Let’s talk SUPPLEMENTS!
SUPPLEMENTS! I don’t think that everyone needs to be taking 5+ supplements daily for the rest of their lives, but there are some important nutrients out there that many people could use some extra support in! I'm sure there are many of you out there that either take supplements, confused on what supplements to take or don't believe we need them. It is understanding that there are so many mixed feelings and views on taking daily supplements based on some past public incidents with them. The FDA regulates that companies properly label their products for safety and health standards, but they are lacking these same standards in the supplement department. This means that supplements don’t have to go through the same stringent evaluation process as other food companies, which can make them potentially harmful or a waste of your money.
In the last year, I learned of the New York Attorney General Study done back in 2015 that looked at supplements. What was found was that supplements contained contaminants not identified on the ingredient labels. The study found that companies such as GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreens were selling vitamins and supplement brands that only had 4%-25% of the vitamins that were being advertised on the containers! Some additives found in the supplements were wheat/rice, palm, allium, pea, asparagus, legume to name a few. This lack of labeling is alarming and concerning due to the potential harm to those who may be allergic to those specific ingredients or make symptoms worse in others due to not actually getting the labeled nutrients.
Furthermore, the foods we eat today don't have the same nutrient density as they once did 100 years ago. You might be wondering, how and why is this happening? Well our soils have been depleted due to new farming practices and the harmful exposure to pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on crops. So you might be eating the most nutritious foods out there, but still might not be meeting your body's desired nutrients due to these depletions! That is why is has been SO important for me to buy supplements that are actually going to provide me with the nutrients I need extra support with. I love you Costco, but your 500 vitamins for $14.99 probably aren’t the best quality!
Everyone has different nutritional and supplemental needs, so it is important to figure out which supplements could be the most beneficial for you! These are some of the main ones I've been taking during my pregnancy (and well before as well!) and I'll share why they are beneficial for pregnancy and for those who aren’t pregnant:
Prenatal supplement: I started taking this months before actually becoming pregnant and this particular pre-natal has some of the most nutrient-packed vitamins and minerals I've seen compared to others on the market! (Plus I know I am actually getting high quality and consuming what is actually labeled on the container). This prenatal could also equate to a multi-vitamin with all of the vitamins in it, some including vitamin D, C, and high quality fatty acids! Prenatals should have all the beneficial nutrients for creating and supporting a healthy baby, in addition to the changes your body is going through.
Bioomega-500: This high quality fish oil supplement doesn’t leave you with that fishy, burpy aftertaste that deters so many people away from taking fish oil supplements. There are numerous health benefits to taking a fish oil supplement some being reduces inflammation, improves skin and hair quality, supports heart health and function, has been shown to help reduce join pain and inflammation, helps promote better mood and concentration to name a few. I think if you aren’t someone who is normally consuming good quality seafood, taking a fish oil supplement would be extremely beneficial for you. Especially since we live in a society that doesn’t opt for the most optimal healthy fats and people actually tend to be deficient in these healthy, essential fatty acids!
BioDoph-7 Plus: I chose this blend of probiotic due to it having multiple strains of healthy gut bacteria in addition to both pre and probiotics to support the balance of the good and bad bacteria in the gut. Probiotics have become very popular and well known in both conventional and functional medicine to help restore your gut health and good gut microbes living in your gut. This healing of your gut has copious health benefits related to: improved digestive functioning, improves immune system functioning, helps to better balance mental health and mood to name a few big ones. Taking a good quality probiotic is not just important for my overall health and wellbeing, but helping promote a healthy gut microbiome that my baby will hopefully attain as well. Note*: It is important to switch up your probiotics to get different strains of bacteria in your gut and to give your gut a break from the constant use of a daily probiotic.
Methylfolate Plus: I’m sure you have been told that consuming folic acid is essential when pregnant, in addition to the other health benefits of this B vitamin. What folic acid actually is a synthetic version of the vitamin folate, which is known to help neurotransmitters in the brain to promote mood stabilization, helps facilitate gene expression and supports red blood cell formation. Folic acid is a synthetic form of the vitamin folate, meaning that it isn’t found naturally occurring in foods (but is in fortified foods). How does this work exactly? For our body to convert folic acid into folate and to actually absorb folate, the vitamin has to go through a methylation process. Did you know that up to 40%-60% of women have a genetic mutation or factor that reduces this conversion of folic acid into folate into an active form? I haven’t personally done genetic testing to see if I have a mutation called the MTHFR gene that makes this methylation conversion extremely difficult to complete, but I opted to be safe and choose a high quality folate supplement instead of the synthetic, man-made version folic acid. Continue to do your own research and assess which would be more beneficial for you to consume.
** I don’t take all of these supplements DAILY, except the prenatal with becoming pregnant.
Again, I don’t think everyone needs a supplement daily or that you need one supplement for the rest of your life, but I do think that they can help get you back to your baseline. I am also a little biased because I grew up with a mom who would always stress the importance of vitamins!
If you are still curious on supplements or where would be most beneficial for you to start, let’s chat further.
References
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2015/ag-schneiderman-asks-major-retailers-halt-sales-certain-h erbal-supplements-dna
Crider, K. S., Yang, T. P., Berry, R. J., & Bailey, L. B. (2012). Folate and DNA methylation: a review of molecular mechanisms and the evidence for folate's role. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 3(1), 21–38. doi:10.3945/an.111.000992