the cheapest supplements or they are taking it because they heard it was good but they don’t know if it’s working. I feel if you don’t have the knowledge of supplements you really need to seek professional advice.

There has been a lot in the media recently about do supplements work and that they are a waste of money. Well they are a waste of money if you are buying poor quality and taking supplements that you don’t need. Firstly, I would suggest that you go get advice from a registered practitioner. They will ask you many questions trying to gain the big picture as to what is going on in your body. Sometime you may think why do they need to know what the best time of the day is for me but I promise you all the questions are relevant and they mean something to us. Once they have asked all the questions they can then find out what is going on in your body and what best will suit you.

Sometimes you will find products are being doubled up and it is not necessary to be taking one or two of your products so it is important to read the ingredients of each of your products. The other problem is if you are self-diagnosing as this can be your biggest mistake. We as naturopaths know that no two people are the same and so something that may work for one person may not be the best fit for another. This is why you should defiantly see your health profession as they have studied this and this is what they know best.

Secondly, we need to understand the quality of products. The products you buy at discount chemists are not the same quality as what you would get from your Naturopath. The products naturopaths use are premium, practitioner products and the blends have been researched and designed for particular conditions. If you are getting a big tub of fish oil for about $15 you have to question the quality of the product. You then what to look at the dosages because you may be thinking you’ve got a good deal but you will probably have to take a lot of tablets to get any sort of benefits. So we need to look at the cost of products and how much you’re actually getting per tablet. You may find once you’ve done the math’s there isn’t much of a difference in price at all but instead you’re getting a much better quality from your naturopaths.

The final thing I want to take about is fish oil from the chemist. If you’re buying a cheap fish oil there’s so many things that goes through my mind. We don’t know where the fish oil has come from for starters. We then do not know how long the fish oil has been in the capsule for. Due to it being an oil we need to understand that oils can go off and go rancid.  So this is just something to think about next time you are looking to buy supplements.

Now I’m not here to bad mouth chemist I just think we need to be aware of what we are getting and sometimes we need to seek advice where it is needed. If you are having something that is of poor quality and something that you don’t need than it is a waste of money and unnecessary. But overall supplements are not a waste of money if they are prescribed correctly and if you are getting a good quality. If you are worrying about your supplements it may be beneficial to book an appointment with your health professional to get their advice.