What supplements should I take?

What supplements do we really need in our cupboard?

It is paramount to start with the basics, and the basic principle is that food comes first. Your dietary requirements ie. vitamins and minerals, need to come from your food first and foremost.

If you want Vitamin C, eat peppers, if you need Omega 3, eat salmon, if you need magnesium, eat dark green leafy vegetables. Simple, ok you can all go home now, problem solved. However there are always exceptions, the juggling single mother of two children looking after her parents and holding down a job, how they get through the day I have no idea, but mostly it’s on adrenaline, raised cortisol levels and a lot of coffee. A good diet here will take this woman so far, but her needs are far greater than a sedentary women with no stress, so this particular individual may need more anti stress vitamins ie. Vitamin B, that no amount of liver, or hot cups of Bovril will cover.

You may need extra vitamins in these various conditions:

• House bound – Vitamin D
• Pregnant/breastfeeding – folic acid
• Vegan or vegetarian – Vitamin B12
• High levels of exercise – iron
• Medication users – CoQ10 when using statins, folic acid with methotrexate etc
• Poor diets
• Long term inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

These often get overlooked, and the patient will become deficient and start getting deficiency symptoms which are difficult to pin down in a ten minute GP appointment. I was doing a talk the other day and one of the girls who turned up ate no fruit or vegetables at all in any form, and was not planning to in the future either. I advised her if she continued like this she would need a multivitamin for life, particularly as there would be little or no vitamin C in her diet, and yes I have seen patients with scurvy.

So, if you are one of those people who have a cupboard full of supplements, it might be time for a clear out. Get the fundamentals right first. Bloods can be tested: Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, folate, iron, magnesium and zinc can be tested on the NHS. If those are all fine, you don’t need supplements. Then there are the glucosamine, gingko biloba, ginseng type supplements that the older generation tend to take for joints, memory and vitality. I have spent hours looking over the research on glucosamine, and I feel the jury is still out. If your joints are bone on bone, you need a new joint, no amount of glucosamine is going to stop that. Glucosamine has now also be found to give people bad acid reflex and indigestion so be careful. Ginko biloba is not going to make a difference to your memory, look at your thyroid function first, your homocysteine levels as well, do some brain training, eat oily fish and get exercising first.

Long term PPI’s eg. omeprazole can reduce magnesium levels which long term is not good for the heart. Try to reduce the level you are on to the minimum needed before symptoms start, or again look at your diet first. Long term statins as well may reduce your CoQ10, a vital nutrient for heart function. Again try and avoid taking statins in the first place, diet, diet, diet, otherwise a supplement here is a good idea – 30mg to 90mg daily.

Where you buy supplements again is vital. Supermarkets don’t count as far as I am concerned. If you must take them make them the best, I advise Lamberts for the basic nutrients and Biocare for more complex combinations. These are well trialled and contain the amounts they claim. I cannot vouch for many other spurious brands that may indeed be a waste of money. A particular bug bear of mine is poor quality fish oil, it’s difficult sometimes weighing up the pros and cons of a supplement if the source is poor. Vitamin C you can’t make in your body, so you do need to get this in your food as you would with essential fatty acids. Essential means you really need them, and if you are vegetarian you may need flax oil.

What supplements do I take?

I have in my cupboard; Lamberts Vitamin B100mg when I am super stressed and busy, it works like a dream and keeps me calm and helps with energy. Vitamin B12 drops although I have injections quarterly from my lovely GP; Quest aged kyolic garlic used for so many illnesses, and lastly Biocare probiotics in the fridge. My Vitamin D I maintain from two and half weeks in Greece each year. If I didn’t do that I would supplement as well as I am lactose intolerant so don’t eat a lot of creamy, milky products.

If you walk into any health food emporium lined with supplements for every ailment how tempting it would be to buy them all line them at home and think, wow ok health here I come. But it doesn’t work like that, it has to come from the food first. People still feel they can eat what they like and either go to the gym to “burn” it off or take supplements to make up for their poor diets! It’s hard to choose between different brands, a citrate, a malate, rates of absorption, the maze is long, windy and complex, no wonder people are confused!

Supplement overhaul and advice

Got a cupboard full of supplements that you are not 100% sure about? If you are drowning in too many supplements, not sure what supplements to take and want help with organising and getting blood tests, please do call me on 01323 737814 for more information and I can guide you through the supplements maze and make sure you are not wasting your money and getting what you really need. And remember… food first.

Kate’s case study

Belinda – 34 yrs old. Rheumatoid arthritis, hypothyroidism, IBS and depression

Belinda came to see Kate after the birth of her first child. She had been diagnosed with RA, an underactive thyroid, IBS and slight depression. She was 34 yrs old and described herself as feeling 90 yrs old. She was very tearful during the consultation and told Kate that she was totally lost in a myriad of symptoms and felt in a dark place. Her diet was very poor and she was struggling with fatigue and painful joints. Luckily Belinda had finances to pay for quite a few tests and what we found really helped her move forward. She had Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth which once eradicated made her feel much better. Her RA got substantially better to the point where she did not need medication any more and her inflammatory markers reduced drastically. Her diet was overhauled, and she found she had far more energy. Her thyoxine medication was increased which also helped her energy levels and the myriad of other strange symptoms she was presenting with. After three months, the list of 54 symptoms Belinda started with, reduced to four. Belinda learned that some foods aggravated her RA, and when her bowel symptoms reduced the RA symptoms also seemed to reduce. Belinda’s folate and Vitamin B12 were low, with injections every three months her energy and mood elevated to the point where she felt she was not depressed any more. A year on and Belinda is virtually symptom free.

Does your mood get low in Winter? Do you get more coughs and colds? Are you not feeling on top of your game physically? A lifestyle and health MOT might be the answer! Call 01323 737814 for a free 15 minute chat to assess your needs and goals, for a healthier you!
www.katearnoldnutrition.co.uk