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The Supplement Myth
Dietary Supplements vs Medications: What am I really taking
In episode 2, Laura explains to us what a dietary supplement is and what differentiates it from a medication
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Summary
🔊 This program is an information program by a trained professional. This is generic advice and is not a personalized diagnosis. In all cases, we recommend that you be followed by a gynecologist and/or a midwife for individualized follow-up.
What you will learn in this episode
What am I really taking?
- What differentiates a dietary supplement from a medication in concrete terms;
- Why supplements are over-the-counter and less controlled before reaching the market;
- The main types of supplements (nutrients, small molecules, complexes... );
- What do the doses and statements written on the bottles mean
- Why Dosing and absorption are not that simple (CUD, microbiota, additives);
- In which cases it is useful to be accompanied by a trained micronutrition professional.
Dietary supplement or medication: what is the difference?
Laura reminds us that a dietary supplement is a food that is intended to complement the normal diet, while The drug is used to prevent or treat a disease, or to establish a diagnosis, with pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action.
For the same daily gesture (swallowing a capsule), we are therefore not in the same frame at all: The drug is hypercontrolled before and after it is placed on the market, while the dietary supplement is only the subject of a declaration to the authorities (DGCCRF, ANSES) once it is already on the market.
It is this control lag that is part of the reason why dietary supplements are over-the-counter and available almost everywhere.
For her, the fact that they are not evaluated like medications is a real subject of vigilance: just because they are “natural” or sold in pharmacies does not mean you can take them without thinking or being accompanied.
💡 Key figures
In Europe, theEuropean Food Safety Authority (EFSA) sets an upper intake limit of 1000 micrograms per day for folate from supplements in adults.
What supplements does Laura see most often?
Laura distinguishes between two main forms of supplements:
- In the form of nutrients : amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals;
- In the form of small molecules for physiological purposes: coenzyme Q10, lycopene, sulforaphane, etc.
It also recalls the difference between:
- Complementary unit: a single active molecule;
- Complex supplement: Several molecules in the same product.
In perinatality, Laura sees a lot of antenatal and postpartum complexes, with very different compositions and dosages depending on the laboratory.
👉 This makes it difficult to read labels and increases the risk of duplicates between several supplements taken at the same time.
Dosages, vitamin B9 and absorption
Laura explains that the only really systematic mentions are:
- The doses recommended by the laboratory;
- The sentence reminding us that the supplement does not replace a varied diet.
👉 There are no simple global recommendations for “all supplements”, cThis requires everyone to be vigilant, especially in the event of a power strip.
Laura insists on vitamin B9: by combining folic acid and methylated forms, EFSA sets a safety limit of 1000 micrograms per day for adults, but this limit is not clearly indicated on the bottles.
She Points Out That The real risk happens when I take several supplements containing B9 without realizing it. Box by box, the dosages are not perfect, but adding them up can exceed safety limits and become a problem.
CUD, Microbiota and Additives: What Happens to the Supplement in the Body
Laura recalls that what I swallow is not equal to what I absorb: only part of the nutrient is actually absorbed by the intestine, the rest continues in the digestive tract.
Some Forms of iron or magnesium are very poorly absorbed (sometimes around 10%): the capsules are therefore very dosed, but the majority is not used by the body.
Laura Also draws attention to additives (titanium dioxide, talc, excipients) and to certain forms indicated in square brackets, which may correspond to nanoparticles.
The longer the ingredient list is filled with names that are difficult to understand, the more useful it is to ask yourself questions.
How to get out of it in concrete terms?
For Laura, Making the right choices alone is complicated as soon as you combine several complements or complexes.
She recommends being accompanied by someone trained in micronutrition, with a global approach that is independent of laboratories, especially in the case of pregnancy, postpartum or baby projects.
She proposes A few simple guidelines to get by independently all the same:
- Rely on the recommendation to take the bottle;
- Avoid multiplying complements without checking for duplicates;
- Look at the list of ingredients and choose products with fewer additives;
- Be wary of ingredients in square brackets and very technical names that are repeated several times.
🔎 Useful definitions
Dietary supplement : a food that is a concentrated source of nutrients or other substances and that is taken as a supplement to the normal diet.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, ANSES
___
Digestive Utilization Coefficient (CUD) : percentage of a nutrient ingested that is actually absorbed by the intestine and is not found in the stool.
Source: Wikipedia
🎯 Actions concrètes
- I check the recommended dose written on the bottle, even if they were recommended to me by a health professional;
- I avoid taking several supplements in parallel without checking for duplicates of vitamins or minerals;
- If I don't know the subject, I limit highly loaded complex complements and I choose unit complements instead, simple and whose origin I can trace;
- I look at the list of ingredients and I prefer supplements with as few additives as possible;
- I am wary of ingredients in square brackets and names that I don't understand, especially if they come back several times;
- If I am pregnant, postpartum or planning a pregnancy, I ask for the opinion of a professional trained in micronutrition before combining supplements
- I keep in mind that a supplement never replaces a varied diet or medical follow-up.
.png)
Summary
🔊 This program is an information program by a trained professional. This is generic advice and is not a personalized diagnosis. In all cases, we recommend that you be followed by a gynecologist and/or a midwife for individualized follow-up.
What you will learn in this episode
What am I really taking?
- What differentiates a dietary supplement from a medication in concrete terms;
- Why supplements are over-the-counter and less controlled before reaching the market;
- The main types of supplements (nutrients, small molecules, complexes... );
- What do the doses and statements written on the bottles mean
- Why Dosing and absorption are not that simple (CUD, microbiota, additives);
- In which cases it is useful to be accompanied by a trained micronutrition professional.
Dietary supplement or medication: what is the difference?
Laura reminds us that a dietary supplement is a food that is intended to complement the normal diet, while The drug is used to prevent or treat a disease, or to establish a diagnosis, with pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action.
For the same daily gesture (swallowing a capsule), we are therefore not in the same frame at all: The drug is hypercontrolled before and after it is placed on the market, while the dietary supplement is only the subject of a declaration to the authorities (DGCCRF, ANSES) once it is already on the market.
It is this control lag that is part of the reason why dietary supplements are over-the-counter and available almost everywhere.
For her, the fact that they are not evaluated like medications is a real subject of vigilance: just because they are “natural” or sold in pharmacies does not mean you can take them without thinking or being accompanied.
💡 Key figures
In Europe, theEuropean Food Safety Authority (EFSA) sets an upper intake limit of 1000 micrograms per day for folate from supplements in adults.
What supplements does Laura see most often?
Laura distinguishes between two main forms of supplements:
- In the form of nutrients : amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals;
- In the form of small molecules for physiological purposes: coenzyme Q10, lycopene, sulforaphane, etc.
It also recalls the difference between:
- Complementary unit: a single active molecule;
- Complex supplement: Several molecules in the same product.
In perinatality, Laura sees a lot of antenatal and postpartum complexes, with very different compositions and dosages depending on the laboratory.
👉 This makes it difficult to read labels and increases the risk of duplicates between several supplements taken at the same time.
Dosages, vitamin B9 and absorption
Laura explains that the only really systematic mentions are:
- The doses recommended by the laboratory;
- The sentence reminding us that the supplement does not replace a varied diet.
👉 There are no simple global recommendations for “all supplements”, cThis requires everyone to be vigilant, especially in the event of a power strip.
Laura insists on vitamin B9: by combining folic acid and methylated forms, EFSA sets a safety limit of 1000 micrograms per day for adults, but this limit is not clearly indicated on the bottles.
She Points Out That The real risk happens when I take several supplements containing B9 without realizing it. Box by box, the dosages are not perfect, but adding them up can exceed safety limits and become a problem.
CUD, Microbiota and Additives: What Happens to the Supplement in the Body
Laura recalls that what I swallow is not equal to what I absorb: only part of the nutrient is actually absorbed by the intestine, the rest continues in the digestive tract.
Some Forms of iron or magnesium are very poorly absorbed (sometimes around 10%): the capsules are therefore very dosed, but the majority is not used by the body.
Laura Also draws attention to additives (titanium dioxide, talc, excipients) and to certain forms indicated in square brackets, which may correspond to nanoparticles.
The longer the ingredient list is filled with names that are difficult to understand, the more useful it is to ask yourself questions.
How to get out of it in concrete terms?
For Laura, Making the right choices alone is complicated as soon as you combine several complements or complexes.
She recommends being accompanied by someone trained in micronutrition, with a global approach that is independent of laboratories, especially in the case of pregnancy, postpartum or baby projects.
She proposes A few simple guidelines to get by independently all the same:
- Rely on the recommendation to take the bottle;
- Avoid multiplying complements without checking for duplicates;
- Look at the list of ingredients and choose products with fewer additives;
- Be wary of ingredients in square brackets and very technical names that are repeated several times.
🎯 Concrete actions
- I check the recommended dose written on the bottle, even if they were recommended to me by a health professional;
- I avoid taking several supplements in parallel without checking for duplicates of vitamins or minerals;
- If I don't know the subject, I limit highly loaded complex complements and I choose unit complements instead, simple and whose origin I can trace;
- I look at the list of ingredients and I prefer supplements with as few additives as possible;
- I am wary of ingredients in square brackets and names that I don't understand, especially if they come back several times;
- If I am pregnant, postpartum or planning a pregnancy, I ask for the opinion of a professional trained in micronutrition before combining supplements
- I keep in mind that a supplement never replaces a varied diet or medical follow-up.
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