Dietary Supplement Use for Treatment
The other group of dietary supplement users takes them to treat or manage a current disease. For instance, chondroitin sulfate is used to treat osteoarthritis; saw palmetto is used to treat an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hypertrophy); and fish oil is used to treat high blood pressure. Despite extensive medical research, many conditions and diseases still have no cure or limited treatment options; other conditions have inadequate treatments and/or treatments that cause adverse effects. Many consumers believe dietary supplements offer an alternative to conventional medicine. Long clinical trials and protracted drug approval processes, which seem to keep valuable information and treatments from people in
need, may engender consumer skepticism of traditional medicine, as do fears about drug dependence, adverse effects, and interactions.
Individuals may feel empowered by the choice and ability to take dietary supplements. For them, dietary supplements represent hope when conventional approaches have failed. To be able to take something to promote healthfulness without the written permission of a doctor or pharmacist can provide a sense of autonomy. In addition, dietary supplements have a “natural” connotation, which elicits less fear than a prescription drug synthesized in a factory (although dietary supplements are also manufactured this way).
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