Healthy California
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Healthy California
Managing Medication Side Effects and Nutrient Gaps
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Welcome back, California! In today’s episode, we dive into a startling statistic: 60% of Americans take at least one prescription drug. While these medications manage chronic conditions, they often create a "secondary health challenge"—nutrient depletion.
When we take a pill, it can "cleave" or block vital vitamins and minerals, leading to side effects that are often misdiagnosed as new medical issues. Linda discusses how to move from reactive to proactive by understanding Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion (DIND).
Key Highlights:
- Common Culprits: We break down how Statins deplete CoQ10, Metformin drains B12 and Folate, and PPIs/Antacids strip the body of Magnesium, Calcium, and Zinc.
- Proactive Mitigation: Learn why timing matters (like taking drowsy meds at night) and why "Motion is Lotion" for drug-induced stiffness.
- The "Medicine Cabinet" Reimagined: Why your refrigerator is your best defense. We list nutrient-dense foods like leafy greens, fatty fish, and seeds to replenish what meds take away.
- Expert Advice: Why standard labs might miss these gaps and why you must consult your healthcare team before "stacking" supplements.
Closing Thought: "The Lord is faithful; He will establish you and guard you." — 2 Thessalonians 3:3.
https://www.rupahealth.com/post/10-commonly-prescribed-medications-the-nutrients-they-deplete
Thank you for listening to Healthy California.
If you have tried all my suggestions and are still having trouble with your health, and would like an appointment with me, please email me, text, or call me via the contact information below.
My contact:
Linda Brown, MPT, Doctoral Candidate Functional Nutrition
916-426-2543
linda@heal-throughfood.com
Okay, welcome back, California.
Today, we are talking about medications and the nutrients that are depleted with these medications.
60% of Americans are taking at least one prescription drug.
And so then we end up taking another medication to counteract that side effect.
Sometimes those side effects are just from nutrient depletion.
So we're going to go over that today.
And that's what a side effect is.
So we're going to go over that.
Because I'd like for you to be more proactive than reactive.
Talk to your doctor about when the best time to take that.
Medication that might cause drowsiness.
Also, sometimes medications will do better if you're hydrated.
So drink more water or have more fiber in your diet because that will slow things down.
And then of course, I'm always going to say this, movement is medicine, motion is lotion,
And moving is also going to help stretch your muscles.
You can't get by without movement. Not very well anyways.
You don't have to go out and run a marathon. You just have to do something to make your heart pump.
Drug-induced nutrient depletion might be missed in normal labs.
And sometimes you have to have labs that check your vitamin D.
So these labs don't always check everything.
You may not know that you are depleted in some nutrients.
Real food is always going to be better.
And you should think of your refrigerator as your medicine cabinet.
So let's go over these medications and what they're depleting in your body.
These are the top medications.
So statins, Statins are cholesterol medications typically, and statins will deplete you of CoQ10.
We need CoQ10 to generate ATP. ATP is the energy currency of our body.
So you don't have CoQ10, you're not going to have that much energy.
CoQ10 is needed for heart health, and sometimes it can reduce migraines.
Later on, I will also go over foods that have these vitamins and minerals.
So the next medication is metformin.
Metformin is known to deplete vitamin B12 and folate.
vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin.
Essential means that our body doesn't make it.
We have to consume it, so we have to eat it.
We also need it for DNA synthesis.
Energy production again, brain health and mood.
So if you are low in B12, imagine all the things that are going wrong in your body.
And then the important one is brain health.
You need vitamin B12 for brain health and mood.
And we need folate for DNA and repair.
Also red cell production, red blood cell production and repair.
We need folate for protein metabolism along with B12 and vitamin C.
It regulates homocysteine. Homocysteine is a, it's actually an amino acid marker that
So folate will decrease homocysteine, which means your arteries can be helped.
It'll reduce the hardening of your arteries.
And then let's go over PPIs and antacids.
A PPI is a proton pump inhibitor, and we take it a lot of times for reflux.
We take it, we know it as Prilosec or Nexium or Tums.
They're all antacid type of medications.
B9, or folate, magnesium, calcium, B12, iron, and zinc.
I already talked about B12 and folate, the B9, but magnesium.
Magnesium is responsible for over 300 reactions in the body.
If you are low in magnesium, imagine all these processes in your body that aren't happening.
So some of those things is protein synthesis.
We need to synthesize protein because protein is responsible for everything in our body.
Antibodies are proteins, hormones are proteins.
There's a lot of proteins in our body that's not being synthesized if we are low in magnesium.
That's only just a very few of the things that magnesium does.
Like I said, over 300 reactions in the body, and I just gave you maybe five of them.
PPIs also deplete you of calcium.
And what do we need calcium for?
Strong bones and teeth, nerve signaling, blood clotting, muscle function.
we get cramps if we don't have calcium.
we need calcium for our heart to pump.
Our heart is a big, huge muscle.
And we don't want that to be depleted.
It transports oxygen, energy metabolism, immune function, cognitive development, hormone synthesis.
If we don't have iron, we're not transporting oxygen and we sometimes feel very tired.
And cognitive development, imagine what's happening in our brain if we don't have iron.
And what's happening with our hormones if we don't have iron.
And then the other one that PPIs deplete is zinc.
Zinc also regulates hormones like insulin and testosterone.
So again, PPIs will deplete you of folic acid or folate, magnesium, calcium, B12, iron, and zinc.
And then what about the medication like diuretics, like Lasix and hydrochlorothiazide.
So diuretics, we usually take diuretics first up for blood pressure.
Diuretics will deplete you of sodium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B1, zinc, folate, and calcium.
And let's see, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, those are all electrolytes.
Diuretics will deplete you of electrolytes.
Sodium regulates blood pressure, nerve impulses, muscle contractions, fluid regulation.
It helps move nutrients through cell membranes.
And potassium, also an electrolyte, maintains fluid balance inside a cell.
It's important for bone health, kidney health.
I think I've mentioned this multiple times in the past.
Sodium and potassium, in our cells, we have these sodium potassium pumps.
But if you decrease your sodium too much, other things are going to be affected.
If you are depleting your sodium, I also think that you should increase your potassium first.
So talk to your doctor about that.
And you could start doing that now by the foods that have high potassium.
We talked about magnesium already.
Vitamin B1 is thiamine. Thiamine helps convert food into energy.
We're always trying to get energy from our food. That's what our body does with our food.
So oxidative stress is part of cellular health.
And vitamin B1 is going to help with that.
And then we talked about zinc already.
So diuretics are going to deplete you of many things.
So let's look at the next one, oral contraceptives, so like birth control pills.
They deplete you of B6, B12, folate, magnesium, vitamin C, zinc, and thiamine, which is B1.
Again, oral contraceptives are going to deplete you of a lot.
So B6, we haven't talked about yet.
B6 is responsible for over 100 reactions like energy metabolism.
A lot of these have to do with energy.
Homocysteine regulation, I talked about that earlier.
Neurotransmitter synthesis, like serotonin, dopamine, GABA.
So we need those neurotransmitters. They're little chemical messengers in our nerves.
We've already talked about B12, folate, magnesium, but vitamin C.
Vitamin C is also one of those things that are responsible for over 300 reactions in our body.
And vitamin C is also needed for wound healing.
So vitamin C is very important if you are on oral contraceptives.
Calcium, vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, potassium.
Vitamin D reduces inflammation.
We need vitamin D for glucose metabolism.
Vitamin D has been known to prevent cancer, cognitive health.
So vitamin D, we get vitamin D from the sun in addition to food.
So it's really important that you get your vitamin D.
It also helps with MS. multiple sclerosis, osteomalacia, and psoriasis.
Osteomalacia is a bone joint health, and then psoriasis, which is skin.
It's quite important, vitamin D is.
There's so much research on it these days.
And we've already talked about the magnesium and potassium earlier.
And then antibiotics. antibiotics, again, it's a big one.
All your penicillins, amoxicillins, tetracyclines, there's a lot of different antibiotics.
I talked about all those except for vitamin K.
Vitamin K is what we need for clotting.
We need it for bone health, we need it for cardiovascular health.
So antibiotics are going to deplete you of that.
B vitamins, potassium, vitamin K, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc.
And then we have pain medications like Advil, Motrin, aspirin.
That will deplete you of your folate, vitamin C, and iron.
Antipsychotic medications will deplete you of your B vitamins, inositol.
It supports mental health and mood.
It helps with anxiety and depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
So inositol is being depleted if you're on an antipsychotic.
And melatonin is a hormone that regulates circadian rhythm.
And it's also a strong antioxidant.
It helps protect eyes, so eye health, reflux, GERD, you know, gastroesophageal reflux disease.
And you can take it, helps with jet lag.
And anti-anxiety meds will deplete you of calcium and melatonin.
Blood pressure medication, like ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, diuretics, beta blockers.
It will deplete you of CoQ10, melatonin, zinc, iron, and potassium.
So if you're on a blood pressure medication, you need to be aware of that.
So B1, 6, and 9 are going to be depleted with alcohol.
Vitamin E is a very strong antioxidant.
It's good for immune function, cardiovascular health, prevents blood clots, reduces inflammation.
It's good for eye health, cell signaling, gene expression, reproductive health.
Vitamin E is important for so many things.
And that will be depleted with blood thinners.
And then you have anti-seizure medications like phenobarbital or phenytoin.
and that will deplete you of your B7 or biotin. Biotin is B7.
So biotin, folate, B6, vitamin D, and vitamin K.
And if you are on methotrexate or chemotherapy, that has been known to deplete you of folate, so B9.
Levodopa, which is a Parkinson's medication, will deplete you of B6.
You can look up your own medication if I didn't mention any of them.
What can we eat to counteract the depletion?
Because our body was meant to have these in the form of food.
So I'm just going to kind of go down in the order that I had mentioned above.
So starting with CoQ10, what can you eat to supplement your CoQ10?
But you can get it in olive oil, broccoli.
And you're going to start to see patterns in all this.
You can find magnesium everywhere if you eat a healthy diet.
Calcium, where can you find calcium?
So calcium, then iron, where do you get iron?
So there's a heme and a non-heme iron.
Heme iron is the most easily absorbed. And you get that in red meat, shellfish, and poultry.
And then zinc. Where do you get zinc?
Again, you're starting to probably see patterns here.
So if you have a great diet with all these, then you're doing good.
You know, we're so afraid of sodium. Where can you get sodium?
Right now, we just all get our sodium from processed meats and preservatives.
But you can do sodium in the form of sea salt or table salt.
And sodium is so important in our body.
We don't need to overdo it, but we don't need to be afraid of it either.
Potassium. There's more potassium in a potato than there is in a banana.
So great sources of potassium.
All right, let's talk about our B vitamins.
Where do we get our B vitamin?
Pork, whole grains, fortified cereals, seeds, especially sunflower seeds, legumes, and fish.
Where do we get B6, also known as peroxidine?
B7, also known as biotin, where can we get our B7?
Beef liver, egg yolks, salmon, nuts, seeds, sweet potatoes, broccoli, all have good biotin in them.
And then folate, you can get, which is a B9, you can get it from dark green leafy vegetables.
Again, legumes. Legumes have just pretty much every vitamin in it.
Again, avocados are very good for you.
They have just about everything in them.
B12 is mainly animal-based products like fish, red meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, cheese, yogurt.
And if you don't eat meat, if you don't eat animal products at all, B12 is very important.
Because I mentioned earlier all the, I listed all the things B12 is important for.
So you need B12 for red blood cell production, nerve health.
Sometimes nutritional yeast will fortify it with B12 and breakfast cereals.
Vitamin C. Where can we get vitamin C?
Well, we always think about the citrus fruits.
Kiwi, strawberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, guava, all great forms of vitamin C.
Vitamin D, where's the best place to get vitamin D?
Go spend some time out in the sun, especially early in the morning when it's not directly on you.
So there's a happy medium in there somewhere.
And then vitamin E. So vitamin E, where do you get vitamin E?
You can get vitamin E pretty much in every delicious food that you can think of.
If you are eating a healthy diet, then there's no reason you should be depleted in vitamin E.
So make sure you eat a nice healthy diet.
I had mentioned inositol earlier.
You can get that from citrus, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, organ meats, cantaloupe, and peas.
And then finally, last but not least, we have melatonin.
Well, melatonin is a hormone made by the pineal gland.
Again, all very delicious foods.
It's going to help with your melatonin.
I mentioned earlier, if you are low in melatonin, it's going to affect your sleep.
And melatonin is also a good antioxidant. It's a great antioxidant.
So that's what's going to help you with cell repair and your immune system.
If you're on medications, I don't want you to stop taking your medications.
Please don't stop. That's between you and your doctor.
But do start the conversation with your doctor about your nutrients.
And it says, but the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
And I like this because it makes me feel like I am protected.
And even when I am not good at making the best decisions in my life, he'll always be faithful to me.
And I don't have to be perfect. I mean, I'm trying to always be perfect.
And I will still be protected. The Lord will never leave my side.
And that's comforting to me. So I hope that comforts you too.
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
So that gives me comfort that I'm being protected, even when I am my worst enemy.
So I hope you enjoyed this podcast. I hope you learned something.
I hope that you learned something, and I hope that you stay healthy, California.