Who are dietary supplements not suitable for

At present, it is generally recognized in the industry that dietary supplements are not suitable for people. The core groups are people with severe liver and kidney dysfunction, patients with specific chronic diseases who are taking medication, pregnant women, and infants and young children under 3 years old. The remaining so-called "unsuitable" are actually mostly tied to the specific ingredients of the supplement, the user's own diet, and physical condition, and there is no general standard.

I once met an old customer who had been suffering from chronic nephritis for almost ten years. I heard from the old man that deep-sea fish oil can lower blood lipids. I was afraid of the side effects of taking statins, so I bought high-purity fish oil and took two tablets a day. As a result, the creatinine increased by more than 40% when I checked three months later. I was so scared that I stopped immediately. In fact, to put it bluntly, whether it is polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish oil or high-dose fat-soluble vitamins, their metabolism must pass through the liver and kidneys. For people whose liver and kidney metabolism have been damaged, these additional burdens can easily turn small problems into big troubles. There are also patients who are taking prescription drugs for chronic diseases such as anticoagulants and antihypertensive drugs. Many supplement ingredients will react with the drugs, either enhancing or counteracting the effects of the drugs. We have also encountered patients taking warfarin who took vitamin K supplements without authorization before, resulting in a compromised anticoagulant effect. This is why we repeatedly remind patients with chronic diseases to ask their attending doctor before taking supplements.

"Can healthy people take supplements?" is a hotly debated topic on the Internet. In fact, it is also a controversial topic with no standard answer. Some people think that daily diet can completely cover all nutrients, and supplements are purely IQ tax. Others think that nowadays everyone generally takes out too much and has a poor diet structure, so it is always right to supplement appropriately. From the perspective of nutrition consultation, it really depends on the person. If you have three balanced meals and eat enough vegetables, protein, and whole grains, then there is really no need to take extra supplements. I once met a young girl who took 8 1000mg vitamin C a day for whitening. She even had kidney stones during a physical examination for more than half a year. She was originally a healthy person who was completely suitable for taking supplements, but she also had problems after overeating. This is like spreading fertilizers when the soil fertility is sufficient, which will burn the roots. Supplements are something that "make up for when it is missing". If you eat it when there is no shortage, anyone may become an unfit person.

In addition to these general conditions, more taboos actually depend on specific ingredients. For example, melatonin, which is often taken by young people today to aid sleep, must not be used by people with immune diseases such as lupus erythematosus or who are taking immunosuppressants. The melatonin in the ingredient will affect immune function. There are also controversial soy isoflavones. Some studies believe that low-dose supplementation can help menopausal women relieve the symptoms of hot flashes, and there is no clear negative impact on breast nodules. However, there are also clinical follow-up studies showing that patients with high estrogen levels, uterine fibroids, or breast nodules of grade 3 or above have experienced nodule enlargement after long-term supplementation. So now we will not directly recommend it to such customers. We recommend checking hormone levels first and seeing a gynecologist or endocrinologist for evaluation before deciding whether to take it.

To be honest, many people now buy supplements based on recommendations from internet celebrities or place orders directly after being told by friends, without even glancing at the ingredient list and contraindications column. This is actually quite dangerous. If you are really unsure whether you can take it, it is better to spend two minutes flipping through the recent physical examination report or ask a professional than regretting it later.