Maybe you’re not ready to get tested yet to determine your supplement needs or maybe you’ve been tested multiple times and are looking for a good supplement maintenance program. You know should take at least a multiple vitamin-mineral (MVM) supplement but don’t know where to start or if it would be enough! There’s no questions MVMs are an important component to one’s health. One double-blind study of healthy volunteers published in Psychopharmacology 2000;150:220–5, found that an MVM supplement significantly reduced anxiety and perceived stress levels, and possibly improved energy and the ability to concentrate.
In double-blind trials, school children received a daily low-potency vitamin-mineral tablet containing only 50% of the USRDA for most essential vitamins and the minerals for three months. Dramatic gains in certain measures of IQ were observed in about 20% of the supplemented children. These gains may have been due to the correction of specific nutrient deficiencies found in these children.
The primary purpose of an MVM supplement is to provide a convenient way to get a good variety of nutrients from a single product. They are not meant nor any supplement for that matter to replace a healthy diet. They only serve to enhance the nutritional density of your diet. However, due to toxic elements in our environment and the occasional dietary indiscretions, everyone needs more than a MVM to help their body deal with those environmental assaults.
Let us introduce you to the Science Based Nutrition Daily 8!
The Science Based Nutrition (SBN) Daily 8 includes the most common nutritional supplements that decades of testing individual patients have shown we all need. The SBN Daily 8 is packaged into convenient AM and PM packets. The AM packet includes one each Calcium-Vitamin D-Vitamin K tablet, Multi Mineral capsule, Vitamin D capsule, Omega 3 softgel, Vitamin C capsule and two basic MVM capsules for a total of 7 pills you would take with your AM meal. The PM packet included one each Calcium-Vitamin D-Vitamin K tablet, Magnesium capsule, Multi Mineral capsule and Vitamin E softgel for a total of 4 pills to take with your PM meal.
That’s A Lot of Pills! What about “one-per-day” multiples?
One-per-day MVMs usually do not provide sufficient amounts of many nutrients such as vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin C. One-per-day MVMs should therefore not be viewed as a way to “cover all bases” in the way that high-potency MVMs, requiring three or more pills per day, or the SBN Daily 8 are viewed.
Because one-per-day formulas typically do not contain even the minimum recommended amounts of some of the nutrients listed here, multiples requiring several capsules or tablets per day are preferable. With multi-pill multiples, intake can be spread out with meals throughout the day imitating the way we should get nutrients from our regular meals.
What About “Whole Food” Supplements?
Patients ask the question quite often about products being «natural» or «additive free» or «synthetic vs natural ingredients».
What is “Natural”? Natural does not mean better. Nor does it mean better absorbed or better utilized. If a vitamin were truly natural then all it could be is a powdered/dehydrated/compressed something from a plant, rock or animal put into a natural vegan capsule. There are companies that do this but they do not quantify everything you’re getting in that capsule nor how much of the therapeutic dose you’re getting.
Many have read on the internet that you can put a supplement in a glass of water to see if it dissolves to test its digestibility and absorption potential. Think this through; does your digestive system use only water to digest what you consume? No! Digestion is a complex process of acids and enzymes. Just because a supplement doesn’t dissolve in a glass of water doesn’t mean your digestive system can’t break it down.
It boils down to whether the molecular structure is the same regardless if its synthesized in a lab or found in nature. When a synthetic product or natural products are identical in molecular structure both forms will be indistinguishable from each other in all aspects; including their function and effects in the human body. So, when we talk about “synthetic” substances versus “natural” substances, we’re referring the difference between how they are made—how they come into being—not any difference between their molecules. The molecules are identical. There are certain exceptions to this rule…Vitamin E for example.
A key factor that must be considered is therapeutic dosing. Many will claim that whole food supplements work better because of “synergy” and the whole food supplements contain all of the “extra” components to enhance the effectiveness of the product. Sounds logical, right? We must come to understand maintenance vs therapeutic dosing. When you have many healthy problems and on multiple medications, whole food supplements simply cannot attain the therapeutic dose to help you get healthier faster. You have to use therapeutic/pharmacological dosing at least in the beginning to get the “fire” out. Once you’re healthier, off all meds and ready for a maintenance program, theoretically you could switch to whole foods product if you want…but you should still be using blood work and other objective tests to determine they’re working for you.
You DO Need More Than a Basic Multiple Vitamin!
Even if you ate a perfect diet, USDA data has shown that our food supply is simply not as nutritious as it was 30 years ago. Supplementing your diet can help to correct these short-comings. The only way to know if the supplements you’re taking are working or to know exactly what vitamins/minerals and dosages you need to take is to get tested. Starting with a consultation, the doctor will determine the testing that should be done. Using bloodwork and other diagnostic tools, we do an in-depth analysis of your system. The testing will tell us where the problem areas are occurring or just developing. During your report of findings, we will carefully note major and minor conditions that may lead to serious illness. This detailed report will explain your test findings, as well as the nutrient and dietary recommendations based upon your objective test results.
Everyone needs tested but we do realize many have financial or other concerns and they’re simply not ready to get tested or they’re just looking for a good maintenance supplement program to try. This is where the SBN Daily 8 can help. It covers the most common nutritional weaknesses in the general public in easy to manage packets. Give our office a call or visit our online store to give SBN Daily 8 a try!
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References for this newsletter as well as previous newsletters may be found on our website. The information has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
