DO WE NEED SUPPLEMENTS?

There is abundance of published information on this topic. I would like to cover here couple important highlights regarding supplementation.

Providing the body nutrients by optimizing diet and selecting nutrient dense foods is the preferred option. However, even adherence to a carefully planned diet may not provide adequate amounts of key nutrients due to soil and water quality.

It is important to augment nutrient deficiencies as they lead to chronic diseases or limit response to therapy. For example:

– Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to impact insulin sensitivity and immune system, which increases risk for developing type 2 diabetes and autoimmune conditions.

– Sugar cravings are often caused by deficiencies in magnesium or zinc.

To maintain good health it is worth considering long term supplementation of:

– Multivitamin

– Vitamin D

– Omega 3 fatty acids / fish oil

– A quality probiotic, especially if consuming gluten, alcohol, or sugar, or during and after treatment with antibiotics.

Supplements should be carefully tailored to you, based on your general health, medical history, symptoms, medications used and laboratory nutrition evaluation.

Did you know that certain prescription medications may result in specific nutrient deficiencies? For example, it is well researched that:

– Statins can cause CoQ10 deficiency

– Metformin may result in vitamin B12 deficiency

QUALITY MATTERS

Several quality assessment projects utilizing third party investigators demonstrated that many national retailers were selling dietary supplements that were fraudulent and in many causes contaminated with unlisted ingredients. In addition, counterfeits of recognized brands can be purchased in online stores like Amazon and Ebay.

Testing of supplements purchased from Walmart, Walgreens, Target and GNC showed that roughly four out of five of the products contained none of the herbs listed on their labels. In many cases, authorities said, supplements contained little more than cheap fillers like rice and house plants, or substances that could be hazardous to people with food allergies. 

I reviewed several reports and I didn’t like what I found. This is just one example of fraudulent supplements from a long list of supplements tested.

Gingko Biloba:    No gingko biloba found. Did detect allium (garlic), rice, spruce and asparagus.

St. John’s Wort:  No St. John’s Wort found. Did detect allium (garlic), rice and dracaena (a        tropical houseplant).

Ginseng:                No ginseng found. Did detect rice, dracaena, pine, wheat/grass and citrus.

Echinacea:           No echinacea found. Did detect rice in some samples.

Valerian Root:     No valerian root found. Found allium, bean, asparagus, pea family, rice, wild carrot and saw palmetto.

With poor quality supplements you may be actually paying to ADD to the cumulative toxic burden in your body.

That is why I partnered with Fullscripts, to provide my patients with verified quality supplements at a reasonable price (I secured a minimum 15% discount for all purchases). 

Fullscript provides professional-grade supplements that you can trust, because unlike ordering from other places, supplements from Fullscript are never past their date of expiration, contain no counterfeit ingredients, nor are they stored incorrectly. For questions, Fullscript provides a dedicated support team so you never have to worry!