Health supplements are huge business, people are spending hundreds and thousands of pounds on them, hoping to ease symptoms or as a preventative measure for a whole range of conditions.
The question is do they actually do any good at all or is it all a big money making scheme by the health industry?
I have started to take cod liver oil capsules and recently someone recommended glucosamine. I haven't got arthritis, at least I don't think I have, but I can feel my knees everytime I go on the treadmill.
I recently looked on the internet for information about glucosamine and found hundreds of comments from users (both positive and negative), published studies from the medical and pharmaceutical companies and basically it appears that there is absolutely no conclusive proof one way or the other. The best thing that can be said is that it is totally harmless and if someone believes it is doing them good then why not? Yet, people are spending millions on this one supplement alone!
Now I've bought them (yes, I was persuaded by all the beneficial claims too in the free catalogue I received), I may as well carry on until I run out - thats 9 months from now (there was a really good, not to be missed offer on!!!)
Perhaps we should all just take a step back and have a good look at what we are eating. If we understood nutrition properly and knew what vitimins we need and what foods contain them, wouldn't it be far better just to eat a well balance diet of healthy food and supplement this with regular moderate exercise rather than popping pills?