4 Dietary Supplements Everyone Should be Taking

There are FOUR basic supplements EVERYONE should be taking in some capacity; Multivitamin, Vitamin D, Omega-3, and Magnesium.

These 4 supplements should form the basis of all your dietary supplementation.  Why just these four?  Well, I’ll go into that later but below I’ve given some details about each supplement below.

Multivitamin (1/day with food)

Most physicians recommend a multivitamin to their patients. Think of a multivitamin as your vitamin insurance policy. If your diet is not optimal (most people’s diets are not), you have a multivitamin to fill in the gaps for that day.

A quality multivitamin is one that dissolves easily and actually contains the vitamin amounts listed.  Personally, I do not recommend standard pharmacy brands simply because they are usually poorly manufactured.  It’s best to do your research on your vitamin choices.

Remember to always take your multivitamin with food to get the most benefit.

Vitamin D (2,000IU – 5,000IU)

I don’t think I can stress enough about the importance of Vitamin D. The truth is a majority of society is deficient in Vitamin D.

Low vitamin D has been linked to autism, cancer, autoimmune illness, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, heart disease, hyperparathyroidism, hypertension, influenza, myopathy, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, and increased rate of C-Section.

One study even linked low vitamin D levels to malignant melanoma (skin cancer), ironic considering you get vitamin D from the sun. Contrary to popular belief, there are no excellent dietary sources of vitamin D. Take my advice, take your D, and take it now.

Omega-3 (1-2g/day)

There has been a lot of buzz going around about Omega-3’s and how they improve health. The fact is, in America, we do not consume enough omega-3 oils.

Without going into great detail about how it works, I can simply say taking Omega-3’s will decrease chronic inflammation in your body. Chronic inflammation has been linked to a number of diseases including, but not limited to heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression, mulitple sclerosis, and diabetes.

Most recently they have found that omega-3s help to protect your eyes.  You can get a lot of omega-3 from fish such as salmon and tuna but if you don’t like fish or don’t eat it about 3 or 4 times a week, you probably need to supplement.  Stay away from the bottles with “3-6-9” on the label.

Magnesium (500mg-1000mg)

Magnesium is chronically deficient in the modern American diet. Magnesium deficiency is associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, headaches, as well as sudden death from heart disease, and asthma.

Magnesium is needed in over 300 reactions in the body including reactions critical to bone health. The most common side effect from too much magnesium is diarrhea.  So if you take 1000mg and have problems, lower your dose.

Why only four supplements?

I’m not saying to just stick to only these four and no others.  I am simply saying that these should form the foundation.  These are the four supplements you should take on a daily basis before you even start to consider incorporating others.

It will also save you money in the long run and that is our goal, right?  We should be as healthy as possible without breaking the bank.

By Dr. Jason Brown | Jason is a chiropractic physician currently practicing in Centreville, VA. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Florida with his Doctor of Chiropractic degree. Dr. Brown has extensive knowledge regarding the effects of diet on inflammation and disease.  He can be reached for questions and comments at drbrown@centrevillechiro.com or www.centrevillechiro.com.