Supplements: Are They Right for You?

It has been estimated that Americans spend $25–33 BILLION a year on supplements! Now that is a lot of supplementing. Multivitamins are very common and probably the most taken across various ages and cultures. I did a search on supplements and got over 15 million hits on Google.

So, are they really good for you? Don’t most of the supplements or vitamins just run right through us? How do you know what to take? These are very common questions people have and there are many different opinions and answers to these questions.

I want to be real clear. I take supplements. I do not have any great studies to support my use of supplements. I only have my years of experience as a family doctor and my own personal experiences with the use of supplements. I have done extensive reading and continue to improve my own knowledge on the subject. I am in no way an expert on supplements.

So, if you are still reading this, understand these are my opinions.

I am often asked about the absorptions of supplements and how your body uses them. I do believe some of the supplements are probably excreted from our bodies fairly rapidly. If you take a B vitamin, it does not take very long (15–30 minutes) before your urine becomes bright yellow. So why take them if they get out of your system so fast?

My first answer is to compare supplements to water. Water basically just goes right through our system. But I have to believe the water does some good along the way. I think supplements are much the same. They may go right through us, but I think they do some good along the way.

Secondly, I am sure not all the B vitamin ends up in my urine right away. I do think it will circulate through my body and be used if needed. It helps ensure the systems in my body that use the B vitamins have plenty of it.

Which supplements should you take? Again, a very common question. My answer is: it depends. It depends on what you are expecting or needing as far as supplements. It depends on your overall health status and your nutrition. It depends on your genetics. I do not think there is a one-size-fits-all. A growing athletic adolescent is going to have some different requirements than a guy in his sixties.

I do think the first thing to start with is to be sure you are doing the basic things well. Eating clean will help your overall wellness and health more than any supplement can. If you are not exercising regularly, get started. Try to get 7–8 hours of sleep and drink plenty of water.

My next blog will be about my personal favorite supplement.

Wishing You an Amazing Life,

Dr. Curtis Brown

Supplements: To Take or Not to Take?

I have been helping people with their health issues for 30 years now and I believe I have learned a lot of things over those decades. I have learned we do not necessarily always know the truth. Medical opinions change with increased knowledge and better information.

I remember when we told everyone to quit eating eggs if you needed to lower your cholesterol. Well, now we have decided it is okay to eat some eggs in moderation. It used to be common practice to advise all women to take calcium. Now, not so much. Calcium probably will not hurt you, but it also probably does not help as much as we thought.

Medical advice and opinion tend to shift and change all of the time. There are some basic truths (at least, I think there are) that still make sense. For instance, if you have high blood pressure, you should do everything you can, including taking medication if necessary, to reduce your blood pressure to normal levels. This will dramatically lower your risk of heart attack and/or stroke. Getting regular sleep is really good for your overall energy and mood. Regular exercise will increase your energy and enhance your life. Still true!

Supplements are very popular today. I personally take them and I think they are helpful. However, recently I was listening to a popular wellness radio show and the host was taking lots of supplements. He was recommending all sorts of stuff to help with weight loss, memory, fatigue, energy, skin, bloating, and a multitude of other common ailments.

I tried to calculate how much it would cost to take everything he was recommending as a must-have. NO ONE could afford to spend that kind of money! It was over a thousand dollars a month.

Again, I am not against supplements. I take them myself. But I think some common sense should be used in deciding which supplements to take. Part of the problem of deciding what to take is filtering through all the noise around supplements.

Many mainstream doctors avoid recommending supplements altogether. We have been trained to look for documentation of efficacy through double-blind studies. It is really hard to find long-term, double-blind studies when it comes to supplements. I know there are a few good studies, but they are often biased in their design.

Over the next few weeks, I will blog about my thoughts and recommendations on supplements. I will not quote any studies. These recommendations will be based off of my personal experience and my own research of available information (which changes frequently).

I hope you will find this information practical and informative.

Wishing You an Amazing Life,

Dr. Curtis Brown