Understanding Dietary Supplements (Understanding Health and Sickness Series)

For many consumers, taking one or more dietary supple-ments is a natural addition to a healthy lifestyle. The decision to take a dietary supplement may be based on the recommendation of a doctor, a dietitian, or a friend. Television, newspapers, magazines, websites, and persuasive marketing materials in the pharmacy or supermarket may sway buyers.

Information regarding dietary supplements abounds but can be misleading or contradictory. Understanding Dietary Supplements is a guide to making informed choices.

Chapters provide

• Both an overview and detailed information about key supplements
• Coverage of a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals, herbs and botanicals, drugs, and other options
• Jargon-free explanations of how each supplement can work on the body
• Safety concerns about interactions and misuse
• Regulations imposed on the industry and recent trends in the industry's development
• A glossary and listings of outside resources

Included here, the full text of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994--the model for the FDA's regulation of dietary supplements--affords guidance to deciphering labels and determining value. Understanding Dietary Supplements is an easy-to-use guide to a much demanded but often misunderstood group of products.

Jenna Hollenstein is clinical editor at the Pri-Med Institute of M|C Communications in Boston, Massachusetts. Her work has been published in Nutrition Reviews, Nutrition in Clinical Care, ILSI News, Pri-Med in Practice, and Pri-Med Online.