Sunday, January 1, 2012

Are Supplements Good for Sweating/Perspiraiton?


Americans spend more than $20 billion on dietary supplements each year, according to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Never self-diagnose a medical problem and take a supplement to treat it. Many supplements interact with medications or other supplements and may trigger unwanted symptoms, including perspiration.

ABOUT PERSPIRATION

Perspiration, also known as sweating, helps your body maintain an ideal temperature by cooling your body when it gets overheated. Your body contains 2 to 4 million sweat glands, which fully activate beginning during puberty. You have more sweat glands if you are a woman, but your sweat glands are more active if you are a man. You may sweat more when it is hot outside or when you are angry, embarrassed or going through menopause.

SUPPLEMENTS CONTAINING CAFFEINE

Supplements that contain caffeine may encourage perspiration. A small study published in the September 2011 issue of the "Journal of Medicinal Food" investigated 13 athletic men and the effects of caffeine on sweating. Ingesting 3 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight increased sweat volume and sweat gland output. More research is needed to confirm this finding, but it may be worth avoiding supplements that contain caffeine if you find yourself sweating when you take them.

ZINC SUPPLEMENTS

Carefully monitor your meal plan for zinc intake if you also take supplements that contain zinc -- too much zinc in your body can trigger sweating. As a dietary supplement, limit yourself to 25 to 50 milligrams per day. Oysters are quite high in zinc, and you also get zinc from other types of meat, fish and shellfish as well as dairy, beans and nuts.

ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS

Dietary supplements cover a broad range of nutrients. They can help you boost your intake of essential vitamins and minerals, such as iron, vitamin C or calcium, or supplements may include herbs, amino acids and other nutrients that you may wish to take to influence your health. The Office of Dietary Supplements warns that you should not rely on supplements to treat, prevent or cure a disease, and some supplements lack clinical evidence to support their use for any reason.

 
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