Do You Need Supplements??

If one eats perfectly, consuming more than 10 servings of fruits and vegetables, a couple servings of lean meats, starches and oils, then likely no.  But unfortunately, this is a rarity. There are several reasons as to why nearly everybody should consider taking at least a couple basic supplements, and depending on your personal health and wellness goals, possibly some additional ones may be necessary.

Supplements are intended to fill in the nutritional gaps from our everyday diets. During previous generations, supplements have not much of necessity because previous generations were significantly better at taking in their required minimum of nutrients from the food they consumed. People would eat fresher, whole food that was prepared at home, without anything artificial added in. But as we have progressed over time to a more time-restricted lifestyle, opting for the quick and easy meals instead of the slow home cooked meals, nutrients is one of the aspects that tends to be left behind. The combination of more and more people making fast food and pre-packaged foods a larger percentage of their diets and the overall quality of fresh food decreasing due to many current farming practices, unfortunately results in an overall decrease in nutritional intake. To further highlight the severity of this problem, by consuming more processed food, we put our bodies in an inflamed state; which requires even more nutrients just to fuel the mechanisms to counteract the damage, let alone heal the after math.

To fill in the gaps in the standard American diet, supplements are strongly recommended. The standard American diet consists largely of processed grains such as breads, pasta and cereals, as well as processed and preserved meats, all the while severely lacking in fruits and vegetables. Because of this, there are three types of supplements that almost everyone should be taking. A multi-vitamin, a pro-biotic and a fish oil.

A good quality multivitamin can be very difficult to determine. Especially considering there are hundreds of multi-vitamins to choose from. Some thoughts to consider when choosing a multi-vitamin is whether there has been independent 3^rd party research to support their claims, the form in which the multi is in (powder, liquid or pill,) and even the chemical form of some of the ingredients. Chelated minerals are more bioavailable, meaning they are absorbed by the digestive track better than the same mineral salt. Chelation is the process of attaching a mineral to an organic substance to allow for better absorption. An example of this would be fermenting glucose to attract zinc, resulting in zinc gluconate, which is absorbed better than zinc sulfate and does not compete with other minerals such as calcium. Other thoughts to keep in mind is make sure that there is not a potential to develop a toxicity, as can happen with vitamin A.

A pro-biotic is another strong supplement to incorporate into one’s daily routine. An overwhelming percentage of your immune system is situated along your digestive track, so it would only make sense that you would want to try to support it as much as possible. Pro-biotics are the good bacteria that can help aid in digestion, immunity and neurotransmitter production. What will often happen in someone that follows the standard American diet, is that over time there be too much growth of bad bacteria, which can causing to several health issues, such as digestive irregularities, immune dysfunction, energy production issue and several other unpleasant events. The ideal ratio should be approximately 4.5 times as many good bacteria as bad, but unfortunately bad bacteria thrive on the standard American diet due to the high levels of refined sugar and processed foods. To determine a high quality probiotic, things to look for would be very high strain counts, upwards of 30 billion live strains per serving or more; multiple strain types should be listed and a quality pro-biotic should be refrigerated so that the bacteria can survive.

The third supplement that most people should be taking is an omega 3 supplement. There are good fats and there are bad fats. Good fats are found in cold water fish, nuts, seeds and avocados. Bad fats are found in fried foods and processed meats. These good fats contain higher levels of essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are necessary in many of the body’s functions but are so named because the body is not able to naturally produce them in levels that can normally sustain itself. Essential fatty acids are broken down into a couple sub-categories based on their chemical structure. The ideal ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 should be approximately 1 to 1. However, again the standard American diet creates problems and skews the ratio into a dangerous relation of 1:20. This begins to increase the risks for cardiovascular disease and other inflammatory conditions. Essential fatty acids are also immensely important for brain health and function. But by reducing ones intake of vegetable oils, fried foods and refined carbohydrates and increasing ones intake of nuts, seeds and cold water fish, the scale can start to tip back to even. But many people struggle to eat sufficient amounts of fish (at least 3 servings per week) that is not fried. So this is where supplementing omega 3 comes in. The best source of omega 3’s in a supplement will be in the form of Krill oil, followed by cold water fish such as salmon. But krill oil is the best choice because there is less likelihood of having ‘fish burp,’ less concern of heavy metal ingestion. Purchasing a krill oil in a light-proof bottle and will also help to prevent any breakdown due to ultra-violet light.

To briefly summarize, yes, nearly everyone should be taking a few supplements. They are a multi-vitamin, a pro-biotic and a krill or fish oil to help to support a healthy lifestyle.