Instead, nutritionists use “formulas”—combinations of vitamins and minerals—which when combined appropriately more or less reach your needs. In a typical supplement program, you might end up with four supplements to take. These formulas are like building blocks. The essential building blocks are shown in the “supplement jigsaw” on this page.
1. Start with a high-potency multivitamin and mineral
The starting point of any supplement program is a high-potency multivitamin and multimineral. Your daily supplement should provide the following nutrients:
Multivitamin
A good multivitamin should contain at least 5,000 IU of A, 200 IU of D, 150 IU of E, 250 mg of C, 25 mg each of B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6, 10 mcg of B12, and 50 mcg of folic acid and biotin.
Multimineral
This should provide at least 150 mg of calcium, 75 mg of magnesium, 10 mg of iron, 10 mg of zinc, 2.5 mg of manganese, 20 mcg of chromium, 25 mcg of selenium, and, ideally, some molybdenum, vanadium, and boron.
Multivitamin and mineral
You simply can’t fit all of the above vitamins and minerals into one tablet. Good quality, combined multivitamin and mineral formulas recommend two or more tablets a day to meet these kinds of levels. The bulkiest nutrients are vitamin C, calcium, and magnesium. These are often insufficiently supplied in multivitamin and mineral formulas—and vitamin C is best taken separately anyway, simply because you’ll never get 1,000 mg (the ideal daily dose) into a multi.
2. Add extra vitamin C and other immune-boosting nutrients
This is worth taking separately because the amount you need won’t fit in a multivitamin. The supplement should provide around 1,000 mg of vitamin C. Some vitamin C formulas also provide other key immune-boosting nutrients such as bioflavonoids or anthocyanidins, zinc, and cat’s claw.
3. Add extra antioxidant nutrients
The evidence is now very conclusive that an optimal intake of antioxidant nutrients slows down the aging process and prevents a variety of diseases. For this reason, it is well worth supplementing extra antioxidant nutrients—on top of those in a good multivitamin—to ensure you are achieving the best possible aging protection. This is especially important the older you are and if you live in a polluted city or have frequent strong sun exposure. The kinds of nutrients that are provided in an antioxidant supplement are vitamins A, C, E, and beta-carotene, zinc, and selenium, possibly iron, copper, and manganese, the amino acids glutathione or cysteine, plus phytonutrients such as bilberry extract, pycnogenol, and grape seed extract. These plant chemicals, rich in bioflavonoids and anthocyanidins, are also often supplied in more comprehensive vitamin C formulas.
4. Are you getting enough fat?
There are two ways of meeting your essential fat requirements: one is from diet, by eating a heaping tablespoon of ground seeds every day, having a tablespoon of special cold-pressed seed oils, and/or eating fish three times a week; the other is to supplement concentrated oils. For omega-3, this means either flaxseed oil capsules or the more concentrated fish oil capsules providing EPA and DHA. For omega-6, this means supplementing a source of GLA, such as evening primrose oil or borage oil. Even better is a combination of all three—EPA, DHA, and GLA.
These are the basic building blocks of a good supplement program. I take these every day. Then, there are optional extras—from nutrients that support your brain and your mood and give you an energy boost when you need it, to natural relaxants or hormone balancers.
BONE MINERAL COMPLEXES
If the above formulas still leave you short on calcium and magnesium, or if you are pregnant, breast-feeding, postmenopausal, or elderly, you may meet your needs by adding a complex of minerals including calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, boron, and a little zinc, vitamin C, or silica. These help build healthy bones.
BRAIN-FOOD FORMULAS
I also supplement a complex of brain-friendly nutrients that includes phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl serine, DMAE, pyroglutamate, ginkgo biloba, plus extra B vitamins. Together with omega-3 fats, these give me optimum nutrition for the mind.
You will also find supplements that help support hormonal health, mood, energy, and relaxation. My book Natural Highs explains how to use nutrients and herbs to keep you calm and connected.
INDIVIDUAL NUTRIENTS
Sometimes even the above formulas may still leave you short on specific nutrients. Shortfalls are commonly found in vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), zinc, and chromium. If you need both vitamin B3 and chromium, take chromium polynicotinate, which is a complex of the two. If you need extra B3, remember that ordinary niacin makes you blush, so look for niacinamide or “no-flush” niacin. If you need vitamin B6 and zinc, you can often find them in one tablet. A list of recommended supplement companies whose products meet these levels of vitamin and mineral intake is given in the Resources section.
Your ideal supplement program.
How to turn your nutrient needs into a simple supplement program
From your scores in the questionnaire in chapter 45, you will have worked out your optimum daily nutrient needs. If you scored less than 5 on each vitamin and mineral, your needs will be easily covered by this program:
SUPPLEMENT DAILY DOSE (TABLETS)
Multivitamin and mineral 2
Vitamin C 1,000 mg 1
Essential omega-3 and omega-6 1
If you scored 5 or more for vitamins A, D, or E, you will probably need to double the multivitamin. A score of 7 or more on vitamin E will warrant a separate vitamin E supplement or perhaps an antioxidant complex that contains vitamin E. If you scored 7 or more on at least two B vitamins, your best bet is to take a B complex tablet in addition to your multivitamin per day. However, if you scored high only on B6, for example, adding a B6 supplement of the desired strength will be more practical. The same applies to vitamin C. If your optimum level is 2,000 mg, take two vitamin C tablets a day.
If you scored 5 or more for at least two minerals, you will probably meet your needs by doubling your multimineral intake. However, if only calcium and magnesium were deficient, these can be provided together in a “bone formula.” If you are particularly in need of chromium, you may also require extra vitamin B3; some manufacturers combine the two. The same is true for zinc and B6, so look for these combined nutrients since they will save you money and decrease the number of tablets you need to take. If you have a weak immune system or are exposed to a lot of pollution, you may need more vitamins A, C, and E and zinc and selenium. These are all antioxidant nutrients that protect the immune system and help you deal with the effects of pollution. They are often combined in one supplement.
In three months’ time, reassess your needs. You’ll find you need less and may end up on a basic supplement program such as a multivitamin, vitamin C, and an essential omega-3 and omega-6 supplement. This is a good basic supplement program for everybody.
Supplements—when to take them
Now that you have worked out what to take, you will want to know when to take it. This depends not only on what is technically best, but also on your lifestyle. If taking supplements twice a day means that you would forget the second lot, you are probably best advised to take them all at once! After all, nature supplies them all in one go, with a meal. Here are the “ten commandments” of supplement taking:
Take vitamins and minerals fifteen minutes before or after a meal or during it.
Take most of your supplements with your first meal of the day.
Don’t take B vitamins late at night if you have difficulty sleeping.
Take extra minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, in the evening—they help you sleep.
If you are taking two or more B complex or vitamin C tablets, take one at each meal.
Do not take individual B vitamins unless you are also taking a general B complex, perhaps in a multivitamin.
Do not take individual minerals unless you are also taking a general multimineral.
I
f you are anemic (iron-deficient), take extra iron with vitamin C.
Always take at least ten times as much zinc as copper. If you know you are copper deficient, take copper only with ten times as much zinc, for example 0.5 mg copper to 5 mg zinc.
Take amino acid supplements on an empty stomach or with a carbohydrate food, for example, a piece of fruit.
Most of all, always take your supplements. Irregular supplementation doesn’t work. There are two supplement-taking strategies that I have found to work for most people. Take most supplements in the morning and a few in the evening, so that you do not have to take any to work. Or, if your supplement program consists of say, three multivitamins, three vitamin Cs, and three antioxidants, put all three in a small bag and take one of each with each meal. Some supplement companies supply small plastic bags so you can “bag up” your daily supplements. Others have supplement packs that you can buy that already contain the supplements you need (see Resources).
Are there any side effects?
The side effects of optimum nutrition are increased energy, mental alertness, and a greater resistance to disease. In fact, a survey of supplement takers found that 79 percent noticed a definite improvement in energy, 66 percent felt more emotionally balanced, 60 percent had better memory and mental alertness, skin condition had improved in 55 percent of people, and, overall, 61 percent had noticed a definite improvement in their well-being. As long as you stick to the levels given in this book and do not take toxic levels (explained in chapter 49), the only side effects are beneficial.
A small number of people do, however, experience slight symptoms on starting a supplement program. This may be because they take too many supplements with too little food or perhaps because a supplement contains something that does not agree with them, for example, yeast. These problems are usually solved by stopping the supplements, then taking one only for four days, then adding another for the next four days, and so on until all the supplements have been taken. This will usually reveal whether a supplement is causing a problem. More often than not, the problem simply goes away.
Sometimes people feel worse before they feel better. Imagine your body coping with the onslaught of pollution, poor diet, toxins, and stimulants, and then suddenly getting a wonderful diet and all the supplements it needs. This can lead to the process called detoxification, in which the body cleanses itself. This is not a bad thing and usually subsides within a month. However, if you have inexplicable symptoms, see a nutritional therapist.
What health improvements to expect
Vitamins and minerals are not drugs, so you should not expect an overnight improvement in your health. Most people experience a definite improvement within three months—the shortest length of time that you should experiment with a supplement program. The earliest noticeable changes are increased energy, mental alertness, and emotional stability and better skin condition. Most people notice these improvements in the first thirty days. Your health will continue to improve as long as you are following the right program. If you do not experience any improvement in three months, it is best to see a nutritional therapist.
When should you reassess your needs?
Certainly at the beginning your needs will change, and a reassessment every three months is sensible. Your nutrient needs should decrease as you get healthier. Remember, you need optimum nutrition most when you are stressed. So when emergencies arise, or you are working especially hard, make doubly sure that you eat well and take your supplements every day.
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Choosing the Best Supplements
While the golden rule of any supplement program is to work out the right doses and take them regularly, there are many other issues to consider when choosing supplements. Is it better to have natural rather than synthetic nutrients? Are capsules better than tablets? Are certain forms of minerals better absorbed? Are there good and bad combinations? What if you are on medication—are there any situations when you should not take supplements?
Capsules versus tablets
Capsules always used to be made of gelatin, which is an animal product and therefore not suitable for strict vegetarians. However, thanks to technological advances there are now capsules made from vegetable cellulose. The advantage of tablets is that, through compression, you can get more nutrients into them. The disadvantage is the need for fillers and binders. Some people think capsules allow for better nutrient absorption; however, provided the tablet is properly made, there is little difference, even if you have poor digestion. Most vitamins, including the oil-based ones, can be provided in tablet form. For instance, natural vitamin E comes in two forms: d-alpha tocopherol acetate (oil) and d-alpha tocopherol succinate (powder). They are equally potent.
Natural versus synthetic
A great deal of nonsense has been said and written about the advantages of natural vitamins. First of all, many products that claim to be natural are simply not. By law, a certain percentage of a product must be natural before the product can be declared “natural” on its label. The percentage varies from country to country. Through careful wording some supplements are made to sound natural when they are not. For instance, “vitamin C with rosehips” invariably means synthetic vitamin C with added rosehips, although it is often confused with vitamin C from rosehips. So which is better?
By definition, a synthetic vitamin must contain all the properties of the vitamin found in nature. If it does not, the chemists have not done their job properly. This is the case with vitamin E. Natural d-alpha tocopherol succinate is 36 percent more potent than the synthetic vitamin E called d1-alpha tocopherol (in this case the “1” dictates the chemical difference). So natural vitamin E, usually derived from wheat germ or soybean oil, is better.
However, synthetic vitamin C (ascorbic acid) has the same biological potency as the natural substance, according to Dr. Linus Pauling, although advanced scientific techniques have shown visible differences between the two. No one has yet shown that natural vitamin C is more potent or more beneficial to take. Indeed, most vitamin C is synthesized from a “natural” sugar such as dextrose; two chemical reactions later you have ascorbic acid. This is little different from the chemical reactions that take place in animals that convert sugar to vitamin C. Vitamin C derived from, say, acerola cherries—the most concentrated source—is also considerably bulkier and more expensive. Acerola is only 20 percent vitamin C, so a 1,000 mg tablet would be five times as large as a normal tablet and would cost you ten times as much!
It is true that vitamins derived from natural sources may contain unknown elements that increase their potency. Vitamin E or d-alpha tocopherol is found with beta, gamma, and delta tocopherol, and the inclusion of these with a measured amount of d-alpha tocopherol may be of benefit. Vitamin C is found in nature together with the bioflavonoids, active nutrients that appear to increase its potency, particularly its capacity for strengthening tiny blood vessels. Good sources of bioflavonoids are berries and citrus fruit, so the addition of citrus bioflavonoids or berry extracts to vitamin C tablets is one step closer to nature.
It is possible that yeast and rice bran, which are excellent sources of B vitamins, also contain unknown beneficial ingredients, so these vitamins are best supplied with yeast or rice bran. Brewer’s yeast tablets or powder are far less efficient ways of taking B vitamins than B complex vitamin supplements with a little added yeast—one would have to eat pounds of yeast tablets to get optimum levels of B vitamins. However, some people are allergic to yeast, and if you react badly to any supplements, it could be yeast that is the problem. For this reason, many supplements are yeast free.
There are many other potentially helpful substances that may be provided with nutrients in a complex. Included here are substances called coenzymes, which help to convert the nutrient into its active form. vitamin B6 needs to be converted from pyridoxine to pyridoxal-5-phosphate before it becomes active in the body. This process requires zinc and magnesium, which are now included in a number of B6 supplements. Supplem
ents of pyridoxal-5-phosphate are also available and should, theoretically, be more usable. Time will tell how much of an advantage these innovations will prove. But the key point is to make sure you get enough of each of the essential nutrients.
Vitamin and mineral absorption
Vitamins and particularly minerals come in different forms which affect their absorption and availability. Apart from the form of the nutrient, there are dietary and lifestyle factors that help or hinder their availability to the body.
WATER-SOLUBLE NUTRIENTS
FAT-SOLUBLE VITAMINS
MINERALS
Mineral bioavailability
Most of the minerals essential for health are supplied from food to the body as a compound bound to a larger (food) molecule. This binding is known as chelation, from the Greek word chele, meaning “claw.” Some form of chelation is important, since most essential minerals in their “raw” state have a slight positive electrical charge. The gut wall is slightly negatively charged, so once separated from food through the process of digestion, these unbound minerals would become loosely bound to the gut wall. Instead of being absorbed, these minerals would easily become bound to undesirable substances like the phytic acid in bran, the tannic acid in tea, oxalic acid, and so on—these acids would remove the mineral from the body.
The New Optimum Nutrition Bible Page 43