Are Your Supplements Safe?

Just because a remedy is “natural” doesn’t mean its safe. Many natural supplements, herbs, and medicines are actually quite strong, and can cause strong side effects as well as interactions with other medications.

Supplements are a tricky subject, because the supplement industry is not regulated by a government agency like our food and drug industries are. Theoretically anyone could start manufacturing and selling a natural remedy without having to prove its effectiveness or safety.

So how do you know if the natural remedies you take are safe or not?

Your best bet is to look up supplements in the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database.  The database provides you with the following about thousands of supplements:

• What it is
• What its effective for (proven effectiveness, possible effectiveness, as well as what its likely ineffective for)
• How it works
• Safety concerns (whether there are any and what they are)
• Interactions with medications as well as other herbs and supplements
• Food interactions
• Dosages
• Other names for the product

Just enter in what you take or are considering taking, and you’ll get reliable, science-based information about nearly any supplement.

And don’t forget to tell your doctor everything you’re taking so you both have all the information needed to make smart decisions about your healthcare.

Thanks to Kaiser Permanente and the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database for this awesome tool!