UPDATE ON FISH OIL, VITAMIN D, AND SUPPLEMENTS IN HEALTHCARE
"I want to talk a little bit about supplements. What are they? They're intended to supplement the diet. So, the diet, I think, needs to be primary. This can include things like vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids. And the other thing to remember is these are regulated like food. The FDA doesn't review them for safety and effectiveness before they're marketed.
And I like to counsel my patients about this because they're coming in, and they're reading stuff on the Internet, and they think that the FDA has researched these things, and studied them, and shown that they're safe, and they really may not be. Right now, our supplement industry is big, 52% of Americans use supplements, that's maybe even a little bit of old data. And it's a big moneymaker, right? This is probably what I think I should maybe have done after researching some of this stuff.
So, our patients there using this stuff, whether or not they tell us. This is data from the NIH – 7.8% of patients are using fish oil and omega 3s. And I think that's probably underreported. We all know that our patients are taking things, even when we ask about them, they don't always disclose them. So, I believe that we should probably, for the most part, start out by eating our nutrients."
Tina Byun, MD gives an overview of fish oil and vitamin D supplements, the vitamin industry and the health benefits of these supplements. Test your knowledge by taking our quiz below.
FISH OIL AND VITAMIN D QUIZ:
Vitamin D has been shown to decrease risk of:
A. Stroke
B. Myocardial Infarction
C. Cancer
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Answer: E
Icosapent Ethyl is:
A. Prescription Vitamin D
B. Prescription Omega 3
C. Over the counter Vitamin B12
D. Statin medication
E. Over the counter Vitamin D
Answer: B
Watch the video to learn more.
