What Are Dietary Supplements?

You decided to improve your health and not be a burden to family members later in life. Inasmuch as you have raised the bar on your personal efforts, you have contemplated whether you should be doing more than you are. If this sounds like you, adding dietary supplements may be the missing ingredient for success. Dietary supplements can play a critical role in restoring your health and wellness. Nutraceuticals and supplements can be purchased in a variety of forms, including capsules, tablets, liquids and powders. Inasmuch as fortified foods and dietary supplements differ slightly.

Dietary foods that fall under the FDA's Good Manufacturing Practice compliance can be categorized as:

• Fortified Foods - At the same time foods are being refined, nutrients are lost and then artificially replaced. This step is also used when a natural food is void of a certain vitamin or mineral. Fortified foods include breads fortified with folic acid as well as salt fortified with iodine.
• Dietary supplements - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration definition of dietary supplements can be a food product intended for ingestion that contains a dietary ingredient intended to boost the nutritional value. By increasing your total dietary intake, a dietary supplement can help to restore your health and wellness.
• Nutraceuticals - Consuming the right daily intake of important nutrients from your daily intake of food can be difficult, even for those who consume good foods. A dietary nutraceutical is a supplemental food that not only improves your nutritional intake but also may help prevent diseases. Researchers have concluded nutraceuticals may be used to delay the aging process as well as improve important body functions.

Whenever losing weight and restoring your health is the primary goal, add fresh, healing foods to your diet including lean meats and fresh seafood, fresh pome or berries, a variety of vegetables, and nuts. Though eating better furnishes your system with much needed nutrients, it will likely fall short of what your body needs. If you want to know the best dietary supplements to beef up your menu plan, consider scheduling a consultation at a MRC location near you.