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5 things to know about dietary supplements

Sold in supermarkets, pharmacies and parapharmacies, food supplements sometimes have difficulty attracting new consumers (except for people who know other people taking food supplements). Not good for your health, composition not clean, complicated to ingest… The “we say” are not there to help. Caroline Legay, industrial pharmacist and responsible for the development of Biosens Laboratoire food supplements, tells us more about these pills.

We use them as a cure

Food supplements are there, as their name suggests, to complement our diet and provide us with all the nutrients and vitamins the body needs. Vitamin C supplements are regularly found (especially in winter), vitamin B12 (well known to vegans), iron or even magnesium. We therefore use them as a cure, when our body is lacking. As a general rule, a cure usually lasts several weeks (time for the body to fill up with nutrients).

You can combine complements

If you want to do a Vitamin C cure and a detox cure, it is possible, as long as it is herbal food supplements. However, you should not exceed 3 (large max 4) cures at the same time, there it can become dangerous (but rare must be the people to accumulate so many cures).

Their composition is regulated

We do not always know it, but the composition of food supplements is regulated in France. Control authorities monitor components, quality and manufacturing conditions. To be able to market them, you must then make a request to the authorities who ensure that the products are compliant.

The raw materials are not the same according to the brands

No, one brand's brewer's yeast is not the same as another brand's (it works for all ingredients). Each brand has its own suppliers, its own conditions and also its own values. In fact, brands of organic and non-organic food supplements will therefore not have the same raw materials. What can also change is the concentration of active ingredients or the mode of transformation.

Not for everyone

Food supplements are not dangerous, but they are not recommended for pregnant women and children (some brands have also created special ranges for children or special pregnant women so that the active ingredients are suitable for them). If you have the slightest doubt before starting a cure, don't hesitate to talk to your pharmacist and/or your doctor!