The 3 Things to Know Before Buying Supplements

The world of supplements is booming right now. It feels like there’s a new buzzy ingredient—magnesium, lion’s mane, creatine, and more—showing up on our feeds every day. But here’s the thing: In the United States, there are no standard regulations for their safety. As Dinar Sayani, MD, an internal medicine physician at Tennessee’s Summit Medical Group, explains, the Food and Drug Administration does not approve supplements or their labeling before they are sold to the public. Companies have full rein to introduce what they want with little oversight. And with so much misinformation floating around, it’s very tempting to ingest one—or 20—that you might not even need just because an algorithm fed it to you on your social feeds.

“Clients will purchase supplements based on influencer ads, when the specific supplement in question may not be either the optimal choice or primary concern for them,” adds Samantha Dieras, RD, DCN, director of ambulatory nutrition services at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “With the current advertising marketplace, it is easy to become inundated and overwhelmed with the idea that we need to take multiple supplements.”

But don’t be alarmed. There are a few things you can do to make sure you’re making as safe a choice as humanly possible. To do that, experts say to note these three things:

Read the Fact Label

As with anything, you should be reading any and all labels on a product. But with supplements, the ingredient list will spell out exactly what the supplement is made of and help you figure out if it contains a specific mineral, vitamin, or nutrient for your specific needs. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you’re allergic to something, the ingredient list will help you figure out if the supplement is safe enough for you to ingest or not.

Sayani also says to be cautious of any labels that make definitive claims. Anything that claims to completely “diagnose,” “cure,” “mitigate,” “treat,” “prevent diseases,” “is 100% safe,” or “has zero side effects” most likely can’t do any of those things and it is best to avoid it.

Understand It Interacts With Other Medications

Dieras says one of the first concerns you should have is whether a supplement you want to take will pair with the medication you are currently on. Some supplements may make your medications weaker. (For example, magnesium supplements may reduce the effectiveness of any antibiotics you might be on.) So it’s best to run any supplement you’re interested in by your health-care provider before committing.

Always Choose a Third-Party-Tested Option

What does it mean for a supplement to be third-party tested? Sayani explains that this signifies that an independent organization with no ties to the manufacturing company has evaluated the supplement and can verify its quality and manufacturing process. Third-party-testing groups also screen for contaminants and make sure what’s listed on the ingredient list is what you’re ingesting.