Get the Most Out of Your Supplements: Dosage & Side Effects

Too Much of a Good Thing

You’ve heard the saying before. “Too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing.” Well, it’s especially true for supplements. You can take too much of a vitamin or mineral and sometimes this can have the exact opposite effect of what you’re trying to achieve. 

You see, our bodies are naturally (and delicately) chemically balanced. Which means it’s important not just what, but how, we introduce supplements into our diets. 

While increasing the amount of supplemental support in our bodies may seem like the right thing to do, we can actually create chemical imbalances that can sometimes be harmful. 

Even more, we waste our time and money. How so? For many nutrients, there is a threshold for how much our bodies can use at a time. The rest is metabolized and excreted by the body to protect itself.

Do Your Research

Think of this expounding of nutrients like a built-in defense mechanism. Your body doesn’t want to hold on to more than it needs. If you take the necessary time in the beginning to do your research and talk to your health care provider about what supplements will be best for you, you’ll be better for it. 

Take vitamin C for example, a very common low-risk-high-reward vitamin. Many take higher doses of vitamin C in the hopes to ward off any unwilling, germy invaders. But our bodies can only take so much before eliminating the extra amounts. Again, an unfortunate waste of time, energy, and money.

If you read nothing else, take the quick three tips below with you when you are on the hunt for supplements.

Top 3 Things to Consider when Supplement Shopping

  1. Pay attention to the Upper Limit (UL) of one single nutrient. The UL tells you the amount not to exceed within one day.
  2. Research what vitamins and minerals work best together. Some nutrients require others to become activated.
  3. Your age and lifestyle matter. Think about grandparents, children, active adults, and pregnant or nursing mothers—everyone will need a different supplement mix, so do your research.

Not only do Flavor & Fettle supplements include recommended dosages for optimal system health and function, but they also have been hand selected by our very own clinical nutritionist to ensure safe and effective supplemental support. If you aren’t sure where to start, take our supplement matching quiz and see which supplements are right for you based on your health goals and lifestyle.