What should patients know before taking any supplement or vitamins?

What should patients know before taking any supplement or vitamin? 

So supplements, the thing about supplements is that just because it's a supplement and it's natural doesn't mean it's healthy and it doesn't mean that it won't have side effects. There are a lot of supplements that can actually have side effects like liver toxicity or things, and it just depends on the dosing and the drug interactions it causes.

So it's important to discuss these with your doctor before taking them. Also to know is supplements are categorized under the food category so they are not got the same kind of level of detail as drugs are subject to from the FDA. And so in terms of like dosing and things like that, they're still more heterogenous and there aren't as rigorous trials around it.

So it's important to think about it from that perspective too, that just because it's a supplement and that's the dose written it may not be right for you and it has to be gradually titrated or ingested and understood what may be right.