Dietary Supplement Directory

This catalog is not a planting list. 90% of healthy adults with a balanced diet do not need additional supplements at all. There are only three types of people who really need supplements - those who have clear gaps in their daily diet, those who are in special physiological stages, and those who are prescribed supplements after being diagnosed with a disease. All those who follow the trend and purchase products that are not in these three categories will basically pay IQ tax.

Last week, my best friend came to me with three large bottles of multivitamins bought across the border. She said that all her colleagues were taking them. It was advertised as anti-aging and brightening. However, after two weeks of taking these, her urine turned frighteningly yellow, and she even kept mumbling. After a nutritional test, I found out that she usually eats whole-wheat bread and lean pork. The B vitamins themselves are enough. The extra dose far exceeds the need, and is excreted through metabolism. It is a complete waste of money.

There are so many types of supplements on the market now, and there has never been any debate among academic circles about whether the general population should take supplements. One group is the strict "precision supplement group", which requires serum nutrient testing to be done first. Whatever is missing is supplemented, and there is no need for any extra.； The other school is the more relaxed "safety threshold school". As long as the supplement dose is within 1/3 of the recommended daily intake, you will not be burdened by eating basic foods every day. Both sides are supported by clinical data. You don't have to take sides, just choose according to your own living habits.

Let’s first talk about the basic supplements that ordinary people are most likely to come into contact with, and which have the highest fraud rate:

Vitamin D is one of the rare categories that both groups agree is suitable for most people, especially in northern areas where it is difficult to get sunlight even for half a month in winter, as well as office workers who stay in the office every day and cannot see the light. We have screened the nurses in the hospital before and found that 80% of them are vitamin D deficient. A daily supplement of 400IU per day is enough. It is best to check the 25-hydroxyvitamin D level before supplementing. Don’t take high doses. Excessive supplementation will cause calcium deposition.

Vitamin C is highly controversial. Some people say that taking 1,000mg a day can prevent colds, while others say that all excess vitamin C will be excreted in the urine. Taking too much vitamin C can easily induce kidney stones. My own experience is that during the seasonal flu season, if there are many people around me who are infected, I will take 500mg every day, which can indeed reduce the probability of catching a cold. But if you can usually eat an orange or half a catty of green leafy vegetables every day, there is no need to spend extra money.

Calcium is also one of the most heavily marketed categories. Whether liquid calcium is easy to absorb or children grow taller with calcium, in fact, as long as it is compliant calcium carbonate, the absorption rate is not much different. Just choose the OTC model that costs a few yuan a bottle. It is more than ten times more cost-effective than calcium, a health care product that often costs hundreds. Postmenopausal women and elderly people over 65 years old lose bone mass quickly. If they drink less milk on a daily basis, they can take a daily supplement of 600 mg of calcium and vitamin D. If young women are prone to leg cramps before and after menstruation, they can also take supplements for a few days as needed instead of taking it every day.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the functional supplements that are very popular nowadays. Fish oil, coenzyme Q10, and lutein are almost the "standard three-piece set" for office workers nowadays. In fact, not many people really need to take them. As for fish oil, if you can eat deep-sea fish twice a week, with more than 100g each time, your intake of Omega 3 is completely sufficient. If you never eat fish and really want to supplement it, choose one with a total content of EPA and DHA over 60%. Don’t touch the ones that cost tens of dollars for a large bottle. Most of them are gelatin and vegetable oils, with very few active ingredients. The same goes for lutein. For people who work on computers and mobile phones every day, if they don’t like to eat dark yellow and dark green foods such as spinach and corn, they can take about 6mg of it every day, not more than 10mg. Of course, there are also studies saying that short-term lutein supplementation cannot improve the pigmentation of the macular area. It belongs to the category of "there is no harm in eating it, but don’t have high expectations." Whether you buy it or not depends on whether you are willing to spend a small amount of money.

As for Internet-famous supplements such as whitening pills, anti-sugar pills, and hair growth tablets, I advise you to avoid them. Essentially, they just add some vitamins and plant extracts. The advertised effects are basically not supported by clinical data. Many illegal products even add hormones and diuretics, which may harm the body if consumed. I also fell into a trap two years ago. I followed the trend and bought anti-sugar pills from a certain Internet celebrity. After taking it for three months, my face turned yellow or yellow. After checking the ingredients, I found out that the content of the core anti-sugar ingredients was negligible, and the extra money was all marketing fees.

Let me talk about my own standards for stocking up on supplements. I have never spent any money indiscriminately for so many years: I only keep three items at home, vitamin D (taken in winter), OTC calcium carbonate (taken when leg cramps occur), and vitamin C (taken when the seasons change). When buying, I only recognize two labels, either it is Sinopharm. I rarely come across cross-border supplements that are accurate OTC or blue hat supplements issued by the National Food and Health Commission. After all, many of them are dosed according to foreigners’ eating habits. For example, many multivitamins produced in Europe and the United States have extremely high iron content. Many Chinese women are not deficient in iron. Taking too much supplements will increase the metabolic burden.

Finally, I would like to say that supplements are always a supplement to the diet, not a substitute. If you eat takeout every day and stay up late, it will be useless no matter how many expensive supplements you take. If you are really not sure what you are lacking, go to the nutrition department and register for a consultation. You can get a personalized supplement plan for a few dozen yuan, which is much more reliable than buying supplements worth thousands of yuan.