Do I Need to Take Dietary Supplements?

Supplements for losing fat or building muscle are rapidly becoming popular. These dietary supplements are available without any prescription and generally come in powder, liquid, or pill form. The most common of these supplements include herbal products (also called botanicals), minerals, and vitamins.

An interesting fact is that more than half of the population takes one or more dietary supplements either occasionally or on a routine basis. But why would you be interested in taking dietary supplements in the first place? Well, let’s have a look.

Normally, you can get all the essential nutrients your body requires in the form of a balanced diet. However, when you take supplements, you can provide your body additional nutrients, specifically the ones that your diet is lacking or when you develop a deficiency or insufficiency due to specific health conditions. In most cases, an effective booster of serotonin and melatonin levels can provide you all the basic micronutrients your body requires. This is because these types of supplements promote the secretion of serotonin inside your brain without needing antidepressant drugs. Serotonin also happens to be the precursor to melatonin. What’s more, left over serotonin is also converted into melatonin. Both melatonin and serotonin help in calming the brain, promoting sound sleep, supporting positive mood, and reducing anxiety.

Apart from that, another category of supplements that seems to be gaining significant popularity is weight loss pills. Common weight loss supplements typically include GABA. GABA can boost recovery from intensive exercise, while also improving exercise tolerance and relieving injuries and pain. Apart from that, another aspect that GABA covers is the promotion of fat burning and decrease of overall body fat. It goes without saying, as a result, that such pills are significantly suitable for runners, martial artists, power lifters, body builders, and athletes of all sorts.

With all of that kept in mind, it is essential to remember that some supplements do carry side effects, specifically if they are taken with other medicines or before surgery. What’s more, certain supplements may also cause you problems in case you have specific health conditions. Other than that, the effects of most supplements haven’t been tested on pregnant women, children, and a few other groups. So it is best if you talk to your healthcare provider before taking any form of dietary supplements.

Of course, deciding whether or not you take dietary supplements as well as which ones you take is a rather serious matter. As such, you should learn about the potential benefits and also the risks associated with their intake beforehand. You should shortlist your products of interest and head straight over to your healthcare specialist to ask for their advice on the matter.