Morning everyone!
Welcome to another edition of the Doctor’s Note, where we talk about what’s on our minds when it comes to your health.
This week, we’re going to be talking about vitamins.
Have you ever noticed that people who take lots of vitamins don’t get sick as often? Vitamin takers are less likely to get viruses and feel more energy than those who do not take vitamins.
Around 25 years ago if you were a patient of mine, I would have said you were wasting your time and money on vitamins.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
As you may know, I myself take a ton of vitamins.
But you’re still going to hear people say vitamins don’t work, or read reviews that they don’t work.
They’re just wrong about this. What’s usually happening is they aren’t using enough of the vitamin. You’ll read that Vitamin C or a multivitamin doesn’t work, but they’re taking very low doses.
If you hear someone citing a study that says a particular vitamin doesn’t work, they are probably using the RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance).
I call the RDA “Really Dumb Advice” because what we’ve learned is that you have to use a lot more of a vitamin to get all of the benefits other than the RDA for preventing disease like rickets and scurvy.
You need to get a quality vitamin and a dose that will do some good.
In this Note I’m going to list out my most important vitamins and how to take them.
Vitamin D3 – Vitamin D is actually a hormone, not a vitamin. To list all the advantages of taking Vitamin D3 would take too much of this Note, so in short it helps everything! It’s a hormone in your body. You get it from the sun. People think that it’s just for bones, but there are 100+ other uses. Based on everything I’ve seen with COVID-19, a good Vitamin D level really helps.
You want the form D3. Anyone over the age of 40 needs to get Vitamin D with K, which helps get calcium to their bones.
You want to take 5,000 units daily with food.
And check your D levels. You do this through a blood test. You want to be between 60-80, sometimes even 90. It’s very difficult to overdose on Vitamin D.
Vitamin C – It’s one of those all important vitamins that helps prevent you from getting sick. As soon as I started taking C regularly I noticed I didn’t get colds nearly as often.
I recommend taking 1 gram of Vitamin C daily on an empty stomach. You want to take water soluble vitamins on an empty stomach. Right now I’m taking 1 gram of Vitamin C twice a day.
Omega 3’s – You want to take a quality Omega 3. If you’re getting heartburn or indigestion, you’re probably not taking a good one. I like Krill Oil. Flaxseed oil if you’re allergic to shellfish. If you’re taking a quality Omega 3 and still have heartburn or indigestion, a pro tip is to put it in the freezer.
Multivitamin – There’s a lot of differences in Multivitamins. I like the LifeExtension version. It’s 10 times better than Centrum. I like a good Multi because it has most of the B vitamins, and most of the minerals you need. Take it with food. Sometimes your urine will turn yellow, and that’s just because of the B2 in it. It’s not a bad thing.
Magnesium – It has so many benefits much like Vitamin D. There’s 10 different types. There’s lots of foods that have magnesium in it, but most people need a supplement. I wrote a more detailed Note on Magnesium a few years ago. If you want to revisit that you can find it HERE.
Every adult needs to take magnesium, and we actually check levels for this. There’s two ways to check your magnesium levels: A serum test and a RBC magnesium level. The RBC is the tissue level. You can have a normal serum level and a low RBC magnesium.
Probiotic – I’m huge on gut health and believe that everyone should be taking a good probiotic. I personally love Gluten Shield that we have in our offices because it has your prebiotics, probiotics, digestive enzymes, lactase, and it also has a gluten blocker.
Zinc – I’ve been big on Zinc, especially during Covid. It’s really great for men with Low T as well. It will pop a man’s testosterone level up. It also prevents conversion of testosterone to estrogen. Zinc is very important for men and women. Most Americans are deficient. Take this with food.
Those are my top vitamin picks. I obviously take a lot more, but those are the ones I feel like most everyone should be taking.
A lot of people say that they just need to eat better and they can get all their nutrients from the food they eat. If you could, of course that would be optimal. You just can’t. You need to supplement.
I’m as convinced on this as I am on anything in medicine, especially as you get older. It helps a multitude of things.
And that’s coming from a Medical Doctor who would have told you that you were wasting your time and money 25 years ago.
