The primary difference between HSAIDS and products made
from real food, which contain truly natural nutrients in food doses, is
how the body responds to them when consumed.
Biological vs. Pharmacological Effects of Supplements
When you take a dietary supplement, there are particular physiolog-
ical responses by the body. In general, nutrients in their natural state
and natural dose have a biological effect, and HSAIDS have a phar-
macological effect in the body.
Examples of dietary supplements that clearly act in more of a bio-
logical fashion include products made from foods, including veg-
etable and fruit concentrates, fish oil and brewer’s yeast. These sup-
plements provide nutrients in a concentrated form, acting essentially
the same as when you consume the real food. They provide natural
doses of vitamins, minerals and/or phytonutrients helping to gener-
ate energy, regulate immunity, control aging and perform billions of
other functions that improve health and human performance.
Nutrients with pharmacological effects generally include
HSAIDS and have actions like those of drugs rather than foods.
Dietary supplements that have pharmacological effects include such
common items as synthetic vitamin C (ascorbic acid), isolated high-
dose vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) and popular iron supplements.
These are almost always in doses much higher than a person could
possibly consume during a meal or even a day’s worth of food intake
— even when consuming foods naturally high in these nutrients.
Many contain doses that would take weeks of eating foods rich in
these nutrients to get to the same levels — in other words, five, 10,
even 100 times normal amounts. By looking at the labels of supple-
ments in a store or catalog, you will see that most, even those labeled
“natural,” contain doses much higher than you would get from real
food and significantly higher than the RDA.
Dietary supplements that promote pharmacological activity, like
most drugs, are capable of modifying body function, often in power-
ful ways, and are also accompanied by the risk of adverse side effects.
The actions of dietary supplements with pharmacological effects can
vary with individuals, and many actions are not clearly known.
HSAIDS with pharmacological actions can also interfere with other
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