This powerpoint presentation gives a bit of insight as to the benefits of nutritional supplements on one's health throughout diverse populations if used properly. Some of the benefits, precautions, and recommendations of taking nutritional supplements is included as well as a bit of information in order to help individual's find reliable, quality information on the topic. Of course, before taking any supplements you should always remember to seek a physician's approval before making any decisions.

1. Unit 4 Assignment
By: Keagan Nelson
HW499-01 Professor: Earon Davis
February 26, 2017

2. How to Find Health and Wellness Information
• The NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is a
great start for information regarding vitamins, herbs, and supplements. This website offers a
wide variety of resources including research and study findings, blogs, news, contact
information, and organization training, events, and more. (NIH, 2017). Another resources
which I personally use as a reliable resource is The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
This journal is easily accessible and it contains many peer reviewed articles related to
nutritional supplementation. My favorite feature of the journal’s website is the search bar
which looks up the key words typed in and refers you to scholarly articles accordingly.
(AJCN. 2017). One other website which is another great resource for nutritional
supplementation information is the Office for Dietary Supplements (ODS). This website
contains many types of information and resources regarding supplement facts including
health information, news and events, FAQ’s, contact resources, and so on. (ODS. 2017).

3. Additional Educational Resources
• In addition to the previously mentioned websites, journals, and so on, the following
resources are helpful in educating individuals of nutritional supplementation
information. For information regarding the safe and smart use of supplements,
helpguide.org readily provides insight regarding cautions and dangers of
supplementation use, tips and advice for safe supplement use, newsletters and
articles pertaining to the safety of supplements, and more. (Help Guide. 2017). I
also believe that reading through forums, blogs, and product reviews can be useful
to the average person. This is a simple way to find out information regarding other
individual’s success or failure with products. Also, one could gain some ideas or
alternative methods to nutritional intake and supplementation from these types of
resources.

4. Recommendations
• The recommendations I would give to an individual just beginning their journey of
nutrition and nutritional supplementation is to first and foremost, start slow. I
believe one should positively identify the issues they would like to address and then
significantly research all possible options to fixing that issue. Reviews and forums
would be a good idea as well, as researching what you are putting into your body can
never hurt. The one thing I worry of is over-use of supplements because people
think that too much or the wrong mixture cannot have negative consequences. This
is wrong though, always start cautiously, and cross-check the supplements you may
be thinking of taking together to ensure safety. (ODS, 2017). Use resources that are
available to you and of course, always consult a professional before making any big
decisions.

5. Precautions
• The precautions of supplement use lay in a few places in my opinion. The FDA
does not test supplements because they make no claims of healing or curing disease,
therefore there are more likely than not faulty supplements out there. (Help Guide.
2017). There is possibility of there even being dangerous supplements out on store
shelves. Mixing prescriptions with supplements and/or taking too high of doses of
either can also be harmful. (ODS. 2017). Since every individual is different what
may work for one individual may not work for another individual even in similar
health status range. These precautions all emphasize the importance of research and
caution when using nutritional supplements.

6. References
• AJCN. (2017). Home. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Retrieved from: https://nccih.nih.gov/
• Help Guide. (2017). Dietary Supplements. Helpguide.org. Retrieved from:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/dietary-supplements.htm
• NIH. (2017). Health. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Retrieved from:
https://nccih.nih.gov/
• ODS. (2017). Health Information. National Institutes of Health. Office of Dietary Supplements. Retrieved
from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/