Supplementing Wisely - The Science Behind Optimal Metabolic Health and Nutrition

Staying healthy and energized begins with eating a well-balanced diet. But that's not always easy during our busy lives. As Chris Kresser explains, it's possible to be well-fed, but undernourished. In this Mini Medical School for the Public presentation, Kresser talks about the principles of supplementation and answers key questions, including: Should we supplement at all, and why or why not? What are the basic nutrients that are essential for health and proper functioning? And which supplements should we consider taking - and which ones should we avoid? Recorded on 02/27/2018. [6/2018] [Show ID: 33497]

00:00 - Start
43:37 - Q & A

Please Note: Knowledge about health and medicine is constantly evolving. This information may become out of date.

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[ЧеловекСталь-иц]

5:00 - Nutrient synergy
14:29 - Vitamin A
17:57 - Vitamin D
22:50 - Magnesium
26:54 - Vitamin K2
31:12 - Iodine
33:39 - Calcium
38:06 - Vitamin E

[matterhart]

Best overview talk on vitamins/micro nutrients/supplementation I've found.

[wagnerlopes]

Plain talk, plain English and lots of direct info! Thank you man!

[IsabelRodriguez-nvue]

Thank you so very much for a comprehensive presentation in a light and easy way to follow. Very informative and super helpful in improving our nutrition knowledge and habits. Thanks a million!!!!

[pattimichellesheaffer]

Can you please provide links to currently-reliable quality-validation and testing sites for supplements? [2022]

[pattimichellesheaffer]

Although I doubt there's information on this to add to your table since it's such a labile nutrient - I hope you can add potassium (chelated, potassium citrate) to your talk. Potassium (K) is highly water soluble and easily stripped from soils by modern farming methods. Leg cramps are ubiquitous, and often fixed by K-citrate. K-citrate capsules provide less than 5% of the MDAR - so unlikely to be overdosed, but provides enough K to prevent the body stores from "bouncing on zero" potassium, especially in desert areas with large water intakes and sweating.

[rhyothemisprinceps]

Two resources that can help track nutrient intake and find specific food sources to meet dietary needs:

Cronometer - diet tracking app:

World's Healthiest Foods - lists rankings of foods by nutrient density / typical serving sizes
e.g, Vitamin E:

Even with eating spinach, almonds, sunflower seeds etc., I almost never make the RDA for vitamin e. OTOH I'm small and so I don't take in many calories; the intake levels do not appear to be scaled for body size.

[evangelineancheta]

Is it safe to take Bi-flex tablets? I was informed that this is good for the bones

[thatcrazywolf]

Most of the studies that showed harm with vitamins used very high levels.

[boogynights]

This change my approach on taking vitamins.

[coreycox]

This will save me money that I have been spending on multivitamins and fish oil. Thanks.

[dattatreyatelharkar]

Sir, please guide me.
If my creatinine level is 1.2, no hypertension, no diabetes, (my age 62years.)then will consumption of supplements cause rise in creatinine level ?

[science]

I was taking Bioglan Resveratox super strength Resveratrol, I consumed most of the 200 mg ( 50 tablets ) it seemed to have had a bad affect on my eye sight, my eyes never recovered, it seems as if these tablets could have had a bad affect on my eyes

[clover]

Our bodies are really good at absorbing macronutrients but there are lots of micronutrients that have poor absorption, like magnesium oxide for example. It's almost like there was a period in time where we were way more active than today and required more food, which has more nutrients, and we burned the excess calories through laborious activity.

[pramuanchutham]

Many research on supplements were poorly done with wrong/cheap forms of supplements, or lacking co-factors. No wonder the results on hip-fractures or bone-density with vitamin D came out opposite to expectation. The speaker, at minute:37 knew full-well that vitamin K2 is detrimental in taking calcium to the bones, but still included the research without K2 and poor bone-density.
Recently the New England Journal published similar failure of vitamin D3 in improving bone-density. What a shame that the Vitamin D-expert, Dr.Hollicke, was teaching at Boston College, very much in the heart of New England. How did the prestigious editor let out such flawed study, that's beyond my imagination...

[evangelineancheta]

I take my vitamin pills with blended veggies.

[lindamcneil]

Calorie dense but nutrient deficient.

Interesting, meat is low calorie and nutrient dense. A lot of the missing nutrients are found in meats. Perhaps the low input requirements for meats are a high part of the problem. We need to be encouraging more meats,

[terrytari]

He loves dairy, that's horrible!