Supplements: A Summary

Are Supplements Really Needed?

Let's deal with the big question first: A healthy person with a healthy varied diet probably doesn’t need supplements, getting everything they need from their food intake. If I was healthy I wouldn't entertain taking this stuff: it can be expensive to get an effective dose, and I'd rather not take any pills really. 

This is not the case for our group, however. We need some extra help. We are dealing with a body which is most definitely out of balance, has probably been in a state of distress for some time, and is exhibiting symptoms which indicate that some additional help is required. I've seen very real improvements by taking some of the below and am sure they are providing benefits. 

No-one likes taking pills, but if they act as a temporary support to bring the body back to balance, they have an interesting contribution to make.  

I should note that there are, of course, varying studies showing the efficacy (and not) of these supplements - I can only tell you what works for me and suggest you give them a go. Do so in a considered fashion and listen to your body for signs of improvement/upset. Trust your instinct to determine what works for you and be vigilant for signs of improvement/side effects. 

My strategy on supplements is, where possible, to support the body to make its own active ingredients (using sea kelp to support the production of thyroxine, for example), rather than replacing the natural function. Look out for this where you can. 

A Note of Caution

A note on supplements: if supplements were harmless, they wouldn’t have any effect at all. Although these products have almost always been unregulated, their effects can be dramatic, so exercise caution. For most, supplements are an effective way to replace missing elements, restore balance, boost the body’s own ability to produce hormones, but they can also have detrimental effects - try them carefully.

Authorities worldwide are now in the process of imposing stringent regulations on supplements, which in many cases means that the recommended dosage is being reduced to as little as 10% of previous manufacturer guideline doses. Whilst some regulation is always useful, such draconian limits mean that the new dosages are in some cases so low as to be ineffective. Use your own judgement.

I always recommend bringing a new supplement into your diet gradually, building up the the optimum dose slowly, maybe one tablet a day or every other day for say, a week, then increasing slowly if the effects are found to be good. Discontinue use if the side effects are undesirable or too hard to live with.

Most supplements come in capsule form, thus hitting the digestive system before getting to where they are needed and therefore inherently hard on an already confused digestion. There are one or two body sprays/gels and these can be a useful alternative if the digestion cannot cope - I’ve recently taken this option with Magnesium, for example.

Lastly, if you're going to try a supplement, use a well-known brand such as Solgar, BetterYou or  Biocare. Getting a discount is great, but choosing supplements is not the time to save a couple of pounds by switching from a major brand to a no-name, or worse, a fake.

Here are a few common supplements which I have found useful:

Acidophilus

Widely used in holistic medicine for the support of natural gut flora. There’s a whole industry around the science of this alone - you have probably seen the TV advertisements for yogurts and health drinks which purport to do the same job.

If you have suffered for sometime with gastro problems (diarrhoea, sickness etc) it is advisable to renew your gut flora with some acidophilus. Acidophilus is essentially the “good bacteria” which populate the gut. It is these bacteria which help to process food, and to release nutrients in a form which the body can then process. In cases of gastrointestinal distress, the gut flora can be disturbed, or in extreme cases (such as bad food poisoning, ongoing sickness etc), destroyed. It is common in these circumstances for the flora to grow back poorly or in the wrong proportions. The gut flora includes a whole range of substances, including the good bacteria, but also yeast and other substances - if yeast, for example grows more rapidly than the good bacteria, it can have a detrimental effect on the body as a whole (especially as it causes inflammation, promotes fungal infections, eczema etc) and impedes the body’s ability to process food properly. It is therefore extremely beneficial to restore this balance. 

There are popular yogurts and yogurt drinks which are widely available and are advertised "good bacteria": although these are marketed as doing the exact same job as the capsules I’ve described, in my view, these drinks are less effective. The active ingredients in good quality capsules are specially treated and coated in order to withstand the journey through the intestine (stomach acid etc) whilst the ingredients in yogurts are largely not, and therefore their efficacy cannot be guaranteed. In my view the majority have a limited effect. 

Vitamin D and K

Vitamin D is actually a hormone rather than a vitamin, and a high proportion of the general population are deficient. D3 is important because it helps with the absorption of calcium, magnesium and zinc, which promotes strong bones and muscle function. Many people are deficient in Vitamin D and as a result deficient in the other minerals which it facilitates into the body.Furthermore, our ability to synthesize vitamin D2 obtained from sunlight into the D3 which the body needs declines significantly from the age of 40 onwards.

Taking Vitamin D also boosts mental acuity and helps with restful sleep. In my case, my sleep improved markedly whilst taking Vitamin D.  

Vitamin D is also great for helping the body to rebuild, and its ability to help the body synthesise calcium is significant because means that the body is able to make repairs. Unfortunately, it is so good at moving calcium around the body that, if there isn't enough, calcium can be removed from bones. As a result, it is beneficial to take Vitamin D in combination with Vitamin K in order to ensure that bone health is optimised and that calcium is not leached. 

Sea Kelp

Many sufferers have underactive Thyroid - in the UK the “normal” range for production of Thyroxine is much wider than, for example in the USA - this means that as far as the GP is concerned, a patient will test normal for thyroid function even though the same test in the USA would lead to an under active diagnosis. Doctors are also unwilling to begin their traditional treatment for underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) as it involves synthetically replacing thyroxine and can therefore restrict the body’s own ability to produce thyroxine naturally.

I agree that shutting off a natural hormone production is undesirable, but this doesn’t mean that no action should be taken. 

Iodine is known to support and stimulate the body’s natural ability to produce thyroxine and can produce a positive effect, helping with general well being, energy levels and a host of other body functions. Taking sea kelp is the most effective way of introducing additional iodine into the body and is therefore beneficial in promoting thyroid health. 

Magnesium

Magnesium has more than 400 functions in the body and is a significant mineral for optimum body function. Despite this, it is estimated that more than 75% of people are deficient in Magnesium: simply not enough is supplied by the modern diet.

Magnesium is known to promote repair in the body, especially to muscles and joints. For a body in need of repair, magnesium is an essential tool. It also plays a role in reducing anxiety, and increasing feelings of well being.

It is therefore beneficial to replace magnesium in the body - this can be done by taking tablets orally, by use of a magnesium oil spray directly onto the skin, or by the use of epsom salt baths (the womens' British winter Olympic skiers were photographed taking epsom salt baths as they reported a marked improvement in their recovery between races).

Magnesium tablets can be hard for the stomach to digest, and can often cause an unwanted reaction (it is a known laxative afterall!!!), the oil and the baths can therefore be a good alternative, allowing the body to ingest the mineral without passing through the digestive system and avoiding the adverse effects.

Chrome

Worth trying for its ability to promote normal insulin levels, in my case it made me worse, I think conflicting with the Metformin I take. If you’re seeking to control insulin levels more naturally, however, this could be interesting. Try it.

Serra Peptase

Has terrific properties of reducing inflammation. Women with PCOS are said to hold up to 25% more water than normal and so something which can combat the effects is beneficial. This supplement is great at reducing swelling - a lady I knew had been on a flight and had severely swollen lower legs and ankles. After 6 weeks, the swelling was still present and the doctors were telling her that nothing could be done. A holistic therapist advised serra peptase and the swelling had gone within 10 days. Of course this was an acute case, but still might be useful for you if inflammation is a problem. 

Agnus Castus/Vitex/Chasteberry

Chasteberry has been used for centuries as an aid to fertility - it is known to improve the body’s own production of oestrogen, the female growth hormone. Some users report fantastic results in falling pregnant within a few months of taking this supplement, having previously struggled to conceive.

Pregnancy may or may not be one of your goals, but there is an equally important role to play in boosting oestrogen levels which have been severely depleted as a side effect of the overproduction of insulin and testosterone levels. 

Boosting oestrogen is a controversial idea, and I recognise that causing over- production or supplementing too highly has severe implications, which is why I'd prefer to augment the body's own ability to produce an acceptable level. 

Mainstream medicine would prefer to offer a treatment of phyto-oestrogen, which supplements by adding phytoestrogens (plant oestrogen), and several of the largest supplement manufacturers offer plant oestrogen rather than a natural support, but there are two problems with this:

• - I’d rather boost the body’s own ability to produce oestrogen, thus naturally restoring balance, rather than simply replacing with a foreign product which may, in itself cause further side effects
• - Synthetic oestrogen may further deplete the body’s own ability to produce oestrogen (why bother to produce when it arrives in pill form on a daily basis), but as a long term solution this is not ideal, ties the patient to that drug for the rest of their life and, as a fixed dose does not account for the differences in requirements for oestrogen over time

In the pursuit of balance in the body, promoting the body’s own ability to produce as it should is far preferable to any kind of replacement, even though it may take longer to achieve.