I wrote this for Influence & Co.’s client, Mantality. It appears on Hubpages.

Any 18-year-old can walk into a supplement store and purchase a hormonal supplement. If this doesn’t worry you, it should. Such supplements can affect your hormone production for the rest of your life.

The FDA can’t possibly keep up with the monthly influx of new supplements. So, what’s in them? Who’s to say, honestly. Most of the time, people are paying for an expensive placebo. And, most people who purchase hormonal supplements aren’t getting labs drawn and aren’t consulting a medical professional to manage their levels.

How Supplementation Affects You

So, how does any of this affect you? Well, if you’re trying to take natural supplements to get a prescription effect, a lot. Does this thought process sound familiar: If two are good, I’ll take six and maybe that will triple the effect. If so, you’re in for problems.

In fact, I’ve seen guys in their late twenties sterilize themselves — no testosterone, no sperm function — by overdoing hormones in that manner. Things that are natural and accessible aren’t always better for you, especially if you’re taking 8, 10, 12 times the recommended amount.

It helps to think about supplements as wood and nails. If you’re building a house, you only need a certain amount. Using more doesn’t help you, and certainly raises your bottom line. If you’re overdosing on supplements to get a prescription effect, it will have a worse effect than taking the prescription itself.

Your body knows what it’s doing — it has all the building blocks it needs to produce normal, natural, and safe hormone levels. If your diet is lacking in three or so key nutrients, then take the recommended amount and follow up with blood tests. Overdosing — even on natural nutrients — is absolutely detrimental.

6 Steps to Ensure Healthy Hormone Usage

Ask yourself your expectations and what your physical goals are. Then, talk with a medical professional abut how to achieve that. Manage expectations and definitely don’t try to get a proscription effect by overdosing on supplements. Here’s how to approach hormones safely:

1. Consult a Professional
   In fact, consult multiple professionals. Don’t take your buddy’s advice — they didn’t go to medical school, and they don’t know the harmful side effect a certain hormone could have on you.
2. Consider Your Goals
   I talk to people all the time who pick the wrong supplement to achieve their goals. Know the effect your supplements will have on you.
3. Know the Risks
   There are always risks to supplements that affect your hormones. Research them. Know them. If you don’t have the time to do that, then just don’t take them.
4. Know your Options
   If there is a cheaper, safer alternative to a supplement, then take it. Even if it’s a safer method of ingesting the hormone. Know your options and choose the best one.
5. Learn the Long-Term Effects
   Research, research, research. Perhaps there is a short-term gain to taking a certain supplement, but if it comes at a long-term cost, it’s not worth it.
6. Do Your Homework
   Be educated. Know the questions to ask. With the internet at your fingertips, there is more information available than ever. If a supplement is too new to have reliable information about it, then wait to use it. Do. Not. Be. The. Guinea. Pig.

If I haven’t already made this painfully clear, do your research before beginning any type of supplemental regimen. When done correctly, hormone supplementation can be very safe and effective. When done rashly, disastrous. Make sure you fall in the former category.