And in addition, there are so many ads that come to us all the time on social media, either clear ads where someone's pushing a vitamin, or soft ads where an influencer is just talking about it off the cuff, and you don't actually know if it was paid for or not.

此外，我們在社交媒體上經常會看到很多廣告，要麼是有人推銷維生素的明確廣告，要麼是有影響力的人隨口一說的軟性廣告，而你實際上並不知道這些廣告是否是付費的。

Like if you want to optimize your health, yeah, supplements are very beneficial.

比如，如果你想優化你的健康，是的，補充劑是非常有益的。

Very beneficial.

非常有益。

But I think for you and me, it's a duh.

但我認為，對你我來說，這是一個咄咄怪事。

So the truth is, there are very few supplements that have good evidence-based medicine to support them.

是以，事實是，有良好循證醫學證據支持的保健品少之又少。

And the term supplement is really meant to be a dietary supplement, meaning something that is supplementing a dietary shortfall.

而 "補充劑 "一詞的真正含義是 "膳食補充劑"，即補充膳食不足的東西。

The greatest example is probably prenatal vitamins.

最大的例子可能就是產前維生素。

There is good evidence-based medicine to support using prenatal vitamins, because the average person doesn't get enough folate and other micronutrients in their diet to support a real healthy pregnancy.

有很好的循證醫學證據支持使用產前維生素，因為普通人在飲食中攝入的葉酸和其他微量元素不足以支持真正健康的懷孕。

Another common one is if you have iron deficiency anemia.

另一種常見的情況是缺鐵性貧血。

It's really hard to get enough iron from your diet to treat that, and so we might recommend an iron supplement.

要從飲食中攝取足夠的鐵來治療這種情況真的很難，是以我們可能會建議服用鐵質補充劑。

So those are what we would consider sort of the kind of evidence-based examples, and that is not an inclusive list, but that's how to think about it.

是以，這些就是我們認為的循證範例，雖然這並不是一個包羅萬象的清單，但這就是我們的思考方式。

Then there's this other class of supplements, meaning a reported medical benefit, although in the United States, supplement companies can't actually say their product does anything.

還有一類保健品，即據報道具有醫療功效，但在美國，保健品公司實際上不能說他們的產品有任何功效。

They all have these little FDA disclaimers, but that might be some things that are grounded in pretty good science, or good science even, so magnesium to treat constipation, but there's also things that aren't grounded in good science, like black cohosh or hot flashes.

它們都有一些食品及藥物管理局的免責聲明，但可能有些東西是有科學依據的，甚至是很好的科學依據，比如治療便祕的鎂，但也有一些東西是沒有科學依據的，比如黑升麻或潮熱。

Another common one that we see all the time is biotin for hair growth, but there's no data to support that.

我們經常看到的另一種說法是生物素促進頭髮生長，但沒有數據支持這種說法。

So there's a wide range of things that are potentially have good science behind them, and things that have no science behind them, and things that might be kind of in between.

是以，有很多事情背後都可能有很好的科學依據，也有一些事情背後沒有科學依據，還有一些事情可能介於兩者之間。

And then there are another category of supplements where there's a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals and herbals and botanicals all lumped together in a product where there's an insinuation that there's some kind of benefit for your organ or for your health, like ovary support or adrenal support or thyroid support or metabolism booster or fat burner.

還有一類保健品是把一大堆維生素、礦物質、草藥和植物藥混在一起，暗示對你的器官或健康有某種好處，比如支持卵巢、支持腎上腺、支持甲狀腺、促進新陳代謝或燃燒脂肪。

And none of these are studied in any meaningful way, and many of them are actually adulterated.

而這些都沒有經過任何有意義的研究，其中許多實際上是摻假的。

And that is one big concern with supplements, is you do not know what you are getting.

這也是補充劑的一大隱憂，因為你不知道自己得到的是什麼。

So how do you decide?

那麼您如何決定呢？

Three ways to think about supplements.

思考補充劑的三種方法

One, is this something you really need to take?

第一，你真的需要服用嗎？

Is there good evidence to support it?

有充分的證據支持嗎？

Well, you want to ask your doctor if the supplement you want to take falls in a good recommendation.

那麼，你要問問醫生，你想服用的補充劑是否屬於好的推薦範圍。

Or places to look would be the CDC, Centers for Disease Control.

或者去疾控中心看看。

If it's for a reproductive health issue, it might be the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

如果是生殖健康問題，可能是美國婦產科醫師學會。

And also, in the U.S., the U.S. government has the Office of Dietary Supplements.

另外，在美國，美國政府設有膳食補充劑辦公室。

Number two, who is recommending this to you?

第二，是誰向你推薦的？

Is it someone who's selling a product, or is this someone saying, these are the recommendations of multiple medical societies?

是有人在推銷產品，還是有人在說，這些是多個醫學協會的建議？

So look at the source of the recommendation.

所以，要看建議的來源。

And number three, you want to take a product that has been tested by a third party.

第三，要選擇經過第三方檢測的產品。

For example, a USP verified label means that there's been third party checking.

例如，USP 認證標籤意味著已經過第三方檢查。

That's really the best that we can do, because in the United States, we don't have the ability of the government to require testing for purity.

這確實是我們能做的最好的事情，因為在美國，我們沒有能力要求政府進行純度檢測。

And be very wary about Ayurvedic products, because they are actually very likely to be contaminated with lead.

對阿育吠陀產品要非常警惕，因為它們實際上很可能受到鉛汙染。

We know that about 20% of them are, especially with products that are for libido, for metabolism, for sport enhancement.

我們知道，其中約有 20% 的人是這樣，尤其是那些提高性慾、促進新陳代謝、增強運動能力的產品。

Those products have a much higher risk of contamination.

這些產品受汙染的風險要高得多。

This is a huge problem, and it's important because one, you want to make sure that the product you're taking isn't contaminated with heavy metals, or mold, or fungi, or things like that.

這是個大問題，而且很重要，因為第一，你要確保你服用的產品沒有受到重金屬、黴菌、真菌或類似物質的汙染。

But you also want to make sure it contains what it claims.

但你也要確保它包含了它所聲稱的內容。

And that's actually why pharmaceuticals have a standard, so none of these things happen, they get tested, and that doesn't happen with supplements.

實際上，這就是為什麼藥品有一個標準，所以這些事情都不會發生，都會經過檢測，而保健品就不會這樣。

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