Being smart with nutritional supplements

Over 50% of adults in the U.S. use dietary supplements.

While a good diet SHOULD be all we need for our health, sometimes it does help to get support from supplements. I won’t go into all the reasons why you might benefit from them here, but suffice it to say, some of them can be very helpful and some of them are a total waste of money.

How do you know what supplements are good?

This is challenging because we know that dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA. This can be good or bad. But for now, let’s just work with it. There are some excellent companies making good products out there. The trick is how to find them. My online dispensary Fullscript does the vetting for me and ensures the products it carries are 3rd party tested and are stored in a way that ensures they are still potent when they arrive at your doorstep.

Another way is to do your own research. I won’t re-invent the wheel here, but I will direct you to THIS RESOURCE on how to evaluate high-quality supplements.

We see here that the most common supplements purchased by US adults include multivitamin/minerals, vitamin D, Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin C, Calcium, B12, and “botanicals”. So I’d like to give you a little help wading through the weeds and tell you what my picks are in those categories!

Multivitamins

For this, I really like the line of Designs for Health Complete Multi’s. They have some that are free of copper and/or iron depending on your needs.

Pro tip: Look under the MULTIVITAMIN or CHILDREN section of “my favorites”.

Multi-minerals

Trace minerals complex by Seeking Health is a nice product as is LDA Trace Mineral Complex by Klaire Labs.

Pro tip: Look under the MINERALS section of “my favorites”.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is really more of a pre-hormone than a vitamin. It’s also fat-soluble, so be sure you take it with some fat in your meal. Getting safe sun exposure might be the best way to get it, but most of us don’t have access to that year round. It’s recommended to test your vitamin D levels before supplementing. 30-90 ng/ml is a recommended range. Do expect that to differ between August and January. I supplement with D during the winter months and back off in the summer if I’m outside with a suntan. But I still get my levels checked.

Because it’s a fat-soluble vitamin, you can take it one day, then skip a week and it stays in your system (unlike B-vitamins which are water-soluble). So some people take larger doses less frequently. If you are NOT testing your levels, a supplement of 5,000IU of vitamin D taken a few times per week is probably a safe bet (but I still want you to test!).

You’re also going to need to balance D with vitamin K2, A, and magnesium. All are essential to proper utilization of the vitamin.

As for products, I like Vitamin D Supreme, by Designs for Health, Super D3+K2 from Carlson, and Basic Bone Nutrients by Thorne which has D3, Calcium malate, magnesium, and K2.

Pro tip: Look under the Bone health/calcium section of “my favorites”.

Calcium

Calcium is more complicated because of the way we absorb it and the other factors involved. Most of us are taking it for our bone health, but it’s important to remember that you can take TOO MUCH calcium and not enough of the other nutrients involved in bone health (and do other things that reduce bone density). So I recommend a more holistic approach.

All that said, I like Basic Bone Nutrients, by Thorne, Bone Builder Active by Metagenics, and Bone CoFactors by Douglas Labs

Pro tip: Look under the Bone health/calcium section of “my favorites”.

B12

B12 is found in all animal products. The reasons for taking this could be either not enough food sources (plant-based diet) or poor absorption. Before recommending B12, I like to do some testing to confirm we need it. Also, the B-vitamins tend to work together. Adding a multivitamin or B-complex is a safe way to just bump up all of them. The form of B12 matters too. There are a few different forms, and many people feel the methylated form is ideal. However, some people don’t tolerate it! So you just have to try them out and get some advice on that.

Source: www.fullscript.com/learn

If you want a B-complex to cover all your bases, I recommend Active B-Complex by Integrative Therapeutics or B-Supreme by Designs for Health. If you need to fine-tune the specific B-vitamins you want to include/exclude, Seeking Health has a variety of products with various B’s excluded.

If you have trouble absorbing B12, then you might want to use a lozenge/sublingual delivery system. (I’d also recommend consulting with someone to find out the why here.) For this, Hydroxo B12 by Seeking Health is a lozenge that might be helpful and you can adjust the dose to suit you.

Pro tip: Look under the B-COMPLEX section of “my favorites”.

Omega-3

In this category, I really like the brand Nordic Naturals. They have professional lines and consumer lines and they are all good. Generally, taking about 1000mg of combined DHA/EPA per day is a good call. Always take with food and some fat to enhance absorption. I like their ProOmega 2000. They also make a VEGAN DHA/EPA produce called Algae Omega.

The other way to do this is to take cod liver oil. I like Carlson’s or Nordic Naturals for this and I tend to get the liquid with lemon flavoring. It’s a nice way to supplement babies and young children. I like this because it also contains some vitamin D and preformed vitamin A. These fat-soluble vitamins are great in moderation, but you don’t want to overdo it. You won’t get your 1000mg of combined DHA/EPA from the cod liver oil without overdoing it on the vitamin A.

Pro tip: Look under the OMEGAS section of “my favorites”.

People with chronic health conditions can really end up spending a LOT of money on supplements in an effort to feel better. I recommend an up-front investment in a consultation and some testing to help you target your efforts and get the best effect. The purpose of this article is just to give you a little guidance on the most common supplements people are buying when NOT under the care of a health care provider.

Shop for professional-grade supplements

Full disclosure, I get a commission from this dispensary. But I offer it because it gives my clients (and other people who want to access high-quality products) some excellent options at good prices. You’ll find I adjust my commission down so that you get a price similar or better to Amazon/Costco but you can be confident that they store your products correctly and put their products through consistent vetting. YOu can set up an account below and (since I’m getting a small commission anyway) feel free to reach out with questions! But first check out “my favorites” as I’ve created many categories to help both you and me when selecting products.