This section features reviews of vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements used for general wellness, energy, and brain health, along with what studies show about each. This page lists all 9 ClinicalStudyConnect.com guides on the topic, each with its opening lines so you can pick the one that matches your question.
ClinicalStudyConnect.com is an independent publication. These guides are for education and do not replace care from a qualified professional.
Guides in this section
Vitamin E Benefits: What Human Studies Show, Doses, Safety
Vitamin E is a group of eight fat-soluble compounds, and only alpha-tocopherol meets human requirements. The amounts in food are well tolerated. In large trials, vitamin E supplements did not prevent heart disease, cancer or cognitive decline, and a few trials pointed to harm at supplement doses.
Vitamin C Benefits: What Human Studies Show, Doses, Safety
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) is an essential vitamin your body cannot make, and the one benefit that is firmly established is that it prevents and cures scurvy.
Vitamin B12 Benefits: What Human Studies Actually Show
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is an essential vitamin your body cannot make, and its best-proven benefit is preventing and correcting deficiency. Human trials of B12 for heart disease, thinking and memory, and child growth have mostly found little or no effect, and cancer findings are mixed.
Vitamin B6 Benefits: What Human Studies Show, Doses and Safety
Vitamin B6 is an essential, water-soluble vitamin that your body needs for protein metabolism, brain chemicals and red blood cells. Human studies point to possible help for nausea in pregnancy and premenstrual syndrome (PMS), but many of those studies are small or low quality.
Zinc: Benefits, Doses Studied, Safety and What the Evidence Shows
Zinc is an essential mineral your body needs for immune function, wound healing, growth, DNA and protein production, and your sense of taste and smell.
Panax Ginseng Benefits: What Human Studies Show, Doses, Safety
Panax ginseng (Asian or Korean ginseng) may help a little with some things, but you should not expect a big payoff. It is a root used in traditional Chinese medicine, and the better-supported results are small improvements in some blood markers, blood-vessel function, general fatigue and erectile function.
Ginkgo Biloba Benefits: What Human Studies Show, Doses, Safety
Ginkgo biloba is a leaf extract from the ginkgo tree, sold as a supplement for memory and "brain health." The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) says there is no conclusive evidence that ginkgo helps any health condition.
Green Tea Extract: Benefits, Evidence, Doses Used and Safety
Green tea extract is a concentrated preparation made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, sold mostly as capsules or tablets. Human studies point to small effects on cholesterol, body weight and blood pressure, and the evidence for cancer and heart disease is mixed or inconsistent.
Probiotic Clinical Evidence: What Studies Show by Strain, Dose and Condition
Probiotic research does not give one answer for "do probiotics work." The evidence changes depending on the specific strain tested, the dose used, and the health condition studied.