“Supplement Recommendations for Clients”
“Would you regularly recommend supplements as part of a clients’ diet?”
Total watch time: < 13 mins.
Full Transcript:
Peta: 00.07: Alright, so next question. Would you regularly recommend supplementation of a client’s diet, and if so what supplements?
Tyson: 00.20: Like, just general supplements?
Peta: 00.21: Just general, so if someone comes in and they’re taking, you know, their over 50’s vitamin, they are on vitamin B or vitamin D and all that sort of random stuff. So, would, would I, would you prescribe a supplement to anyone without any additional information?
Tyson: 00:34: No.
Peta: 00:35: Nup. So, often my —
Tyson: 00:38: Expensive piss.
Peta: 00:39: My job is taking people off supplements. There are other issues around that too, because a lot of tests that we have access to, they’re not extremely reliable when they’re measuring someone’s deficiency or excess data. So, there are lots of ways you can test micronutrients, be it you know, in the urine, in the blood, in the serum, hair analysis, all the above. And depending on the nutrient, some of them are better tested you know, in different forms. And so if the GP just does full blood work of you know, all of their vitamin and minerals. It may not be evident and you might actually get you to know, this one’s high and this one’s low and it’s not a true indicator. So, I —
Tyson: 01:22: So, what is a true indicator?
Peta: 01:23: So irons, like iron is a really good one. Where if someone’s taking an iron supplement, they actually, it’s just going to appear that they’ve got normal iron, but they might actually be deficient in their storage. And obviously then you can check ferritin, you can check their —
Tyson: 01:36: Transferrin.
Peta: 01:36: Transferrin. But yeah, again the MCV, you know, those types of things. But there’s also a lot of influencing factors. So, you know, a good example is say something like the selenium, for example, is really quite accurately tested through hair analysis. The issue with that is that we can’t do that and it’s not a valid, true indicator of someone’s actual deficiency there and then, so —
Tyson: 02:02: Bit of hair, I don’t agree with that whatsoever.
Peta: 02:05: Yeah, so there is actual, some literature suggests that it’s a good way to measure it, but it’s old data.
Tyson: 02:11: I didn’t realise you were a naturopath.
Peta: 02:14: I practice in an evidence-based space, so I don’t do that test. And if you are going to have that test done, it doesn’t give you a clear picture. All I’m saying is that it gives you an indicator of —
Tyson: 02:27: Are there any, so if someone was taking a supplement and they said I’m deficient in magnesium, that’s why I’m taking it. What is your next question?
Peta: 02:39: Have you actually had that tested?
Tyson: 02:41: And then they go yes, and then you go how? And then I say blah, and you go what?
Peta: 02:48: Oh yeah, so do you have that number on me? Have you talked to the doctor about it, has he prescribed anything? So, you know, the obvious one is iron and obvious one is vitamin D. A lot of people will be supplementing vitamin D, just because. But again, treating a deficiency, that’s not actually optimal.
Tyson: 03:10: But at the same time, I’m not necessarily going to stop someone. Like if they really want to take it, it’s not going to do too much harm.
Peta: 03:16: So, the only ones you need to be careful about is the sort of overdosing one. So [03:21 unclear] vitamins. Yep.
Tyson: 03:22: Well, yeah you hope they are not taking a bunch, but —
Peta: 03:26: Well, yeah a lot of people are. So, people that we work with you know, obviously specifically would be our bariatric clients and I would always then pop them on a supplement specific to yeah, a lot of them come on a pregnancy pre-conception and post-conception vitamin, because they’re often a little bit cheaper, not much. But there’s way too much iron in a lot of those pregnancy ones, and they end up getting really bound up. Worse so, because you know, they don’t eat much.
Tyson: 03:57: Meaning, they can’t go to the toilet.
Peta: 03:58: Pretty much. And iron is influenced by the absorption, so it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a heap of it in a supplement, you’re going to absorb this much through the gut. And so the rest contributes to you being you know, constipated. Now obviously not everybody gets constipated, but be really careful with iron supplementation. Because people are really intolerant to iron in large loads, so you’re better off to actually go a lower end of the spectrum.
Tyson: 04:27: Do you supplement omega 3s? Fish oil?
Peta: 04:29: Yep, yep. I have done in the past.
Tyson: 04:30: Regularly?
Peta: 04:32: If someone is presenting with high triglycerides, yeah I do so regularly. And there is clear evidence behind that. That would be the only time if they are coming to me with blood work or they’ve told me in the past that they’ve been deficient in this. But then they never went on any medication for it, again if that was 6 or 12 months ago. I’d probably go well you need to go and get retested before I say look, go and take a B12. Go and get your folate levels tested, etc.
Tyson: 05:02: How often do you like, in terms of a multivitamin. Other than bariatric clients, how often would you recommend a multivitamin?
Peta: 05:12: Nah, never. I will always try and optimise their diet first, so look at some key nutrients in their diet. Maybe put it through software.
Tyson: 05:22: If that was like nup, I want to take it.
Peta: 05:24: Fine, I don’t care. Take it, that’s okay.
Tyson: 05:26: Same.
Peta: 05:27: Yeah, it’s just —
Tyson: 05:29: Just like save your money, you don’t, you don’t need to do it. You can eat all of this.
Peta: 05:32: But look, a lot of people find that they do get a placebo effect from taking anything and so —
Tyson: 05:36: Yeah, yeah that’s what I mean. If they’re passionate about it, like oh I want to take it. It’s like well if you take it away, they’re probably going to think that what you’ve done is wrong. So, let them have it and then they go oh yeah, I feel amazing.
Peta: 05:46: Yeah, it’s like a discussion I had with some friends the other night. And they, this guy had prostate cancer. And he decided, well he was pretty much on death row, they told him to get his affairs in order. He was a really fit guy, I used to play squash with him when I was younger. And he, he told me that he’s you know, his PSA levels are now back to normal if not, you know, just amazing.
Tyson: 06:07: What’s PSA?
Peta: 06:08: Prostate Specific Antigen. And his PSA was just off the charts to start with because he was ignoring his systems of peeing and not being able to you know, keep it up and all that jazz. So, he has —
Tyson: 06:24: Good conversation to have with someone you played squash with.
Peta: 06:27: Yeah, I know. Anyway, so but they would be the things that he would be suffering from. And then most men don’t go and get that sort of treat. And hence why you end up with PSA levels up the wazoo. He also had a really aggressive type of prostate cancer. Anyway, so two years out and he’s in remission and things are looking good. But he was on the raft, like the turmeric, he was on something called Asia and if I didn’t know about it, I was like is that acai? And we had this conversation at the table. And the thing about it is that when people are taking such a broad range of supplements —
Tyson: 06:58: What’s working?
Peta: 06:59: Exactly. Did you specifically test that? And the thing with people is you can’t go alright, I’m going to withhold this medication. I’m not going to give you chemotherapy, because he also had chemotherapy so that may have worked. And then individually test that nutrient and that one, and that one. But what if that person falls off the perch and this person stays well, and also you’ve got that individual uptake of nutrients which is also very different —
Tyson: 07:21: And the individual response to chemotherapy and —
Peta: 07:23: And the type of supplement —
Tyson: 07:24: What they’re eating at the same time —
Peta: 07:25: Like chromium for example, and selenium can all come in different forms. Calcium can come in different forms, which are better or worse absorbed. There is too many uncontrollable factors, so, therefore, it’s really hard to do any controlled research in supplements.
Tyson: 07:41: Rabbit hole. So, pretty much no. We don’t often recommend supplements and if we did it was, it’s sparingly. So, cholesterol – fish oil. Iron-based on —
Peta: 07:50: And I would make a recommendation if someone’s come to me and they’ve complained about not tolerating a supplement well. So, vitamin D alike, or iron, for example, is a common one that I would say, unless because a lot of the time they haven’t brought up these issues with their GP. I can guarantee that because I often ask them that question. Oh no, I didn’t tell them that I haven’t been to the toilet for five days, I just took some Coloxyl, and I’m okay. Or yeah, I’m just getting, this vitamin D supplement is painful, it gives me pain or I forget to take it. And if someone’s got instilled osteoporosis, you can actually, you can get an injection for iron. You can also get an injection for vitamin D.
Tyson: 08:30: And B12.
Peta: 08:31: And all the above, which improves the absorption, decreases the risk of someone not taking it. So, I would recommend back to the GP. Have you considered at all, this person’s you know, telling me that they’ve got issues with the tolerance to a medication?
Tyson: 08:45: And then in terms of sport and athletes. Nope, not often. We already covered this a little bit in that Getting Jacked. Link, or there, or video, or down there. But yeah, so no not often. But if I did then yeah, those common ones that I would do based on that person and their sport and their goals, and their level of performance, their level of training. Their level of the sport, whether it’s elite or sub-amateur, yeah so, all very variable, all individual. But yes, I will recommend it for the right people, but it’s always, always food first. Tick all those boxes and then again, like Peta was saying about what supplements work. It’s just like, or if you did it, you don’t go and just go alright, now I’m going to get you to have five different supplements all at once. Because you don’t know which ones are actually going to make them feel better. If they come back, oh yeah I’m going but they’re spending $100 a month on supps, it’s just like well, you know.
Peta: 09:41: It’s like, I was talking to one of the practitioners yesterday, actually about this. Because there is research coming out all the time. (?) cinnamon, you know all that sort of stuff for diabetes and glucose control. And the question was, oh well how much and you know, do you just put them on it? I’m like, well no. You have to see if you know, if they’ve got any of this deficiency to start with and if their diet is not adequate, you wouldn’t just go have that. Again, it’s not really our scope either. But there are decent textbooks, because there’s a bit of WhatsApp conversation with our team lately about that. And so, I think there’s a good evidence base on herbs and supplements in the textbook.
Tyson: 10:21: Yeah, yeah like complementary medicines.
Peta: 10:23: Yep, yeah.
Tyson: 10:24: And alternative therapies, yep.
Peta: 10:25: Yeah and it’s good to have an understanding at least to be able to then rebut any ridiculous claims. Like turmeric for example, which is huge at the moment. There is nothing to suggest that it’s supposed to be treating disease either. There is nothing warranting that, and also there is no dosage amount that is legit or set. So, people were just having turmeric in all shape and forms. Which, cool because —
Tyson: 10:49: More flavour.
Peta: 10:50: Great. But it stains your teeth, so be wary of that. You’ll end up with yellow teeth.
Tyson: 10:56: So, what coffee drinkers plus turmeric. So, those turmeric lattes will just be like —
Peta: 11:00: Disaster, yeah I know. My aunty had some, she had this yellow tinge to her teeth for the week. Delicious.
Tyson: 11:07: I don’t eat it.
Peta: 11:08: I love turmeric, I use it as a spice. But not because I’m trying to improve my health or wellness, or fight disease or cancer, or get rid of the fungus you know, or any of that jazz that is being touted to fix.
Tyson: 11:17: Just because it’s colourful, people are like oh this can sell because it’s colourful. It’s a superfood.
Peta: 11:21: It’s yellow and so this Asia supplement this person was on, so I had a bit of research —
Tyson: 11:25: Is it purple or something?
Peta: 11:26: No, no, no. It’s water. It’s properly oxidised, free radical you know, antioxidant, ironized magic water.
Tyson: 11:37: Yeah, but have you seen that other like water, that’s like in Townsville. And it’s like one’s called like love and one’s hope water.
Peta: 11:45: Is it glowing?
Tyson: 11:46: Nah, it’s just normal water but it’s infused with like, it goes through pipes that have a different melody playing. It’s like music at the right frequency to them.
Peta: 11:59: Diffused with hope.
Tyson: 12:01: Yeah, something like I think it’s hope, love and something else. But I was just like what? But yeah, supposedly has made gazillions of dollars based on just that, because the internet picked it up.
Peta: 12:12: It’s like that alkaline water and things like that.
Tyson: 12:14: Oh yeah, same crap. But anyway. Placebo’s amazing.
Peta: 12:18: Yeah it does, and fine like if it’s not doing them any harm and they want to spend that ridiculous amount of money on it, then —
Tyson: 12:24: Go for it, if you’ve got the cash. But if you’re going to ask my opinion, probably going to take you off them.
Over to you…
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