How to Buy & Use Supplements Safely (What Most Don’t Know)

The information provided in this blog post is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet, exercise routine, or medical treatment plan. We are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of any suggestions, products, or procedures discussed in this article.

During a prospective client’s free intro consultation with me, she essentially told me she’d love to work with me—except she doesn’t want to use supplements. I explained that while healing is absolutely possible without them, the process can be slower, and she’d have to be diligent about getting enough of the nutrients she’s currently lacking through food alone. She said that’s totally fine and then booked a coaching package with me.

Fast forward to her intake session. For those of you who don’t know, this is the first session in my coaching package where we dive deep into everything currently present in the client’s life – food, drink, activities, work, free time, mood, sickness, etc. So during this session, she lists off a bunch of vitamins she’s been taking for years! She didn’t know that the vitamins she was taking were supplements. This made me realize that there’s a lot of confusion about what supplements actually are, their purpose, and how to use them safely and effectively. If she’s confused, I know others are too. So today, we’re diving into what supplementation is, when to supplement & for how long, how to supplement correctly, dosage, and the potential dangers. At the end, I’ll also go over some examples that are common in the US and especially in menstruators who are balancing their cycles: vitamin d, magnesium, omega 3s, probiotics, and vitex.

Before we begin, if you’re experiencing menstrual cycle symptoms—like irregular periods, severe cramps, PMS, or fatigue—or if you just want to learn more about your cycle through tracking, I invite you to book a free mini-consultation with me. Head to downstairsalchemy.com/solutions to book your session. On this video call, we’ll discuss your symptoms, your goals, and see if we’re a good fit. I’ll also answer any questions you have about coaching. If you don’t already have a coach, this is— in my totally unbiased opinion—the best way to understand how to work with your cycle and alleviate your symptoms for good, naturally, without the confusion and overwhelm of figuring it all out alone.

Now, let’s talk supplementation. Everything we discuss in this episode is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice, and I highly recommend working with a professional instead of self-supplementing. That said, since supplements are so widely used, it’s important to understand the basics. So, let’s get into it.

According to the FDA: “Supplements are meant to add to or supplement the diet and are different from conventional food. Supplements are ingested and come in many forms, including tablets, capsules, soft gels, gel caps, powders, bars, gummies, and liquids.” 

This means your vitamin D, omega-3s, multivitamins, prenatal vitamins, protein powder, and herbal blends are all supplements. Even a caffeine pill or an energy drink technically falls under the supplement category. For coffee lovers, while coffee does have caffeine, it is considered a beverage and not a supplement since nothing is added to it.

What’s inside a supplement can vary. It can be:

* A single plant like stinging nettle leaf.

* A blend of plants like a menstrual relief formula with cramp bark, valerian root, and wild yam.

* An extracted nutrient like magnesium.

* A combination of nutrients like a multivitamin.

In the U.S., we mostly talk about supplementation, but in France, where I studied naturopathy, we differentiate between supplementation and complementation, and I think this is an important differentiation so I want to go over it with you:

* Supplementation is consuming above the recommended daily dose of a nutrient (in a controlled amount) for those who are severely deficient or have a condition that requires it. That could look like supplementing vitamin D in high doses when lab results show dangerously low levels. 

* Complementation is filling in the gaps to meet the recommended daily intake when food alone isn’t enough. This could look like someone who can only get 200 mg of magnesium daily through food, then complementing their diet with a 200 mg magnesium capsule in order to reach a daily recommended magnesium total of 400 mg.

I really like this term ‘complementation’ because it shows how taking vitamins, nutrients, plant extracts,… enhances and completes a well-rounded diet. And when working with a holistic coach like me, what we’re usually doing is complementing rather than supplementing, because again, the main goal is to have a balanced diet and fill in the gaps or help the body “catch up” with complementation. 

Moving forward, I’ll use the term supplements just for ease since we don’t tend to use ‘complementing’ in the US, but keep in mind that exceeding, going above, the recommended daily amount consistently or routinely should only be done under professional guidance.

We take supplements to help the body get the building blocks (i.e. nutrients) it needs to function correctly. If you’re not getting enough nutrients, your body won’t have the raw materials needed to:

* Produce hormones properly

* Regulate neurotransmitters that affect mood and energy

* Fight off infections

* Repair tissues

* Support detoxification pathways 

Since this is a menstrual cycle podcast, let’s talk about how this ties into the menstrual cycle. Because the reproductive system isn’t essential for immediate survival, the body deprioritizes it when those raw materials (nutrients) are low. Instead, your body will focus on keeping critical systems—like your heart, brain, and lungs—running. It has to choose where to allocate resources when it doesn’t have enough for all systems. This means the reproductive system is often one of the first areas to show signs of imbalance when something is off internally.

That’s why menstrual symptoms—like irregular cycles, PMS, cramps, hormonal acne, or missing periods—are often early warning signs. They’re your body’s way of saying: “Hey, something’s not right. I don’t have enough resources to maintain a healthy reproductive system.”

This is why an imbalanced diet often leads to menstrual symptoms like painful cramps, irregular periods, PMS, low energy, heavy periods, hormonal acne, etc.. 

In an ideal world, we would get everything we need from food. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible due to a few reasons:

* First, Modern diets are often low in nutrient-dense foods. Most people today eat far fewer vegetables, fiber-rich foods, and healthy fats than previous generations did—especially before industrialization. Historically, diets were made up of homegrown produce, fermented foods, seasonal variety, whole grains, and animal products raised on diverse, nutrient-rich land. Meals were made from scratch and revolved around what was locally available. Compare that to today, where many people start their day with cereal or toast, grab a sandwich or protein bar for lunch, processed snacks in the afternoon, and have pasta or takeout for dinner. These modern convenience foods are often stripped of nutrients, even if they’re calorie-dense. So If you’re eating enough or even too much food, you may not be getting the building blocks your body needs to feel well and function optimally—especially when it comes to hormone health.

* Second, Many processed foods provide zero beneficial nutrients while burdening the body with additives.  Yes, processed foods like chips, cookies, flavored yogurts, soft drinks, and frozen meals satisfy hunger in the short term. But they often lack the nutrients your body needs to actually run its internal systems. Add on to that additives, artificial preservatives, refined oils, and sugars that the body sees as foreign substances. These ingredients need to be broken down, filtered, and eliminated—tasks that require energy and nutrients. Meaning they add work while providing less energy and resources to do the work.

* And third, Even if you are eating a balanced diet full of fruits and vegetables, the soil those foods grow in doesn’t contain the same level of nutrients it did decades ago. Thanks to modern farming practices—like monocropping and overuse of pesticides—our food has fewer minerals than it used to. Which means the foods that grow in that soil have less nutrients. The spinach your grandmother ate may have had significantly more iron, magnesium, and vitamin C than the spinach in your salad today. The same apple today has fewer nutrients than it did 50 years ago. 

Meaning we have to eat way more nutritious foods that we did 50 or more years ago to get enough nutrients, but in reality we eat far less. 

The result of all this is nutrient gaps, which is where supplements come in. They help fill in gaps that come with winter when we maybe aren’t eating as much fresh produce. They help bridge the gap for people like my clients who need to relearn how to eat for their cycle, and need some assistance detoxing the buildup from their old lifestyle. They help people in times of stress or certain conditions like pregnancy when we need more nutrients than usual. So they are really great when used for their purpose and then stopped once that purpose has been met. Which brings me to the next section:

In general, supplements should be taken short-term or with planned breaks. This is something really important that most of us don’t know. So many clients, friends, and family I know have been taking the same probiotic, the same multivitamin, the same supplements daily for years. And that’s probably because no one ever told them that supplements aren’t meant to be taken in this way. 

In case the idea of taking breaks with your supplements is a new concept to you, let’s discuss why. There are 3 main reasons I recommend taking breaks from supplements. 

1. The body is designed to work on its own

Your body is always paying attention to what it gets from the outside—food, supplements, stress, light, movement—and it adapts to that input. When you give it something regularly for a long time, it might start depending on that outside source instead of making it on its own.

Take melatonin, for example. Melatonin is a hormone your brain naturally makes when it gets dark, and it helps you fall asleep. But if you take melatonin every night for too long, your brain can start making less of it, since it thinks it’s already getting enough from the outside. Over time, this can make it harder for your body to manage sleep without the supplement.

There’s also some evidence that taking melatonin for too long can make your brain’s melatonin “listeners” (called receptors) less sensitive. That means the same amount won’t work as well over time, especially if you’re using high doses.

Taking a break gives your body a chance to reset and remember how to do things on its own.

2. The second reason has to do with absorption of nutrients.

When your body gets a steady stream of the same supplement, it might slow down how well it absorbs or uses that nutrient. It’s a little like tuning out background noise—your body stops paying attention because it’s always there.

Think of a deer in winter. If it comes across the only patch of edible plants for miles, it will eat everything it can find—it doesn’t know when it will find more or how much it will find next. But in spring, when there’s fresh food everywhere, the deer will walk around calmly, nibbling here and there without rushing to finish anything. It knows there’s no shortage. 

Our bodies are a bit like that too. When we get the same nutrient every single day, the body might stop trying to take in as much or use it as efficiently—because it believes there’s no lack and no need to work hard to get it.

That’s one reason some people rotate their supplements or take breaks—especially with things like herbal supplements or probiotics. This keeps the supplement working better, because your body stays more responsive to it.

For example, when it comes to probiotics, your gut (the part of your body that digests food and fights off bad bacteria) is designed to balance itself. If you give it the same strains of good bacteria every single day for months, your system might start ignoring them or depending on them, instead of keeping its own balance.

3. Lastly, and in my opinion most importantly, taking breaks from supplementation reminds us that no supplement can replace a nutrient-dense diet.

As we talked about earlier, a supplement is just that—something that “supplements” or “complements” your diet. It’s meant to help in the short term, not take the place of real, nutrient-dense food.

Food gives your body so much more than just a single nutrient. Whole foods come with fiber, enzymes, healthy fats, and other things your body needs to actually use those nutrients properly. Supplements can be helpful, but they don’t do the job of real food.

For example, instead of staying on a probiotic supplement forever, I guide clients toward including a variety of probiotic-rich foods like sauerkraut, kefir, or yogurt with live cultures. These help support the gut’s natural healing process and rebuild a healthy gut environment in the long term—without needing to rely on pills.

OK so I’ve been saying take breaks but I haven’t put that into numbers yet. So let’s go over some examples for taking supplements and for breaks:

I hope these guidelines help broaden your understanding of taking breaks from supplements. That said, I want to be really clear—there’s no one-size-fits-all formula here. I gave general examples to give you a feel for what supplement breaks can look like. But these aren’t hard rules. Everyone’s needs are different, and that’s exactly why personalized advice is so important when it comes to supplements.

As far as supplements go, taking breaks is one of the most common things people just don’t know about, so I really want you to understand that pausing can be just as important as starting. 

With that said, if you’re unsure about your own situation or want help figuring out what makes sense for you, feel free to reach out—I’m always happy to help.

Ok we’ve talked about what supplements are, why and when to supplement, and cycling supplements. I want to talk about 5 possible dangers when taking supplements because they do exist and are unfortunately quite common in the US. 

1. Mixing Supplements & Medications: 
Supplements may be “natural,” but they can still interact with each other—and with medications. For example, St. John’s Wort, a plant often used for mood support, shouldn’t be taken with antidepressants like SSRIs. Together, they can increase serotonin too much and cause serious side effects. Or take vitamin K—which plays an important role in blood clotting. If you take it while also on blood thinners like warfarin, it can reduce the medicine’s effectiveness.

This is why I strongly discourage self-supplementing if you take medications. Always check with a qualified professional—like a naturopath or pharmacist—before adding new supplements.

2. Lack of FDA Regulation:
Unlike medications, supplements are not tested by the FDA before they’re sold. That means it’s up to companies to make sure their products are safe—but as you can probably guess, many cut corners for the sake of profit.  

I’ll give you a couple of examples to make this more concrete. 

Recently, third-party testers have found lead and arsenic in some protein powders. Another example, 4 male enhancement supplements were recently recalled because they didn’t disclose that they contained prescription-strength NSAIDs and the drug sildenafil – the active ingredient in viagra. 

Since the FDA doesn’t regulate supplement ingredients before they’re sold, there’s no perfect way to guarantee quality. But one thing you can look for is a USP Verified label—this means the supplement has been tested by an independent organization for quality and purity. You can also check third-party reviewers—these are independent services that buy products off store shelves and test them in a lab to see if they contain what they claim (and nothing harmful). 

Personally, I pay for a third-party reviewer to ensure my clients’ supplements are clean, tested, and transparent about their ingredients.

3. Dosage:
 Just because something is natural doesn’t mean you can’t overdo it. Like Paracelsus said, “the dose makes the poison.” Think of it like salt. A little salt on your food is great and even necessary for your body to work properly. But too much salt in your diet over time can raise blood pressure.

Supplements work in a similar way. Many nutrients are not only safe but necessary in the right amounts. They help your body function properly, support your energy, hormones, digestion, and so much more. But when taken in too high of a dose—or for too long without breaks—some of these same nutrients can start to cause harm.

For example, fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K are so important. Vitamin D, for instance, helps keep your bones strong and supports your immune system and healthy hormone production. But because these vitamins are stored in your fat and not flushed out in urine like water-soluble ones, high doses can build up. Over time, that can cause things like nausea, headaches, or even more serious health issues.

4. Health Conditions: Some supplements are unsafe for those with certain health conditions. For example, black cohosh is often used for menstrual issues or menopause symptoms, but it shouldn’t be taken during pregnancy, as it can stimulate the uterus and may increase the risk of early labor.

Certain supplements, especially those with plant-based hormones or hormone-like effects (like some herbal extracts, phytoestrogens, or high-dose vitamin D), might not be safe for people with a history of hormone-dependent cancers such as breast, ovarian, or uterine cancer.

5. Interference with Lab Tests:

The last warning I want to make is that some supplements can affect the results of medical lab tests, leading to incorrect or misleading information. A well-known example is biotin (vitamin B7), which is found in many hair, skin, and nail supplements. High doses of biotin can interfere with blood tests that measure thyroid function, hormone levels, and certain heart markers, making it look like your levels are abnormal when they might actually be fine.

This is why it’s important to tell your healthcare provider about all supplements you’re taking before any blood work, so they can interpret your results accurately or ask you to stop certain supplements before testing.

My intention is not to scare you with these warnings, but I’ve noticed a surge in influencers promoting supplements on SM without any mention of quality or warnings, so I just want to make sure you have all the information. Basically, a supplement shouldn’t be taken like a piece of candy; it should be from a reputable brand that is transparent in their test results, a dose that is for you and your needs, and after a professional has reviewed your list of medications and supplements and confirmed that it is safe to add in. With that said, they can be so so helpful when taken correctly. So let’s go over some common examples.

I’ll talk about 5 popular ones today including vitamin d, magnesium, omega 3s, probiotics, and vitex.

Alright, so we covered a lot today. To recap a bit:

Supplements can be incredibly helpful when they’re used the right way. I love them and use them routinely. But they’re not magic pills, and they’re definitely not one-size-fits-all. I really think it would be a helpful mindset shift if we thought of supplements more like medications in the sense that dosing, timing, and your unique health situation matter a lot.

We talked about how more isn’t always better, that quality varies widely, and that not every supplement is safe for everyone. They need to be cycled or with breaks, some need to be taken with food, and some can interact with medications or lab tests.

And finally, supplements can be amazing tools to support your cycle, energy, mood, digestion—you name it, there’s a supplement for it—but they work best alongside a real food diet, healthy habits, and understanding your body. 

I hope this clarified what supplements are and their purpose. If you have questions about anything we covered or want help figuring out what’s right for you, feel free to reach out. And if you know someone who is taking supplements wrong and could benefit from this episode, share it with them.

Thanks for reading!

Arya

P.S. If you’re dealing with PMS & menstrual cycle symptoms, be sure to grab my free guide ‘Natural Remedies for PMS & Period Symptoms (That Actually Work)’. Head here for more info on what symptoms are covered + get the guide.