The term “dietary nutritional supplement” is getting a lot of attention today. You see celebrities endorsing specific types of supplements for bodybuilders and people trying to lose weight, but there is a huge market that goes well beyond the diet and fitness industry.

A dietary nutritional supplement is anything designed to enhance your health and well being or help you meet a goal that is not a natural food source. This means the salad you eat for lunch is very healthy but is not a dietary supplement.

Nutritional supplements are designed to “supplement” your diet and healthy lifestyle. That is where they get their name.

Dietary supplements give your body nutrients, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and other things that should naturally come from your food. Unfortunately, most people don’t get all of the nourishment their body needs to age gracefully, fight off disease and infection, and balance a healthy weight. That’s where the dietary nutritional supplement market comes into play.

Taking Off the Pressure

A good dietary supplement will take the pressure off so you can relax a little with your diet. The supplement will give your body the nourishment it needs to be healthy so you don’t have to worry about taking in huge quantities of healthy food to get the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytonutrients you need.

This doesn’t mean you can eat all the junk you want and just get the good stuff through a variety of dietary nutritional supplements. Remember, they are designed to “supplement” not take over your healthy diet.

How to take Dietary Supplements Correctly

Now that you know what a dietary nutritional supplement is, it’s time to learn how to take them correctly. The dietary supplement market is huge today and you could easily end up taking something that is not suitable to your body and/or medical condition.

When taking an herbal dietary supplement, remember that many prescription strength medications are derived from herbs. Just because they are natural doesn’t mean that they are completely safe or that you can take as much as you want of them. They may even interact poorly with prescription medications, so always check with your doctor before taking any dietary nutritional supplement with prescription medications.

Here are some simple tips for using your dietary supplements correctly:

1. Educate yourself about different supplements so you know exactly what they are used for and where they came from.

2. Take pure dietary nutritional supplements that treat conditions you have or that enhance your overall health. Avoid those that are mixed with other ingredients because you may not get the quantity of the specific vitamins or nutrients you need.

3. Do the research so you know which dietary supplements can be taken together. For instance, fish oil supplements can be taken with virtually anything else without hurting but some vitamins may not do well taken at the same time.

4. Start with a very high quality multivitamin. This will deliver all of the basic vitamins and minerals your body needs in one shot.

5. One dietary nutritional supplement is not the same as the next, even if they read the same on the label. You will get a lot more benefit from a reasonably priced dietary supplement that is high quality than you will the dollar store special that is cheaper because it contains less of the good stuff.