What Are Dietary Supplement

Food supplements: properties and benefits

Dietary supplements or Food supplements can be viewed as concentrated sources of nutrients.

They are used for physiological or nutritional purposes, in particular to compensate for potential nutritional deficiencies.

This use often concerns people who follow special diets. However, their uses are wider and more widespread. Here is what you need to know about the benefits of food supplements, their properties, and their uses.

What is a dietary supplement?

As the name suggests, a food supplement is not intended to replace a common diet.

He completes it. Also called a "nutritional supplement", it aims to provide vitamins, minerals and other active ingredients to the consumer.

All this in addition to those present in the diet. Among these dietary supplements, some are more natural than others. These are the ones we recommend that you turn to as much as possible.

And this, in order to preserve your health as well as possible.

Food supplements are therefore considered to be foodstuffs, having a physiological or nutritional effect, whether combined or alone (1). A supplement of this type must always be in the form of doses: capsules, tablets, capsules, lozenges, ampoules, sachets.

Characteristics of food supplements

By definition, a dietary supplement and a concentrated source of one or more nutrients. It does not replace a varied and balanced diet. It is often specific to certain situations, periods of life, to objectives or pathologies (pregnancy, menopause, childhood, etc.).

Self-medication is strongly discouraged, due to the risk of overdose with products.

Supplementation

Food supplements are recent products and their entry into the market stems from the health problems that have plagued the last centuries.

For example, we can cite scurvy, a disease linked to a lack of vitamin C. Other diseases are also involved: bone deformities, rickets, etc. Supplements have therefore been developed to prevent these health problems. Today, they have several vocations: well-being, shape, beauty, tone ... And there are thousands of them available commercially.

The primary role of a food supplement:

To supplement the diet

Our bodies use what we ingest for fuel. This allows it to properly operate organs such as muscles and heart, but also our brain. Supplements as well as food therefore play a fundamental role.

They act both on our physical health, but also on our mental health. Their effects also affect our stress level or even our emotional well-being.

The primary role of the food supplement is to supplement the diet. For this, it provides the body with a nutritional gain, which depends on its composition.

These can be vitamins, minerals, trace elements, antioxidants, amino acids, fatty acids, etc. These are then offered alone or in combination in a supplement dose.

Natural food supplement versus synthetic supplement

Natural supplements come from plants, fruits, plants, and foods that nature offers. The synthetic supplements are produced in laboratories. Also, be aware that natural dietary supplements are one way of administering herbal medicine (herbal therapy)

We therefore use the plants and some of their parts (flowers, fruits, roots, etc.) which are reduced to powder and incorporated into capsules, to optimize their ingestion and the assimilation of their active ingredients

No changes are made to their composition or their content of active ingredients and other nutrients. Food supplements are then chosen according to the claims made by science for their consumption

Why is it essential to choose natural food supplements? Simply because they offer us the best of what nature produces. It is in the laboratory that manufacturers develop synthetic food supplements. They most often contain nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, etc.). But few are those who also integrate the active principles of plants. However, it is these active ingredients that make all the interest of food supplements. If you want to enjoy the real benefits of plants and not be satisfied with nutrients, then choose natural food supplements. In addition, the supplements

The active ingredients, at the origin of the benefits of food supplements

If food supplements are effective, it is above all because they contain active ingredients. In natural products, these active substances are contained in plants, vegetables, fruits, etc.

Benefits of food supplements

What are these active ingredients used for?Vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, calcium, omega 3, 6 and 9, minerals, iron, antioxidants, flavonoids, polyphenols, gingerol, guaranine, caffeine, curcumin ... You have often heard of these different active ingredients without really knowing what they served. The active ingredients indeed represent the first quality criterion to be taken into account.

This is essential for choosing the right food supplement. Their nature and their concentration will condition the effectiveness of the latter. The content of active ingredients in a product determines its degree of effectiveness, but also the dosage recommended for the product. In terms of the effectiveness of a product, everything depends on the active ingredients and their concentration.

The active ingredients act on the brain, on hormonal secretion and on all the functions of the body. Most often, they have the effect of stimulating and improving them. But here it all depends once again on the active ingredient and its concentration in the product. Each supplement is associated with active ingredients. Korean ginseng (5), for example, is effective if it is highly titrated in ginsenosides. The same is true for turmeric and its curcuminoids (of which curcumin is a part) (6).

It is these active ingredients that are mainly responsible for the health benefits of food supplements. They add to the benefits of the nutrients in plants.

In order to simplify your choice, Natura Force helps you to direct you towards the food supplement which best meets your needs. As well as the benefits you are looking for. All the useful information about them is integrated into our dedicated pages. Do not hesitate to consult them!

Benefits of food supplements: are they effective?

To be effective, a nutritional supplement must therefore have a high concentration of active ingredients.

However, in addition to the concentration of active ingredients, other selection criteria will also be taken into account. They relate of course to the effectiveness of the product. This is the case with the ability of the supplement to be absorbed by the body, also called bioavailability. From this point of view, Natura Force is a brand that offers high-quality products, among the best you can find.

The effectiveness of dietary supplements has been proven in tens of thousands of scientific studies published on this subject, carried out over the past three decades. These serious studies appear in leading scientific journals, such as the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and many more. Always refer to the results of scientific studies to know the effectiveness of a dietary supplement. Don't believe everything you read in the press. Nor all the unproven claims that unscrupulous sellers can make about their products.

Supplements with powerful active ingredients

Natural food supplements take advantage of the active ingredients of plants (or other natural elements). For some, they are very powerful and can even represent a danger, especially if we misuse them. Before buying or consuming a food supplement, it is important to consult the list of possible contraindications. As well as its possible side effects. We also advise you to seek medical advice before starting a course of supplements. We must consider the active ingredients as potentially dangerous substances if badly used.

Always follow the dosages indicated on the packaging or the dosages prescribed by your doctor. Do not exceed the indicated duration of treatment and observe sufficient break times between each period of treatment. Finally, do not combine food supplements with each other until you are sure that they are indeed compatible. These tips will help you use food supplements safely. Of course, in the event of side effects or an unexpected reaction, consult a doctor and stop your treatment.

Who are food supplements intended for?

Food supplements can be useful at different times, especially during key stages in life. Growth, menopause, pregnancy and old age are very good examples. Food supplements must complement a diet whose nutritional contributions

These products can also help meet the increased nutritional needs of athletes, especially those in the form of protein powder. Or simply compensated for an unbalanced diet as in the context of travel or studies. Finally, most of them are beneficial for health and to relieve certain problems, disorders or symptoms. This is the case with stress, pain (muscle or joint), digestive problems or fatigue.

Overall, anyone can use food supplements, provided they do not present a particular contraindication to their use. For each supplement, there are contraindications to be observed. We invite you to consult them before starting a new treatment. In the event of treatment, pregnancy, breastfeeding or a particular pathology, it is also recommended to consult a health professional. And this even before using or consuming food supplements.

Food supplements: precautions to take

Food supplements are not for everyone to use. Here is some essential information to know about the precautions for the use of these products.

Taking food supplements must be a quality process. Indeed, the dosage and the content of active ingredients in supplements should not be left to chance. The quality of the food supplements is essential here. On the Internet as in stores, you can find everything. Top of the range like uninteresting products. It is up to consumers to choose the dietary supplements they use. For this, they must be based on several important criteria.

Thus pregnant or breastfeeding women for example or even people on anticoagulants must be particularly vigilant with regard to the nature of the food supplements to which they wish to go and must therefore at least stick to the instructions or at best consult their attending physician.

Also be sure to choose food supplements with organic certification. Most Natura Force supplements have this organic certification. Some will never be able to benefit from the organic label because of the impossibility of tracing. This is the case with fish oil, for example. This ensures that you are consuming an effective supplement that is also completely harmless.

Selection criteria for food supplements

First, you have to select the seller and turn to a trusted trader. On the Internet, serious sites offer high-quality food supplements. Consumers should also be interested in products from organic farming. These do not contain pesticides or chemical residues. Finally, the idea is to choose products packaged and tested in France. Thus, we can be sure to choose food supplements that meet French health standards.

In addition, depending on the desired food supplement, one should also be interested in the indications on the labels. Several data are important here. The origin of the ingredients, the labels respected, the packaging, the concentration of active ingredients, etc. Also check that the excipients which are in these supplements and which generally make it possible to facilitate their packaging are in the smallest possible proportions but also the nature of these last (natural, chemical, controversial/dangerous or not, etc).

Food supplements: the essential

Food supplements can be really effective if they are of high quality and well selected.

Below are some of the dietary supplements that help in these areas