{"id":5150,"date":"2021-02-26T23:32:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T23:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/?p=5150"},"modified":"2023-03-17T15:15:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T15:15:30","slug":"supplements-do-we-really-need-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them","title":{"rendered":"Supplements: do we really need them?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Micronutrient supplements can be an essential addition to our diets<strong> in some cases<\/strong>, for example, if you have had surgery to your tract, are on certain medications, or following a vegan diet (see our previous post on this). However, they are certainly not needed by everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Supplements are designed to do exactly that \u2013 supplement the diet. So be wary of anyone who recommends a load and promises you huge changes with the addition of these.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #cc99ff;\"><strong>Our top tips<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you are taking micronutrients, always check the recommended daily allowance (RDA) and don\u2019t go above this. High doses of minerals and fat-soluble vitamins can build up in the system, resulting in toxicity. Often doses are pharmaceutical, rather than nutritional, meaning the dose you are taking is much higher than you could possibly obtain naturally from foods.<\/p>\n<p>If you have gut symptoms, be particularly wary of high dose iron or magnesium as these can cause or worsen your symptoms. They can result in loose stools, as magnesium relaxes your muscles and iron is generally poorly absorbed in supplement form.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re on cancer treatment check with your pharmacist team before taking any supplements as they could interact with the treatment drugs.<\/p>\n<p>One supplement we should all be taking in the UK between September and April is Vitamin D. This is because the sun is not close enough to penetrate our skin during those colder months (check your shadow when you\u2019re outdoors \u2013 if it is shorter than you, the sun is close enough to penetrate your skin and produce Vitamin D!). The UK government guidelines currently recommend 10mcg (400IU) per day for adults and children over 1. Whilst really high doses can result in toxicity, there is emerging evidence that a slightly higher daily dose may be beneficial \u2026so watch this space!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #cc99ff;\"><strong>Take home<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>There certainly is a place for micronutrient supplementation in some cases but watch out for those high dose tablets. Getting vitamins and minerals from your food is the best way to feed you and your gut microbes. And take your vitamin D!<\/p>\n<p>If in doubt, seek help from a doctor or registered dietitian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Micronutrient supplements can be an essential addition to our diets in some cases, for example, if you have had surgery to your tract, are on certain medications, or following a vegan diet (see our previous post on this). However, they are certainly not needed by everyone. Supplements are designed to do exactly that \u2013 supplement&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-or-nutrition","category-myth-busting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Supplements: do we really need them? | The Gut Health Doctor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The team at The Gut Health Clinic deliver some top tips and take-homes when considering the inclusion of supplements in your diet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supplements: do we really need them? | The Gut Health Doctor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The team at The Gut Health Clinic deliver some top tips and take-homes when considering the inclusion of supplements in your diet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Gut Health Doctor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-26T23:32:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-17T15:15:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Clinic-Post-Green-Template.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shirley Clinic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shirley Clinic\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them\",\"name\":\"Supplements: do we really need them? | The Gut Health Doctor\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Clinic-Post-Green-Template.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-26T23:32:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-17T15:15:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ae103084a790026b64e164c8916c48c6\"},\"description\":\"The team at The Gut Health Clinic deliver some top tips and take-homes when considering the inclusion of supplements in your diet.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/supplements-do-we-really-need-them#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Clinic-Post-Green-Template.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Clinic-Post-Green-Template.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Supplements. 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