Who doesn’t want beautiful nails, glowing skin, and glossy hair? Every single day, the media bombards us with commercials for new beauty products that will help us achieve all those beauty goals. However, how true are those compelling supplements ads? Can one product really yield such incredible results?
For starters, skin, hair, and nails consist of keratin, which is a type of protein. Therefore, they all need a sufficient amount of keratin in order to be healthy. Moreover, biotin and vitamin B together contribute to the health of our largest organ, as well as nails and hair.
Hair, skin, and nail supplements usually contain these micronutrients, along with vitamins C and E or Coenzyme Q10 and biotin. Many times, the companies that produce these supplements add minerals, such as manganese and selenium, as well.
However, what most of us don’t know is that the majority of people who live in developed countries has an adequate amount of these nutrients.
Consuming more micronutrients and vitamins than our bodies can absorb leads to hypervitaminosis. This is a condition characterized by heightened vitamin storage levels. This, in turn, can cause toxic symptoms, such as nausea, headaches, dizziness, and sometimes even full-body weakness, which can lead to an ER visit.
If all of this hasn’t made you reconsider chugging all those beauty pills, think about how companies actually produce them. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) doesn’t regulate dietary supplements, since they are not considered drugs. Therefore, these supplements are safe until someone proves them to be unsafe. In most cases, you’re not going to die from a few biotin pills, but it’s worth noting the safety (or lack thereof) of what you’re consuming.
Furthermore, research shows that some of these supplements don’t even contain the nutrients that the packaging lists.
This is especially worrisome since we’re wasting our money, and more importantly, our health, on something that’s not true. What’s more, even if your supplements contain the correct amounts, they are still too high for your needs.
The bottom line is that if you’re relatively healthy and eat well, you don’t need to add any supplements to your beauty regimen. When you simply eat fruits and vegetables, you get those same nutrients – in a tastier, healthier way! So ditch these pills because you can still look and feel great without them.
Feature image via Pexels
