The Supplement Trap: Are You Wasting Your Money?

In this episode of Shift Happens, we unpack the world of supplements, nutrition foundations, and wellness marketing. We discuss why many people focus on supplements instead of the bigger picture, how the industry has grown rapidly since Covid, and why supplements aren’t always as regulated as you might think.

We explore common supplements including vitamin D, magnesium, fish oils, creatine, iron, probiotics, and collagen, alongside the importance of dosage, quality, and third-party testing. We also talk about influencer-backed products, overlapping multivitamins, and whether food should come before supplementation.

This episode is a reminder to focus on nutrient-dense foods, build strong foundations, and approach supplements with clarity and caution rather than chasing quick fixes.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

So, welcome back to Shift Happens. And today, got slight something a bit different on the agenda. Um I think what's gonna underpin or what I really want to underpin today is around one of my favorite sayings, which is you know, didn't see the wood for the trees. And essentially people focusing on the minutiae and completely forgetting about the big pillars.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Is that actually the saying, didn't see the wood through the trees?

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Yeah, well, when you say someone, you know, you you don't see the wood for the trees.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Yeah, so that's the saying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

It's kind of the same.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

But I think you're missing the point. Exactly the bigger picture.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

But the bigger picture.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

And all too often I get people, whether it's in practice or even just friends and family, who'll be like, oh Clem, you know, like, what do you think about this really random and obscure supplement? And you think, well, take a step back. What's your nutrition like? What's your hydration like? What's your exercise like? How are you managing your stress? Like deal with all of these things first, and then maybe we can start focusing on the small, tiny little incremental increases that you might get with some of these supplements. And so that's kind of the premise of today that I really wanted to chat to you about. Because I wonder if in mental health or in also in around what you do when people are feeling stuck, are they overly focusing on the small things and not maybe taking a step back and looking at like the wider picture?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Yeah, I suppose like I suppose part of the coaching is starting with the bigger picture and then zooming in. Yeah. Because then you have a direction to go into, but then as you know, you have to break it down in small steps and small uh changes because otherwise you can't really tackle the big picture with you know. Well, I suppose in my situation in the situation that I'm in, people who are overthinking and over-analyzing and in their heads too much, you then tend to m foc microfocus on things. This is it. Um so I suppose part of you know taking a step back iscaling something, the importance of it, and then looking, you know, stepping back a bit to get a better understanding of everything at play.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

And I think also, I mean, from my experience of going through coaching, it's also thinking about what are the fundamentals of the things I want to achieve in my life, right? Not necessarily just focusing on the smaller things. So, like, you know, happiness, love, fulfillment, you know, making sure these buckets are being filled rather than hyper focusing on something that's irritating you or something that's not moving or something that's being really stagnant, but actually isn't fulfilling any of those big buckets that do fulfill you, that do actually improve your quality of life and your health and your well-being in in other ways. Yeah. And I do think when it comes from like a nutrition perspective, we can we can kind of extrapolate that concept, I think, especially when it comes to the to the supplements piece.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

So I will always say, and I I spend my time with clients, you know, going through their supplements list, with sometimes I have people who turned up with pages of supplements that they take in a day.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Really?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Pages.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

So you're taking like 20, 30 supplements? And more. Really? Yeah. But what do you have? How does that even work? Is that genuine? You must spend hundreds of pounds a month on supplements.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

I don't, but no, one does. Yeah, absolutely. And and this is the thing. It's I think there's a few things at play, right? There's one being caught into this like marketing social media sphere where people are selling, like a do you remember that word, the panacea? A panacea, of um, you know, supplements supposed to be cure alls for your anxiety, for your stress, for your well-being, for your wrinkles, for your hair, for your nails, blah, blah, blah. And so when people are in despair and they are in, you know, a heightened sort of sense of in it can be more influenced basically when people are in despair or when they're really vulnerable. And so they see this and they think, okay, well, what's the harm of not trying? And so they'll try it. Maybe they convince themselves there's like a one or two percent improvement, and so then they're kind of hooked on it, and then something else comes along, and then instead of stopping it because something nothing happened, they just carry on because they think, well, what could go bad?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, okay. So, this topic you came up with about supplements. I obviously don't know it nearly as much as you slash that much at all. Um, so shall we start from the beginning? Yeah, supplements um has obviously in like hugely grown in the last five or six years. I think since COVID, they they say that is like where it really expanded, probably because people had more money, more time, we're researching, there was a lot of kind of maybe people really got into their health and health came up big time wellness, etc. during those years. So the supplement industry now is is is obviously in big and I think it's is billions of dollars, but it's growing, yeah. And um what I what strikes me the most about it, which for me is like the number one kind of question, is it's not regulated. Yeah. So how the hell do we know what we're taking? And is it is that day is that a dangerous thing that it's not regulated?

SPEAKER_02 5:53

I want to caveat everything we talk about with supplements today is under the assumption that you have a healthy, balanced diet in every other way, yeah, and that you are a genuinely healthy person. So it's not putting aside in medical or prescribed. Exactly, putting aside if you have a certain condition or certain needs, and I'll address it like I can address some of these things as we move along, but on the whole, kind of assuming general health, open diet, so no vegan, not vegetarian in any way, or any kind of stricter versions. But yes, it's a really, really good question because you're absolutely right. It is not regulated, and there has been loads of scandals over supplements that actually don't even contain what they say they contain. Yeah. Recently, one of the big ones was creatine gummies. And when they sent them out for third-party testing, they came out with less than like a percentage of the stuff. So it's like buying haribows at really expensive completely. But expensive hairy bows. And but also people telling themselves they're doing the right thing, and actually they're not. So the first hurdle, you're absolutely right, is do I even know what it is that I am taking if I'm going down this supplement route? So, what you can do though is there are companies who do third-party testing. So they send them out. Exactly. So they send them out and then they get a certificate from an outside lab saying this contained that, that, that. Now, the thing is, you can sometimes see these companies that say third-party tested, and then you look throughout the whole website and there's nowhere to find the certificate. So people even that. So you, if you're really into it, send an email to the company and say, I want to see the certificate and I want to see the results of those things.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

That's nuts. Because if you think about it, imagine the thought process. If someone said to you, you know, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, you will take something every single day and actually not really know what's in that. People would have said, like, no way am I gonna put that in my body. You know, even Do you remember the horse meat scandal?

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah. When there was loads of companies that were putting horse meat instead of beef, and people went crazy. Now, horse meat is still meat and it's edible and it's fine for human consumption, and but people were going nuts, and now they're taking supplements, yeah, barely knowing what they're having. That's actually wild if you think about it. And I get I get how like the ethics of eating horse meat instead of beef might be concerning for some people. In France, they do eat horse meat more regularly, so it's less of a thing. But again, we're kind of like people are happy to take something that they actually have no idea what's in it.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Like, is there supplement professionals? So because, for example, you can go to your GP and I actually went in January or February because I was feeling quite energy low and quite like I suppose lethargic or mood, you know, and I thought, oh, I must I probably have a deficiency if I'm gonna start with my bloods. And she did a whole kind of array of tests or just blood tests, but like checked a few things, and I came back with zero deficiencies. Yeah. Now, of course, they were low levels of say VITD, and I think she said folate or something else, but like the low levels, not even in the deficiency, which in the middle of winter, I was quite I was actually quite surprised. Yeah. Um, but equally, when she came back with the results, it was there was no guidance. She said, if you want to take this, you can. There was no uh direction of use, no so it leaves you confused, no numbers, like like telling me like dosage. I had to then email further to ask her that information. So it made me think like, is it out of her realm? Like once she's done her as a GP, once she's done her testing, she's probably like that's fine. Yeah, or you know, because there was no critical like need to assess. And I thought, well, that's really confusing. Because do I should I take something if I'm on the low end or should I not? And if I do, how much should I take? And which type? Which type do I go to the chemist and ask them anyway? So it did make me think: is there like an actual supplement professional? So technically that's kind of the dietitian's role.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Oh, it's when it comes, it's like that's actually funny.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

So it is you, it is it actually interestingly made me think. I uh did ask Google the question, yeah, which is is there ever it was something like can nutrition be replace all supplements? And the kind of Google answer was essentially yes. Yeah. So I thought, wow, that's so interesting. Like literally, if you eat properly and varied, you can remove all more or less all supplements. I think again, maybe not those that are medically prescribed by for specific conditions, yeah, yeah, for specific conditions, the ones that is being sold on social media and the ones that we're you know talking about and things, and this is it in the kind of viral space. So it's really interesting that people would go and spend £100 a month on a bunch of supplements instead of increasing their knowledge or even their like quality of the food that they're eating, the diversity of the food they're eating, because essentially they could just get the same outcome but with the pleasure of feeding themselves differently.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

And that's the thing. But the problem is as in the in this country, most people don't get five fruits and vegetables a day. Most 90%, over 90% of people don't get enough fibre a day, right? So nutritionally, we are not feeding ourselves as a UK population adequately. And the problem with that is because we're not having these nutritionally dense foods, namely fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, it's being replaced by quite sort of processed carbohydrates. Now, I am the first one to say that like I love a pizza, a burger, a pasta, like processed carbs, love them, but they don't carry a lot of nutrients. So we're filling ourselves up with food that doesn't have all of this nutritional goodness. Yeah, so therefore we are so technically we can get everything from foods, but in practice, probably we're not because we know that we're not in actual practice, and in fact, most of the population isn't, because they are not meeting standard guidelines, and these are like minimum guidelines, right? They're not sort of optimal guidelines, and this is where you get then some people who say, Okay, well, I'm meeting my nutritional needs, but now I want to optimize, yeah, and so then they go into the supplement realm because they want to take it that level further. We have to also remember that there's a difference between like obesity and nourishment, and I think we are as a population, we are an obese and overweight population, but we're also malnourished.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

That's okay. Yeah, I was gonna ask you how did you come up with those two words because they did not seem to work together.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

So it's you can be overweight and malnourished at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

And I think that's so it's confusing people. It's like, oh, because they're overweight, they should there probably is excess, but actually it's it's not it's excess fat, but it's not excessive calories goodness.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

It's just calories, it's energy. That's all the excess is, but it's not in terms of nutrition and nutrients.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Right, so it's counter-pro counter intuitive.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

I think people kind of forget that that we can be an undernourished but overweight population at the same time, which is kind of the situation that we're in. Oh, right. I'd be really curious. So, in your circle, do you have you found like you and your friends taking more supplements or even talking about it? So in my world we talk about it all the time, but that's not always.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Okay, yeah, I would say no. We don't really talk about it. And in my knowledge, again, it's hard to tell because I'm not prying and like asking these questions, but I probably I should ask. I don't think I know many people who are supplementing in and maybe it's if it is, it's probably like vit C and Vit D.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

You know, like the very, the very I suppose commercial. Well, I I don't know, I feel like they're the kind of standard ones, you know. Like the first thing you might do in the winter is like, oh, I'll get some Vit D and Vit C because Fight off a cold or something. Fight off a cold, yeah, exactly. Uh do I know people taking like the brain ones that optimise your brain health and the ones that do, you know, the nail strength, yeah, hair strength, collagen. I not really, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

I almost feel like the first time you came into contact, or like not contact, but you started taking supplements was during your pregnancy.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yes, and I was gonna say that actually. That's probably the one I would say all of the friends and like people that I've known pregnant. I think in this this country it's like you start taking folate and Vit D or something. I can't remember amongst others, yeah. Because I think that is, you know, NHS require like um guidelines and GPs will push that on as a as a positive thing to do. For me, what did happen is I came to you for nutrition, I started eating much, much more varied, yeah, much more varied. And I think that throughout the whole preden, I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but I never had any deficiencies.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Um through all the blood tests I had.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

But I think this is again, we're kind of going back to if you are a little bit mindful about what you're eating and the diversity of what you're eating, you can get all of these things through food. If we're looking at like your bread and butter of supplements, you've named one of them already, which is your vitamin D. Vitamin D is kind of the accepted, like everyone can take that. In this country, because we don't get enough sunlight, it's really one that everyone should and could be taking.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Um, I even remember, because I didn't for a long time take any kind of supplements. And then I remember moving back after living in a sort of hotter, warmer, sunnier climate, feeling really low and just really kind of not myself. And I didn't even take a blood test, but I just remember thinking, well, vitamin D is probably at play here, or like there's something going on. And so I started taking fish all and vitamin D at the same time, and I remember within like a week feeling much more like myself. And so we know vitamin D has an impact on mood and and stuff like that. So I would say vitamin D is a really critical one. And then aside from that, then you could say, well, if you don't like fish, definitely getting your fish holes is a really stupid. Mental clarity, but you know, yeah, brain development, you know, but also heart health, heart disease. Okay, really good for that sort of thing. So for me, those are kind of the real And they're quite obvious to pinpoint.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

If you're not eating fish once a week and you have and you live in London, those are the two you can use.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Those are kind of exactly. And most people don't eat enough fish.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Um how much do we need to eat?

SPEAKER_02 16:56

It's two portions of oily fish. So like salmon and mackerel, salmon, sardines, um, trout, these are all really good sources.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Okay. Um I think I do eat two actually a week, but probably just.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

And this is it. And sometimes it can be like a well, if I want to cover my bases. So there's actually nothing, there's no counter evidence unless you're having like five grams a day, in which case you could get like a heart attack. But other than that, it's most people like a tablet would be like one and a bit grams, so you're fine. Um, so yeah, those would be kind of my two. If someone's coming with that, I'm like, cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Okay. So but then you're saying so those two you're fine. Then what you when you, you know, so do you have people that have 20 that they're taking a day?

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

But what are they eating then?

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Well, this is it. It's a lot of the time they're taking them. So you get this counterbalance. Often it's people who have like digestive issues, and so they're taking supplements because they want to see if anything can help them with their digestion. But then they're sure you're full.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

If you take 20 pills in the morning, you're gonna be full. It's it's filling.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

But the problem is that it can it the pills themselves can actually cause your indigestion.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

The stomach must be going like that's like loads of but you can also get counter actions. Oh, yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. I was gonna ask you about that. Do they kind of offset each other sometimes? So some do.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

So a really classic one, which I find quite ironic that people take together is vitamin D and vitamin K. So vitamin on the whole, vitamins get absorbed either with fat or with water. So, like vitamin C is what we call water soluble. Essentially, it goes straight through you. Whatever you don't need at the time that you take it, you'll pee out.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Okay. Because you can't see it. Oh, yeah, and I've actually noticed that your pee goes yellow. Yeah. Dark yellow much darker than you.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Especially if you take like a barocca or something.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

So I yeah, because in the winter I remember at one point I was like, oh, I'm gonna take this C just to like fight off this the flu or something. And I started peeing loads yellow, and I asked you, I was like, this is really weird, something's wrong with you. And you were like, no, it's vitamin C.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

You're taking vitamin C. Um, so yeah, so those sort of vitamins, it's like use it or lose it.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Yeah, there's no no harm done.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

No, and that's basically your vitamin C and your vitamin Bs, like your B12s and different B complexes, and then most of the other ones, so A, D, E, K, are all fat soluble. So you can store them. So this is why you know they say about you could take vitamin D in the winter and not in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Because you store it in your fat, and so you store it for when you need it.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

So I didn't know they said that.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

So now you do. They they the the nutrient the nutrition sphere. Yeah. So this is what I mean. A lot of people don't know the basics of just like supplementation. Um, but so vitamin K and vitamin D are often taken together because they both act on bones. So vitamin D helps to like strengthen your bones, and vitamin K helps to like take the calcium and chuck it onto your bone. So they take it together. But they compete with each other because they're both fat-soluble. So actually, you have less absorption if you take them at the same time. And as long as you're having like dark leafy green vegetables and vegetables in general, you're probably getting enough vitamin K from your diet. So actually, you don't need to take the vitamin K in this context. But people are.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

And and do you think there's then maybe there's also that whole apart from the marketing rubbish that is the fakes, the like fake stuff that is happening, like, oh, this will de bloat you when there's no scientific evidence, or uh this will uh boost your immune system. Great for your skin or something. Exactly. Yeah, so do you think also part of it is take more to cover you know, part of the marketing is you need more, take more, and therefore people are like, Oh, when in doubt, I'll just take it, rather than the opposite to be like, well, hang on a sec, yeah, uh let me have a look into it before taking it. I feel like there's more of a push towards just take it in case.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

What is consumerism, right? That they're pushing a product.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

This is it. It's like Imagine Neurofen pushing neurofen. But this is they would be so sued if they were like, just you think you might have a headache, just take a couple of neurofens a day, and then you'll get over it, and you'll be fine. And it's eventually someone would probably say, No, no, no, that's really dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

And nobody is holding them accountable, at least with neurofen, you know what you're taking. You're taking ibuprofen, that's the active ingredients, and it's been scientifically shown, and there's evidence, and it's massively regulated. You have no idea what's in your supplements. And often when I do my supplement audits for clients, they'll take loads that have mixtures. So, like I said, they'll be like, oh, I take a vitamin D and then they show you the thing, it's like vitamin D, vitamin K, blah blah blah. And you're like, And then they take a multivitamin that also has vitamin K and vitamin D in it. And then they'll take another supplement that happens to be like all churned up and but yeah, but they're also hugely overdosing.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

That's it, because they must get like so bad stomach. Eventually, your body must react to that.

unknown 21:59

What

SPEAKER_02 22:00

It can, it can do negatively. So, like I said, I mean, I've yet to come across someone who's taking five grams of you know omega-3 a day, but you you can get atrial fibrillation, which is like a heart condition, if you take too much. So if someone took, and often the problem is because the brandings can be obscure, like it could be like supplements for heart health, omega-3 supplements, EPA and DHA supplements, these are all the same, they would all have the same ingredients.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah, that's crazy. So they're targeting.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

But someone might think, okay, well, I have a heart condition, and my someone taught me to take fish all, and EPA and E DHA is really good for cholesterol. So they could take all three at the same time. And I think, and so this is a large part also what I do is like, okay, well, let's look at everything you're taking to the ingredients level, assuming they are what they are, and you know, start rationalizing. And often you're like, okay, you don't have to take this because it's already in that. And you don't have to take it to the thing.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

But we save us money by doing that as well.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Oh, it's very rare that I'll add, I'll usually replace or I'll say take this instead of that. But no, often it's like just stripping back. And then how are we gonna get it from food? Right? Like, like you said, all of this stuff other than vitamin D, which is fortified in food, and that's a separate supplement, I would say, because you really just get it from sunlight. Most of the time it's just getting it basically through food.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

That's nuts.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

And so there's supplementation seems like a really simple solution, but actually, if you start taking loads, it really murkies the water.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Muddies the water.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Um and so yeah, and so you have am I taking what I actually think I am taking, but also am I taking at the dose?

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Because sometimes they have it in there, but maybe not at the dose that you think it is. And the other one is purity. So ashwagonda, I don't know, have you ever come across that?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Is that that mushroom?

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Ashwagonda is actually it's a type of herb.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Okay. I don't know if it's a mushroom.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

You think of lion's mane? That's a mushroom.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Maybe I'm thinking of that.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

So ashwagonda is I have heard of it though. It comes from more from like Eastern medicine. Okay. And when you look at the research, it's actually pretty good for things like um relaxation, stress management, things like that. But research uses like a highly purified version of ashwagandha, which you would be very hard to find, or even prove that you could find the equivalent on a commercial basis. Oh wow, okay. And so the this is the thing is that you could find a research study that says, yeah, taking this amount of ashwagandha is great. And the research study might say, like, you need to take like five grams. I actually don't know what the studied amount is, but let's say it's five grams a day, but then you'll buy a supplement that has like 0.2 grams in this little capsule of we suppose some form of probably not super pure ashwagandha. So you're not even taking a very purified version, and it's not even at the dose that you need.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

But if someone is listening to that, what would you to this, what do you think would be kind of your go-to guide if they didn't want to speak to a dietitian? But just what's the first point of call when you're looking at buying or getting supplements or looking at your current list of supplements?

SPEAKER_02 25:19

But I think definitely taking your advice around like understand first of all what it is that you are taking. Look for third-party testing, so, so important, so that you know that what you're taking is not only what it says on the tin, but it's at the right dose. And that's really important. When in doubt, send them an email, ask them for the certificate. They should have that available. Um and then make sure you look at all the ingredients if you're taking more than one supplement and just put them out and see that there's no overlap, right? You don't want to be taking like three times the same ingredient from a different source because that could actually be quite harmful. And then, in terms of the supplements that I see regularly in my practice, so vitamin D, absolutely. In terms of dosage, I usually recommend around 1,000 to 2,000 IUs a day, and you could take that all year round.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Don't worry about summer, winter. If you want to do it intermittently, take it higher dose, you could go up to 5,000 and take it for six months of the year. But ultimately, same, same. Vitamin C, if you are eating enough fruit and vegetables in a day, you don't need vitamin C.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

And like I said, if you don't use it, you lose it. So you could just be having expensive pea, basically. But I suppose you could say if you were going through a period where you had a cold and you wanted to take it, yeah, then there's actually not much evidence that shows that taking like high dose vitamin C helps very much, but there could be a placebo effect, which is totally fine. Okay. In which case, it's not gonna harm you. It might cost you, but it's not gonna harm you. So I'm not too fussed around that. If you're thinking of being getting pregnant or you are pregnant, folic acid and folate, super, super, super important. Yeah, it's to do with the neural tube, which is basically the spinal cord of the fetus. So neural tube defects is something that you get for in large population scales for women who don't have enough folate in their diet. Folic acid is the synthesized is the synthetic version, which is more highly absorbed and is a precursor to folate. So folic acid gets converted to folate, and that's what the body uses. You can take either one.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

And if you're what if you're not conceiving or pregnant, can you still take it as in you get it enough from your diet? Okay, so it's just during those periods, it's to boost it.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Exactly. Um, and you have to be a little bit careful because if you take too much, it can actually mask the deficiency of B12.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

So if you think you've got problems with like your energy levels or and you want to be sure, test for folate, test for B12, and test for iron, those should kind of come together.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

She did that, she did actually tell me all about all those three.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

And you need to, because they kind of they really they they function kind of together. Okay. So it's important that we look at those as a whole, otherwise, one can mask the deficiency of the other. But in terms of if you take folic acid or folate, it doesn't really matter. But if you're thinking about getting pregnant or you are pregnant, it's really important that you do take that. Um collagen. I see this one so, so, so, so much in my practice. And the thing with collagen is that basically it gets broken down into amino acids, which is just protein. And your body just uses it like protein. Okay. So it's a really expensive way of getting a teeny tiny bit of protein.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

And that's what it does.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Even the collagen that comes in like those big like powders that people add to their it's just a type of protein. Oh wow, and it's just they taste gross as well.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Well, yeah, because it's protein, it's just not very nice.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Interesting, okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Um, there's a teeny tiny bit of emerging evidence that it can help with like joint pains. Okay. But most people who I see who take it it's for hair and skin. It doesn't, there's no evidence that it works for that. And it can kind of cause a bit of irritat, like stomach irritability and um so just go and get Botox. Basically, yeah. Probably not cheaper, but more effective 100%. The other one which um I do see quite a bit is CoQ10. CoQ10 has shown to be really effective in fertility for men and women.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

So people who are trying to get pregnant, then that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Yes. And basically it works because it's um it's a mitochondrial antioxidant.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

No idea what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Basically, the mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell, it gives the cell an energy source.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

And antioxidant just means that it it stops it from like having any issues or deforming or anything like that. So it it just it's an antioxidant.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

So why, but it w uh so is that the reason why it's helpful during facility and because it helps with spermal mitochondria.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Oh, okay. And also for eggs, though, because they have mitochondrias in there. It's basically it's it's and it's really sort of growing evidence in human studies too, which is really important to know. So for men and for women, and I looked it up, and the dosage is around 250 to 600 milligrams a day for women. So if you're looking to get fertility treatments, that's probably one you could be looking into for like two to six months, though. So it's not a sort of instant fake, yeah. Yeah. Um, what's the other ones? NAD and MN, M N M, which they're little M N M makes N A D.

unknown 30:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

So they're kind of one and the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

It's not a little chocolate thing with a penis, not M M, but MN. Okay. Um, and basically that's like the whole longevity cohort people who are like, because it helps with it helps supposedly it helps to prevent DNA malformation. So it could help you to live longer because your cells are healthier.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

And not having cancer, I'm supposing.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Potentially.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Um now all the evidence we see in that so far is from animals, which, as long, I mean, as far as I know, you're not a rat. So it doesn't really tell you very much about how it would affect me and you. And all they can really show for now is that if you take these things, you increase them in your blood, which is pretty obvious.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Because if you're gonna take something, it will increase it.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

It will increase it in your blood. But the long-term effect, yes. We don't know. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

So that's one that but I see that one quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Electrolytes.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Yes, this one in the water.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

I think, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Making it water expensive.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Making water expensive and salty. I find the biggest irony is that for years we had like public health campaigns telling us to stop having as much salt, and now we are literally people are paying to put extra salt in their water. I know. Um, again, unless you're running an ultra marathon, unless you you know are going through some crazy exercise, or you're an athlete of some sort, or you're playing a really long game of I don't know, football or rugby or whatever, you do not need electrolytes in your water. Water will suffice, especially if you're eating normally. You get the electrolytes naturally from that. So please just stop with the electrolytes, just drink water. We talked about a bit, but fish oils, omega-3 is really good. Um, I would say that's a good one. If you're finding it hard getting your two oily fish a week, that's a really good one to add for you and the family. A lot of people are a bit adverse to it's true.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Yeah, having fish is not always on the menu, so we forget about it.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Natural taste buds, especially if you're kids. I mean, a lot of kids don't like fish, so you end up not eating it, and so it falls by the wayside. So getting a fish all in there, I don't have too many issues. Like I said, just to and it could be a normal fish or supplement, and you take one a day. Magnesium.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Ah, yeah, that's a good one. Have you taken magnesium? So I I'll tell you what I was gonna ask you about that is that I have a spray.

unknown 33:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Apparently you can absorb you absorb it through the skin really well.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

I did not know that about magnesium. Oh wow. I'll have to look that one up. Interesting. When the student becomes magnificent, the teacher tell me about your magnesium.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

So I have a magnesium spray that if I'm feeling very tired, or especially after exercise, yeah, before bed, once you've had a shower, you spray it. Yeah. And it's interesting because it does actually tingle when it gets absorbed into your skin. So I find that so would you classify that as a supplement though? I don't know. No, no, I wasn't thinking that it was. It's just now that you've mentioned it. So I've never ingested it, but I have that spray now. To be fair, I don't use it frequently. But I do know, and I have been told as well that if you put it in your bath, yeah, it absorbs through uh so I think it absorbs through skin from my understanding. Interesting. As well. But and it's to do with muscles, right? Yes. And muscle. Relaxation, but also stress sleep. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Um, but the one thing to mention about magnesium is magnesium citrate is a laxative. So if you've been taking magnesium and you find that you've been going to the loo a little bit too often, just double check which type it is. Yeah, because it you might have got the laxative version. Now you will also get the de stressing and things like that, but you'll get also the runs.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

But what what's the what is that versus the other one?

SPEAKER_02 34:40

So the other one would be like magnesium glutinate or biglycinate, something like that. As in what do they do? They both do relaxing. They both do relaxing, but one will give you the runs, the other one won't. You might have got the wrong one. And quite a few times I get people who are like, oh, you know, I've just been like really loose bowels or something.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

I look at their supplements and I'm like, hmm, that's why you can stop that, and then that can be interesting. Well, look into the spray version of the side. I will look into the salts and all the things you can have through spray.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

I definitely will, because I think for a lot of people, they often they just forget. So a spray can be. By the way, my vitamin D, you can spray it too. It can be like a mouth spray. In your mouth, yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Yeah, I did. I remember the pharmacist said that.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Creatine is one that I'm seeing way more. And actually, creatine is a really interesting one. You'd naturally get it from meat, but you would have to eat a lot of meat to get like the functional levels of creatine that these supplements provide. And creatine, especially in women, has been shown to be very helpful for muscle building, um, but also for brain, and it helps for like concentration. Now, the evidence is still super, super new, but it's quite interesting and it's actually quite exciting because it's a very safe, very cheap supplement that you can get. And yeah, there could be some really so you could get stronger and sharper. Exactly. And I found a really fun story um study that showed that it helps with your concentration when you have a hangover. Oh. If you've been taking creatine for like a little bit of time, people who were taking creatine performed better on a hangover than those who didn't, which I thought was just such a great study. Can you imagine? You're like, now you're gonna drink this and perform this task. So I thought that one was quite a positive story study. And then the last one is iron. So in this country, most menstruating women are actually pretty low in terms of iron intake and usually are in that lower end of um iron adequacy. So it might not be like deficient, deficient, but on the lower end. And often I see that they feel like a bit lethargic or tired. And when you're low in iron, interesting, you can be tired but have bad sleep.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

And so you have the so you don't you don't actually recover rest in the back properly.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

And that you have like restless sleep, you're not sleeping well, but then you're tired during the day. And those things can be linked to like iron deficiency.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Interesting, that's really interesting.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

And if you take iron supplementation, the two things to be really, really like wary of is one, try to take it with some vitamin C because that increases the absorption, and avoid taking it with caffeine or any kind of dairy products because that decreases the absorption because they compete. Um so yeah, so those are kind of like a whistle stop tour of the supplements that I see in my practice. Okay. So basically, I think the takeaways are if you're taking a host loads of supplements, find out what it is that you're taking is actually what you're taking, and at the right dose, and just double check that you're not like double or triple or quadruple doses.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

And I think as like know that it's unregulated, know that anything can go to market, exactly, and any messaging, marketing message can follow that. So essentially put that in the bin and do your own research. Yeah. Because if it says it's deep loating, it might not be. If it says it's uh, you know, making you your hair better and your nails better, it might not be. Like there is actually no no one else doing that. Nobody is doing that as an I meant like a body, yeah. Nobody is checking that. Yeah, yeah. So actually, I think that's really important to know because then you know Yeah. Also, I think it's know that think about it. Buyer beware.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

It's the buyer beware. Buyer beware, but also I think remember that in all of these cases, if you are not deficient in these things and you supplement, they're not gonna make a difference.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

Yeah, oh yeah, it's not gonna be superpower.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

No, you don't start building like a superpower. So get your diet first, get your bloods then. But yeah, but get your diet in check. Do the foundationals, going back to what we started with, focus on the basics. Ultimately, your hormones, your surely the basics is start with the getting your bloods, then look at deficiency that you could sub that you but you could do your bloods and your diet at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Yes, but I mean like if your bloods already tell you you have no deficiencies, yes, then that's a starting point of being like, okay, but then I want to change my diet or I want to increase this, decrease this, etc. Then it's kind of like one level on top of your next. And then if you then need to go into supplements, choose them carefully, do the research, make sure that you're just taking the necessities that meet the requirements that you have. And so build upon that exactly back into the point you say, okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

And if you're still symptomatic and you don't know, go see a specialist, go see a professional, right? Like if you are covering your bases and you're still getting symptoms, it's very unlikely that a supplement's going to be the solution to your problem. So seek the actual help that you can.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

So definitely then start with your bloods, then start go to your diet, then go to your supplements and do your research.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

One last one, actually, that I just thought about is probiotics. I don't know. Have you been bombarded with probiotics? No, no supplements. Yeah, they fall under the supplement category. Yeah. Okay. Um but I think the really important thing about that one is they are all individual. So probiotics are just strains of bacteria.

SPEAKER_01 40:23

So I always got the impression that yoghurts were probiotics.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

They have some probiotics in there, you're right. If it's live culture, yes. So sometimes they get sterilized, so they don't have much live culture in there, so they don't have much probiotics. But like kefir, because it's fermented, has more. Um but the thing is you but you can take probiotics, right, as like a supplement. But the thing with probiotics is that every single strain is different, so every single probiotic brand, and even within the brand's types, will be different. Okay. And the ones that you find in research are not necessarily the ones that you find in. So you have to know exactly what's been researched in terms of strand and then find it in a specific supplement. So it's it's not very simple.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

It's not as simple as it seems.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

No. And what will work for you won't necessarily work for me.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Okay. And why do people take probiotics?

SPEAKER_02 41:20

What are the Because typically it it's that cycle of I feel bloated or I've got constipation or I've got some upset sort of gastro, and then immediately they'll be bombarded with some sort of like probiotics, blah blah blah, and then they'll go for the list.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Okay, so then they'll Google probiotics and they are not all created.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

And more to the point, most are not backed by evidence.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

So that's again, go see a dietitian, like speak to someone.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Yeah, it's not your go-to solution to solve your blood.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

You can try. There's it's unlikely it's gonna cause harm, except that it's gonna cost you money and it could make you feel worse. In terms like, because you can't find a solution.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

You know, it's it can be really disheartening when you're like, well, I've tried this and I've tried this and I've tried this, and nothing's changed.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Plus, also everything has a time delay. So it's not like you know, you you invest in supplements, you take them, then you wait for a bit, and then so it all prolongs these side effects or these, I suppose, these symptoms, yeah, and maybe the side effects. And so you kind of it's not a quick way of figuring out if something works for you.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

And you know, if you're gonna start taking something and then go on holiday the next week and then you start feeling better, likelihood it's the holiday that you took that's doing more good than the supplement, but you might associate the wrong things. And so is taking all of that into context can be really hard, tiring and really sort of confusing. So, no, definitely the world of supplements is ugly, and I feel like it gets murkier and murkier. Like the more supplements get launched, the more marketing goes behind them.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Yeah, I know. I was gonna say I can think of a couple of brands that are also backed and supported by influencers. So they all say, like, I've invested in this company, and I also think it's made such a huge difference. And so they're pushing again. I'm assuming they're not they're not experts, they've invested because they like the numbers and what it looked like, you know, in terms of an investment point of view. Yeah. But actually, have they looked at the product? Have they tried the product? Have they done the research themselves? Have they questioned that, or is it more of just an investment decision?

SPEAKER_02 43:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

And that is pushing also, I'm sure, lots of um commercial, you know, purchasing of things because you're like, oh, she's really, you know, someone I I respect and I remember. Absolutely. You know, she looks good, she seems fine, etc. I'm gonna buy her product. So it's is now kind of becoming a trend.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

And these are people who, when they started, you know, they're pushing healthy diet, healthy living, and they're all of and then suddenly, oh wow, you mean you can get all of that in a tiny little pill. No, it it's it be but it's lucrative. But it's much harder to To sell a diet plan or diet style than a tiny little pill. And I think people need to be wary about that because the solution to your diet issues is not going to come in a little bottle typically. It'll come from lots of different things.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Yeah, interesting. Yeah, no, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

Do you feel like you know a little bit more about it?

SPEAKER_01 44:21

I do actually. I do think I think it's yeah, I mean, it's just I suppose I've never really I don't take anything every day. I should take vitamin D, but um, I think it's made me think maybe have a bit of wariness around it and definitely be more careful if I do start taking things.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

Just look what's in it, yeah. And like and make sure you're not double, triple, quadrupling.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

No, I definitely definitely feel like I know more about it. It's it is actually much more complicated than what marketing and social media is pushing right now.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

Yeah, and they're trying to make it a really simple message so that it's a simple sale.

SPEAKER_01 44:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

But actually, when you add it all up, it's it's not all that straightforward. And that's why I get quite a lot of despaired clients who just they don't know where to move forward with their long lists of subjects.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Yeah, that is really, yeah. I'm not surprised. I can't believe people are having 50 or plus 20 or 30 plus a day.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And feeling not great.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

No, oh not surprised. That's a lot of plastic in your tummy.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, a lot of time you start reducing and they feel better. And so it's counter it's sort of they're like, oh wow, less and actually feeling more out of it. Good. Well, hopefully it's helpful to you and to anybody else who's listening who might have dabbled with supplements or thinking about supplements or or keep getting bombarded with them. And then after a while, there's a I feel like there's attrition too, where it's like, okay, well, I might as well give it a go. I've seen this advert 25 times. But I'm here to say you it you might not need them. Yeah, it's okay to not take supplements um if you don't need them. Um, but yeah, thank you so much. Um good, and hopefully see you next time for Shift Happens. Um, and yeah, you can catch this episode and all the other episodes wherever you get your podcast. Thank you so much.