What are the benefits of taking a supplement?

Supplements are sold as “healthy dietary enhancements” and are essentially manufactured products intended to add nutrients or other dietary components to your daily intake. They can be grouped into two classes with very different purposes; 1) dietary supplements, such as vitamins and minerals and 2) medications designed to treat or help unique medical conditions, or natural drugs. Dietary supplements may help promote optimal metabolism and prevent deficiency symptoms. Their efficacy is hard to measure and so most consumers simply hope they may have some utility to maintain and/or restore health. Medications, or natural drugs, are taken to treat or improve a medical condition. Some measure of the response or outcome should be taken to determine if the medication is helping or hurting. These kinds of supplements should not be taken purely with the hope that they may have a benefit.