The idea for this episode came to me after I took a digestive enzyme that had 200mg of Betaine HCl and a blend of enzymes to help breakdown food. I had a stomach bug about a week and a half ago and had no appetite for about a week afterwards. I still am not very hungry. I had a heavier meal last night with a lot of beans in it so I wanted to be sure I didn’t have a ton of bloat from it so I took one digestive enzyme capsule at the end of my meal. I think that was my first mistake. I should have taken it at the beginning of the meal because I had the most horrible heart burn afterwards. It honestly felt like there was a huge lump in my chest and it was very uncomfortable. I tried drinking water to dilute the capsule but that did nothing and made me have to go to the bathroom after about a half hour. I went to bed early and read- a super interesting book which I hope to talk about in another episode. The heart burn persisted and got worse as I was now laying horizontal. I fell asleep but never got into a deep sleep and then had to pee so was up twice for that, each time drinking just another sip of water to try to fix the heart burn. Finally at 1am I took about an ⅛ tsp of baking soda in 2-3 oz of water and it helped but did not make the burn totally go away. I was so annoyed. So I was laying there thinking about supplements and how many people take things they don’t even know they need. Clearly I didn’t need that one little capsule last night.
This episode is going to sound like I’m against supplements and I want to be clear I am not. I take some here and there. I take a mulitvitamin, I have fish oil that I take occasionally and a whole cupboard of stuff for when the situation arises.
I use magnesium on days when I over do sugar. When I travel I bring melatonin to help me fall asleep. I have done a great evidence based detox program that had me on a few things to support removal of toxins. I have L-glutamine for gut healing (took that last week along with a probiotic after I got sick).
I’ve got a whole covid protocol in my cupboard, I’ve got homeopathic stuff for things like headaches, fevers, pain, and bug bites. The bug bite one is mostly for my very sensitive dog who gets welts from tick bites and hot spots galore. He currently has an ear infection I’m treating with an herbal formula. Anyway, so all this to say I’m not against them but I am against you just buying stuff thinking it will help you without knowing what you actually need to be taking. Personally I don’t take anything every day. I probably should take a multivitamin daily but I have been the person trying every supplement over the years and I’m kind of over it. You don’t have to take a bunch of stuff is my point.
I find that people are often looking for a supplement to fix their health problem. A blood sugar reducing supplement for your blood sugar, curcumin for pain or inflammation, selenium for thyroid problems, vitamin d ‘because everyone is deficient’, and the list goes on. I’m sure you have your reasons for why you take supplements.
Here’s the thing- when you see a functional medicine practitoner whether it is a medical doctor or a nutritionist or someone who’s certified in holistic nutrition or whatever- they should not be sending you on your way with a $400 bill in supplements. If they are they are taking the conventional medicine model which is a ‘pill for every ill’ and doing the same thing with supplements.
In these types of cases you might need half or a ¼ of what you were told.
The amount of people I’ve seen who are taking 10 or more supplements is kind of astonishing and the sad thing is that many of these people are not getting better. My gut feeling on this is that these supplements are not doing jack for them. Other things I have seen are women in menopause taking a multi vitamin with iron because her chiropractor just gave her a link to her supplement store. Full disclosure I have also given my dispensary link out on the podcast and the newsletter but I do believe I’ve also suggested you know what you need to take before purchasing.
The supplement industry is a $39 billion industry with over 150 million people buying and taking them. There are over 85,000 products on the market with 1000 new ones coming each year. 58% of these come from the mass market like your big box stores and 3% come from practitioners.
There are many reasons to buy from a practitoner as long as they are not selling you on the idea that you need 12 things to take every day. Very few people need to be supplementing in such a way. And I beg of you to avoid big box store supplements as best you can. These things are expensive, I get it but when they are cheap there is a reason. That reason is usually quality.
A 2014 report by the NY Attorney Generals office showed their investigation found that supplements sold at stores we all shop at had some big problems.
Ginkgo biloba, often used to support memory and focus, was tested from bottles purchased at these stores and there was no ginkgo biloba found in the products at all 4 of the stores where it was purchased. What was found in the capsules was garlic, rice, spruce, wheat, and a tropical houseplant.
St. John’s Wort was also tested. This is a popular supplement used as an anti-depressant and again was not found in the capsules from bottles purchased at any of the stores but again had rice, tropical houseplant, and garlic.
Echinacea was only found in one product from one store. The other stores sold product where it had rice, and garlic. This is a common supplement taken for supporting immune system health.
A 2010 report by the Archives of Internal Medicine reported on a liquid selenium product, something very popular in the Hashimoto’s community. This product contained a dose over 40,000 mcg where a safe dose is considered to be 200 mcg. The over dose of selenium in this case caused hair loss, memory problems, joint pain, nausea and fatigue. Do you know anything about the selenium you might be taking?
Supplement companies are supposed to follow something called Good Manufacturing Process or GMP and a 2012 report by the FDA found there were violations of the GMP in half of 450 companies whose facilities were inspected with violations ranging from rat infested facilities to not having a standardized recipe for their supplement formulations.
Even more problematic that big box stores are places like Amazon or Ebay where actual prescription medications were found in supplements sold for weight loss or sexual enhancement.
A former investigator for the FDA found that those cheap supplements on Amazon can be counterfeit, potentially dangerous, stolen or expired product that is repackaged as new. There are actually people selling on these sites that are creating packaging to look like a name brand or practitioner only supplement brand and selling you a pill that is useless. The most popular supplements on the market are probably being produced by counterfeit and a company from Asia is usually the culprit. The counterfeit supplement industry is a huge industry so buyer beware.
This is actually why I suggest you buy from my dispensary rather than from a store. You not only save a little money but you know you are getting quality products. I’d recommend a supplement review as well because you may not need what you think you do- though this depends on your diet and lifestyle but just like you can’t out exercise a bad diet, you can’t supplement one either.
In addition, herbs purchased for ayurvedic products and Chinese herbal formulas have been found to have toxic levels of mercury and arsenic in the past.
How are supplements made?
In many cases industrial solvents are used to extract compounds from plants and there is no standard for acceptable limits of these solvents.
A compound called 1,2 dichloroethan is often used to extract curcumin from turmeric. This chemical can cause lung, kidney, GI and circulatory issues. The FDA rules and GMP do not apply to the suppliers of raw materials which are purchased to make supplements. This means the supplement companies have to police themselves.
Practitioner grade supplements are often 3rd party tested. This is a big thing in their marketing because the industry is not regulated, the better companies will regulate themselves. They will also often market the efficacy of their products through clinical studies that are often paid for by them so there is clear bias in efficacy.
Ingredients from raw materials suppliers are often inconsistent with many being of poor quality so you get what you pay for. Third party testing allows for testing bulk ingredients from multiple lots to provide that trust factor. The best products will be consistent, be potent, be clean, and be bioavailable.
Third party testing is looking for things like heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, microbes, potency, solvents. Facilities are clean and temperature and humidity controlled. Some companies even test the bottles their products go in to be sure they are non toxic as well.
Quality matters.
You want to be thinking about the cost and your return on investment. Is the product working for you? Do you have the correct diagnosis for what you are taking? Are you following an evidence based and informed treatment plan?
When you self shop for supplements at a big box store you are in the hands of a sales clerk and not a nutrition professional. Know what you need and why you need it.
Are there any red flags to look for?
Supplement companies cannot claim to prevent or treat disease. Beware of ‘proprietary blends’ where all ingredients are not listed. Is there a purpose for each ingredient? Is the dose appropriate and based on human research, not rats. Often, there are animal model studies where the dose that helped the animal is more than a human could consume in a day.
Were clinical studies funded by the supplement maker or are there conflicts of interest of paper authors? This is really common in the research. Funding is supposed to be revealed and any one working on the study is supposed to list any conflicts of interest so that there is no bias in producing a certain result.
So what do you need to take?
This is different for everyone because you are all bioindividual. Your physiology is different than everyone else and what got you sick is not what got someone else sick. Read all your labels so you know what you are taking. If you are a woman in menopause, your multi vitamin probably doesn’t need iron. If you are taking vitamin D daily, you need to have your levels tested yearly.
Ask yourself if you are looking for a magic pill. Supplements are meant to supplement your diet until your diet can provide you with what you need. Maybe you need some gut healing so your body can absorb the nutrients you are taking. There is no magic pill and there is no magic protocol to fix your ill so stop looking for it on the internet.
There is a sea full of information on the internet with every website or article telling you something different. How do you know what is right and what you need?
Get good at listening to your body, when something doesn’t feel right, what is it trying to tell you?
Find out what your cells need by finding your cell blueprint. This is an evidence based questionnaire that will help me figure out what your biggest needs are as far as your cellular health goes. It’s a good place to start.
At a minimum you might need a fish oil if you don’t eat fish and maybe a high quality mutli-vitamin but even then, the amounts required for you are very dependent upon your needs at the moment so it is still a good idea to work with someone to figure that out.
I’m only working in 6 month packages right now and there will be a price increase May 1st so now is the time to get on board with your health and getting help for your hashimoto’s! Within that package will come a supplement review- you can take pictures of all you are taking and we will figure out what you need and what you don’t. My whole goal is to have you not need anything but the bare minimum such as fish oil, a multi and maybe extra B’s depending on your needs.
Download the definitive guide to hashimoto’s when you sign up for my newsletter which for now has been consistently coming out every Friday.
I’m also working on a little class about how to read your thyroid labs so look for that soon.
If you could take the time to leave me a review I would really appreciate that. It helps other people find the show.