Nowadays, people have a tendency to paying much attention to their health and diet in particular. On the one hand, such a trend is extremely beneficial for humanity and healthcare across the globe. On the other hand, however, people are nowadays exposed to the vast amount of fake news and research reports. Hence, people, while having an intention of staying healthy, may do harm to their bodies. One of the most widespread ways of mistreatment is self-prescribing dietary supplements.
This medication segment is full of uncertainty as it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (“Dietary supplements: What you need to know”, 2020). However, people still take them for a number of reasons.
First of all, the vast majority of such supplements are told to consist of vitamins, which, according to general belief, cannot do any harm to the human body. However, most people are unaware that vitamins should be prescribed by the specialists, as they have to compatible with a person’s current health conditions. Secondly, the price of dietary supplements is, on average, lower than the full vitamin course recommended by doctors.
The price is only so pleasant because dietary supplements are made with cheap medium, and their producers do not have to include in the price a series of examinations and FDA taxes. Finally, the overall reputation of the state healthcare system is now under threat due to discrepancy between the price and the quality of medical treatment. Thus, people tend to believe unjustified advertisements just as they have to believe healthcare specialists. For this reason, people will stop consuming uncertified dietary supplements and start taking actual measured towards a healthy lifestyle once the healthcare system in the country is reliable enough.
References
Dietary supplements: What you need to know. (2020). Web.
Levinthal, C. F. (2014). Drugs, behavior, and modern society. London, UK: Pearson Education.