What You Did Not Know About Herbal Vitamin Supplements

Herbal Nutrition For Everyone

There is a big movement in the United States of America towards herbal remedies for everything.  Drawing on herbal traditions from cultures across the world, herbal remedies and herbal vitamin supplements are becoming more and more common.  But are they everything they're cracked up to be?

Things To Know About Herbal Vitamin Supplements

One of the major things to look at when examining herbal vitamin supplements is this: they are not, for the most part, regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Some proponents of herbal vitamin supplements and other herbal remedies tout this as a positive thing.  The FDA stamps down on the use of treatments that actually work, they say.

But the truth is the FDA tries to limit products on the market that don't work.  They also have basic standards to which medications must adhere to, including even many vitamin supplements.  Herbal vitamin supplements follow no such regulations. 

While they claim to be purer than laboratory made vitamins, you don't really always know what is in herbal vitamin supplements.  Ironically they could, in fact, be less pure than synthetic vitamins if they are derived from polluted sources (which is entirely possible, especially without regulatory oversight).

Also there is the question of exactly what vitamins are being made available in these herbal vitamin supplements.  There are general amounts that you will find in traditional multivitamins, but herbal vitamin supplements are much more likely to focus on only a few vitamins.  Potentially they could in fact have too high levels of vitamins which could actually be bad for your system.

We must also consider whether the herbs in question do what they are supposed to.  With vitamins we know what they do, but herbal vitamin supplements often through in other herbs claiming certain health benefits.  Oftentimes these herbs are untested and may very well do absolutely nothing for your body but take a big cut out of your wallet.

Herbal vitamin supplements can be good things, but don't just go buying any products willy nilly just because they are herbal and “natural.”  Do your research find out what is really in the herbal vitamin supplements you are looking at, and try to find the ones that are actually giving what they are promising and actually work.