Herbs & Supplements
Quality Nutritional Supplements at Integrative Health Center
Why Should I Consider Taking Supplements?
When it comes to obtaining the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients (plant-derived compounds) your body needs, your best option is generally eating whole foods. However, it may be difficult to eat optimally every day. Nutritional supplements can provide insurance against gaps in your diet. Moreover, many of the micronutrients and phytonutrients found in supplements are protective against disease if taken in concentrations that may be difficult to obtain from food alone.
How Do I Know What Supplements I Should Take and in What Amounts?
Seek professional advice. While supplements can be helpful for optimizing your health, they can also be harmful when not used properly: taken for the wrong purpose, in the wrong dosage, or in conflict with other medications or supplements. Supplements, other than a daily multi-vitamin, should only be taken on the advice of your doctor or a professional healthcare provider, such as a nutritional expert who is knowledgeable about the biochemistry of the human body. Why? For several reasons: 1) there is a lot of misinformation about supplements; 2) regulations and standards for the manufacturing of supplements are not yet standardized, resulting in some supplemental products that are ineffective or even detrimental to your health; and 3) taking supplements should be done judiciously so as not to throw off the chemical balance of your body.
Why Would I Want to Buy My Supplements from Integrative Health Center?
With more and more people taking supplements, The Center’s nutrition specialists, Leslie Fischer, PhD, Brigitte Stephenson, MPH, RD, LDN, and the Center’s Medical Director, Remy Coeytaux, MD, PhD research the purest and safest supplements as a service to the Center’s clients. The supplements offered at the Center are purchased from companies that give the highest priority to ingredient quality, manufacturing excellence, and quality control. The selected products have been submitted to third-party laboratories that test for nutrient content and dissolvability.
In recent surveys, nearly half of the tested supplement brands in the marketplace failed to contain the labeled amount of at least one nutrient and several did not dissolve adequately. Moreover, many brands of supplements are contaminated with ingredients that may compromise your health. We feel confident that we have selected the finest and most effective supplements possible.
The Integrative Health Center of Chapel Hill is pleased to offer you free access to the Natural Standard database on herbs and nutritional supplements. Natural Standard was founded by clinicians and researchers to provide high-quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies. This information is provided for educational purposes only. We strongly recommend that you seek guidance from a licensed professional before using herbs or nutritional supplements.
