Do you need dietary supplements?
Bottles of supplements line the shelves at your local supermarket. These include vitamins and minerals from A to zinc. You can also find products like probiotics, herbs and fish oil. But are they needed for good health? And what about their risks?
Some botanical products may come with health claims that go too far, says Ikhlas Khan, an NIH-funded natural products researcher at the University of Mississippi. Examples include helping you “sleep better” or “lose weight.”