adding a little science to supplements
Not all supplements are bad for you, but not all of them are good or effective either. But we do have an idea which ones are better than others...
Popular supplements and treatments sold under the very permissive DSHEA rules are often singled out by a lot of skeptical bloggers for their uselessness in homeopathic cures or the potential harm they could cause to those who aren't mindful of how they're produced and marketed. But that doesn't mean that all of them are useless or dangerous. When used properly and according to scientific advice, they can actually have very real health benefits. But how do you know which supplements you should research and why? That's where David McCandless' website Information is Beautiful may help with a terrific visualization of both popular and niche supplements ranked according to the weight of scientific evidence for their efficacy and given a "worth it" line.
To see what might not be worth your time and find out what these supplements seem to do best, see the full version and to better find which vitamins of herbs might aid in curing what ails you, try filtering the graphics by their area of efficacy in the interactive edition. One interesting thing you might note is that some very popular supplements are spread pretty evenly above and below the worth it line. Just goes to show that popularity and solid scientific evidence don't necessarily go hand in hand…
