Calcium and Magnesium
For women, and those with a poor diet, the addition of extra calcium may be necessary to prevent osteoporosis, however remember that doses over 1,000 mg daily have been linked to stroke and heart disease. For most of us, extra magnesium is necessary to protect against hypertension and heart disease, and to cope with stress (as well as serving many other functions).
Traditional cultures do not obtain more than 300-500 mg of calcium daily from their diet and such cultures (African, Chinese, Japanese), until the introduction of modern processed foods, showed very little incidence of osteoporosis. So, I do not recommend one take more than this amount in supplement form. (That increase in stroke and heart disease associated with calcium only applied to calcium from supplements, not high calcium intake from food.)
Calcium-magnesium combinations are available in a variety of forms including bisglycinate, chelate, citrate, coral, carbonate, and others. It turns out that the advantage of bisglycinate and citrate over other forms is only based on being taken on an empty stomach. Since it is generally not advisable to take isolated nutrients on an empty stomach, if you are taking your minerals with food, the form of mineral is not that important. An exception to this is the “sulfate” forms of minerals which are hard on the liver and poorly absorbed, and any form of selenium that is not yeast-derived, as this form has proven to be a far superior anti-viral agent to the commonly used selenomethionine form.
For people that consume a lot of dairy products, and thus have a high calcium intake, it is especially important that they take extra magnesium, as they can easily get too much calcium, which ultimately can deplete magnesium levels. In fact, studies have determined that simply supplementing post-menopausal women with magnesium, and no calcium, will halt bone-loss and increase bone density. This is due to the fact that most people consume dairy products, getting plenty of calcium, but do not eat sufficient dark green vegetables (broccoli, kale, Swiss chard, etc) to get enough magnesium in the diet to assimilate the calcium.
Preventing bone loss and increasing bone density also depends on a few other nutrients besides calcium and magnesium. Zinc is one with a proven track record, as are boron, silica, and vitamin K2. (Vitamin D is a given.) This is why NutriStart’s Mineral Mix contains boron, silica, zinc, and K2, making it one of the better mineral support products on the market.
As far as magnesium goes, citrate is the best bang for your buck and can be taken with or without food. Magnesium oxide is harder to digest and requires it to be taken with a meal. Magnesium bisglycinate may be the easiest to absorb and the least likely to cause a laxative effect (which only occurs among the other magnesium forms if you take over 300 mg at once), but it is also often “cut” with the cheaper oxide form. So, if your magnesium bisglycinate product claims 200 mg of magnesium per capsule you will find (by reading the side panel) that it is a mix of bisglycinate and oxide forms. Thus should be taken with food for optimal absorption.
I recommend 300 mg of magnesium daily for general health, and 300 mg twice daily for health issues related to magnesium deficiency: leg cramps and “Charlie horses”; hypertension; irregular heart beat; migraines, sleep disorders; high stress levels.
Daily intake of calcium should be from 300 to 500 mg (if you use no dairy products and are at risk for osteoporosis), as elemental. This means the actual amount of calcium absorbed. For example if you have 500 mg of calcium citrate only 100 mg is actual calcium, the rest being the carrying agent, in this case citrate.
In Canada, when the form of mineral is in brackets then the following number must be an elemental figure. Thus: Calcium (citrate)….200 mg, means that you are getting 200 mg of fully utilizable calcium. Whereas: Calcium citrate…200 mg, means you are only getting 40 mg of elemental calcium. This becomes a concern mostly with capsules, which cannot hold nearly as much as a tablet, the problem being that tablets are very poorly digested as they are, essentially, little rocks (being made of compressed minerals). So it is preferable to get calcium in a capsule or liquid form to guarantee digestion.
If you are taking 600 mg or less of calcium (in divided doses), you can use a one-to-one ratio of calcium to magnesium. At levels above 600 mg per day of calcium you must use the traditional two-to-one ratio of calcium to magnesium, as the high levels of magnesium can have a laxative effect. The advantage of taking 500 mg of calcium with 500 mg of magnesium, is that the calcium will use half the magnesium to assimilate itself, and the other half will be available to help you digest the calcium in your diet more efficiently. But, remember that more than 300 mg of magnesium can have a laxative effect, so if you are taking a 500/500 blend, divide that into two servings.
Digestive Enzymes
At this point you may want to add full spectrum enzymes to the mix, in order to facilitate digestion of both the supplements and the food they are consumed with. If your digestion is good you can forgo this supplement, but if you experience discomfort in the upper digestive tract (belching, heartburn, reflux, food sitting there like a lump taking forever to go down) you may wish to consider adding a digestive enzyme to your mix.
These pills (capsules preferable) need to be taken at the very beginning of the meal.
To keep your body producing its own enzymes, forgoing the need for digestive enzymes, one must consume some raw and fermented foods each day. These provide enzymes, whereas cooked food uses up our stored enzymes and can overwork the pancreas such that it has a hard time producing sufficient quantities of enzymes for optimal digestion.
Essential Fatty Acids
To round out a supplement program, one should also supplement with essential fatty acids. Most North Americans are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, those found in fish, and flaxseed oil, though some are also deficient in GLA (gamma linolenic acid), the end product of omega-6 fatty acids. For women, hormonal imbalance (PMS, breast pain, or menopausal symptoms) is the best indicator of a lack of GLA, but generally it is more important to supplement with omega-3’s. A lack of omega-3 fatty acids has been linked to heart disease and cancer, and some neurological diseases.
Essential fatty acids may be obtained in liquid supplemental form as flaxseed oil (just omega-3’s) or a mixed vegetable oil such as “Udo’s Oil” or “Essential Balance,” or hemp seed oil (all a mix of omega-3 and omega-6.) But, be aware that when using these oils in pill form that it requires 14 capsules to equal one tablespoon of oil (the low end of fatty acid supplementation). In pill form, the most effective way to get omega-3 is fish body (or Krill) oils, and evening primrose or borage oil, for GLA.
If you eat deep-water fish (not farmed) 2 or 3 times a week, you may have enough omega-3’s in your diet for general health. Or, if you average a tablespoon of flax oil a few times a week. (Fresh ground flax seeds are also an option, but you would need a few tablespoons worth to equal a tablespoon of oil.) Omega-6 fatty acids are in excess in the modern diet (most seed oils), and as such contribute to many disease states, thus those who consume a Standard American Diet (SAD) should generally avoid omega-6 fatty acids.
The NutriPods Option
Now that you have most of your nutritional bases covered, you’re up to 5 or more pills per day. For the sake of convenience, a variety of pre-made multi-packs are available, such as our NutriPods products (Original, Men’s, or Woman’s).
Each daily packet contains 7 pills in which you will find most of what was discussed above, as well as extras.
The Original NutriPods contain the B-complex, a mineral complex (200 mg of calcium and 200 mg of magnesium; selenium in the yeast-derived form), 500 mg of buffered vitamin C, bioflavonoids, 400 IU of dry form vitamin E, and one capsule of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil. The beta-carotene is a natural form containing all the carotenoids, something you will find in very few multivitamin products.
The folic acid is in the methylfolate form and the B12 is in the methylcobalamin form.
As well, the ingredients include a reasonable amount of digestive enzymes to aid in the assimilation of the nutrients and the meal they are taken with.
A “superfoods” pill includes kelp and alfalfa along with spirulina in the formula to provide trace minerals along with their detoxifying and alkalizing properties, and Siberian ginseng for fighting stress and enhancing energy levels.
Finally, NutriPods includes bonus antioxidants with the inclusion of Alpha Lipoic Acid, Grape Seed Extract and Quercetin, which complement the basic nutritional antioxidants (A, C, E and selenium.)
The NutriPods for Men and Women are slightly modified for each gender. Both have had the pill of superfoods replaced with a pill containing hormone-balancing herbs. For women the ingredients are at a level clinically proven to help treat symptoms of PMS and menopause.
Pods for Women (like Original Pods) contain no iron, so that women of any age can take them, and the omega-3 capsule has been replaced with a capsule of Evening Primrose Oil as a source of GLA for supporting hormonal balance.
The Pods for Men have similarly replaced the superfoods pill with herbs designed to protect the prostate and to support healthy testosterone levels, along with extra zinc.
How To Take Supplements
Remember, all vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids, should be taken with food. One reason is these isolated nutrients require cofactors often not present in the pill but which can be found in real food. The other reason is that all the fat-soluble nutrients (e.g. vitamins A, D, E, K, COQ10, omega-3 fatty acids), if not in liquid form, need to be taken at a meal containing fat. When you are chewing the fat found in your food, the body will release those fat-digesting enzymes necessary to fully absorb fat-soluble nutrients.
A final note about swallowing so many pills. Washing pills down with a cup of liquid has a side effect of diluting the stomach acid, which reduces the digestibility of everything. Try swallowing the pills with the food as you eat. One does not need to chew the pill, just slip it into the mouth prior to swallowing the chewed up food. An added benefit of this technique is that the throat opens wider for food than liquid, so for those with difficulty swallowing, even large pills go down easily.
One final note: I always advise clients to take their supplements only 5 days a week. (Unless one is fighting a cold, flu, infection or any other acute condition.) The reason for this is twofold. First, we are self-prescribing nutrients at levels higher than food would provide, so by skipping a couple of days each week, we give the body a chance to use up any excess of a nutrient we may have taken. This is particularly important in the case of minerals, and fat-soluble nutrients which are both stored in the body, unlike water-soluble nutrients (e.g. B-vitamins, vitamin C), in which case any excess is easily removed from the body.
Secondly, when we take in nutrients at a level higher than food would provide, for long periods of time, the body gets sloppy and lazy, assuming that our environment is so rich in these elements that it no longer needs to be efficient with them. So the body will stop storing those nutrients well, and will use them less efficiently. This is based on the fact that we evolved as hunter/gatherers and would find a source of one nutrient one day and maybe not find it again for a long time. The body would then hoard that nutrient and squeeze optimal usage out of it. Aside from this observation, my recommendation is based on studies done on vitamin C and acidophilus, in which those taking high amounts quickly slipped into deficiency when they stopped ingesting the supplements.
Conclusion
These are the basic supplements that I believe most people need to use on a semi-regular basis. But this list is just scratching the surface. For those with health conditions or serious diseases there are countless other supplements that can be added. For example, if we have high blood pressure or heart disease we would need to add C0Q10, if we had blood sugar issues or full blown diabetes we would want to take berberine (proven as effective as metformin with no side effects). Etc.
While some might complain that they could end up taking an absurd amount of pills, all I can say is many people end up taking as many pills on a pharmaceutical regimen. But, whereas those pills have side effects (and often the number of drug pills build up as one pill is added to solve the side effect of another), supplements have only positive side effects since most nutrients have more than one beneficial function.
(Author: All newsletters and blogs are written by Ken Peters who has worked as a nutritional consultant for the last 30 years, and as product designer for NutriStart for the last 25 years. He has also authored two books - Health Secrets Vol. 1&2. He may be reached at: kenpetersconsulting@gmail.com)