Dietary supplements, no shortcut to wellbeing

Such supplements are not efficient because they are not based on proper research, says senior nutritionist Suneetha Sapor

In the last few years, dietary supplements have caught the imagination of general public. Increasingly, they are being associated with the overall wellbeing of the body, weight loss, looking young or for their so-called anti-aging properties. Dietary supplements like multivitamin tablets, minerals, fat burners of various kinds, herbal supplements have become popular and malls in Hyderabad do dedicate a lot of ‘real estate’ space to display them.

Are all these dietary supplements that come with a lot of claims successfully deliver? Are they safe and not addictive? While such products are quickly saturating the markets, are they being properly regulated? Do they have the required permissions from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the body that regulates manufacture, storage and sale of food-based products in India.

There is a general agreement among experts that there is a definite need to strengthen the guidelines that are needed for the approval, manufacture and sale of dietary supplements in India. So should one take supplements?

“Anybody who can eat normal food need not take supplements. If a person is unable to eat normal food either due to lack of appetite or a disease and has been in bed for a long time, in such special circumstances only, one can take supplements. Whatever one wants to get through supplements can easily be gained by consuming normal food,” advises vice-president, Nutrition Society of India (NSI) and former Director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Dr. B. Sesikeran.

Experts agree that a large number of dietary supplements, some of which are also proprietary in nature promising to help in losing weight, are readily available online and even in retail outlets. Nutritional experts point out that almost all the weight loss supplements do not have the necessary backing of a thorough research in India.

“Such supplements are not efficient because they are not really based on proper research. If you look carefully, there will be one or two studies that show positive results and there will be equal number of studies showing that a particular supplement is inefficient. There is definite grey area here. Public tend to take the easy way out by popping a pill,” feels senior nutritionist, Dr. Suneetha Sapor.

Indeed, nutritional experts point out that unwillingness to go that extra mile and adopt a disciplined lifestyle by modifying eating habits is driving many to seek a short-term goal. Moreover, supplements consisting of vitamins, dietary minerals etc tend to increase the energy levels quickly when compared to the traditional way of modifying diet and lifestyle, which always takes time to show the results.