Retail Supplements

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) defines dietary supplements as products containing vitamins or minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, or dietary supplements that include enzymes or tissues derived from organs or glands, or concentrates, metabolites, ingredients, or extracts of these.

Nutritional supplements are a type of dietary supplement that contains a concentrated form of presumed bioactive substances selected from whole foods. They now exist in non-food matrices and are used to enhance health, with doses exceeding those obtained from whole foods. Evidence-based recommendations require a scientific review of relevant clinical literature, where publications are rated based on their level of scientific validation. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Nutritional Guidelines Task Force has published their evidence-based research findings on the clinical applications of dietary supplements and nutritional drugs (DS/N) in endocrine practice; some findings are summarized in this article.

• DS/N recommendations rated as A (strong evidence showing benefit outweighs risk) are suitable for first-line treatment;
• Recommendations rated as B (intermediate evidence where benefit outweighs risk) are suitable for second-line treatment;
• Doctors may not oppose the continued use of DS/N rated as C (weak evidence where benefit outweighs risk);
• Various DS/N have been used in alternative medicine for unproven uses or situations with excessive risks (rated D).

AACE recognizes that these recommendation levels will change as new scientific data becomes available. Doctors are discouraged from routinely using unproven DS/N therapies. Many DS/N can have adverse reactions when taken with other DS/N and certain medications. Furthermore, many patients taking DS/N do not disclose this to their doctors. Continued education aims to enable doctors to communicate more effectively with patients.

_{This R&D product can be simply trialed for minor issues without expert advice; for other health concerns, please contact your family doctor or our platform's <Borderless Doctor> for precise diagnosis and treatment.}