The Five Best Vitamins and Supplements You Should Be Taking

1. Resveratrol

Unless you really don’t like life, you might want to take a naturally occurring phenol called Resveratol.  It is found in red grapes, blueberries, peanuts, and cocoa, and has been shown to have a positive effect on life extension.^{1, 2}  Resveratrol [rez-ˈvir-ə-ˌtrȯl] is a powerful antioxidant³ and may reduce the risk of heart disease.⁴  It also helps lower cholesterol,⁵ and can have a protective effect on the heart,⁶ brain,⁷ and liver.⁸

It sounds like the ultimate supplement. The only problem is when Resveratrol is taken orally, either from food sources or supplements, the liver metabolizes and gets rid of most of it too quickly to do the body much good.⁹ To get the benefits of this anti-aging supplement, you need a tablet from a compounding pharmacy, like Brighton, that will dissolve sublingually or buccally.  This route of administration gets Resveratrol into much of the body before the liver has a chance to alter it.

2. Glutathione

Free radicals are unstable molecules that cause cellular damage.  Damage to DNA by free radicals can cause mutations and possibly cancer.

Glutathione [gloo-tuh-thahy-ohn] is being called a superantioxidant.¹⁰  It is the body’s main antioxidant enzyme to control free radical damage.  It helps slow the aging process and strengthens the immune system. ¹¹ It helps the liver remove harmful drugs and toxins¹²and protects the the nervous system and the GI system. ¹³  Glutathione levels are invariably low in AIDS, cancer, and chronically ill patients. ¹⁴  It may also reduce the development of cancer by changing the level of reactive oxygen species. ^{15, 16}

Glutathione’s benefits have been known for years and there are hundreds of different manufacturers of glutathione capsules.  Yet, like resveratrol, oral capsules of glutathione do not work.  This is due to inabsorption.  There are numerous medical clinics that provide intravenous injections, but that can be costly, time consuming, and intimidating.   Orally-disintegrating tablets of glutathione absorb bucally or sublingually and are a much cheaper and less invasive alternative.

3. Vitamin D-3

Cholecalciferol or vitamin D3 is formed in the skin when it is exposed to ultraviolet light.  Yet for those of us who wear sunscreen or have dark pigmented skin, we are at risk for Vitamin D3 deficiency, especially during the winter months.

So, what is D3 good for, anyway?  The first thing most people think of when mentioning the benefits of vitamin D is to keep the bones strong.  Low Vitamin D levels result in low calcium levels, which triggers the body to breakdown bone to release calcium that is needed more elsewhere.  This could result in osteoporosis.  Vitamin D3 has been clinically shown to help prevent broken bones.¹⁸

Vitamin D3 is also needed for prostate health and it strengthens the immune system.

How about just getting D3 from food or supplements? Food sources of vitamin D are pretty much limited to ocean-going fish and small amounts that are added to milk in the U.S.   Even though vitamin D3 has been proven in many studies to be the more potent form of vitamin D, a large amount of vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) continues to be manufactured and sold in North America. ¹⁹

So, a vitamin D3 supplement may just be what the doctor orders.  If you are really deficient, you might need to take the prescription strength of 50,000 units once a week.  Otherwise 1,000 to 5,000 units a day should be sufficient.

4. Omega-3

One of the best supplements you can take is fish oil.  The ability of omega-3 fatty acids to lower cholesterol²⁰ and help prevent heart disease²¹ is so well established that the American Heart Association has recommended dosing guidelines for it.  Omega-3 fats have been well studied and have also been shown to decrease the risk of strokes,²² improve brain performance,²³ decrease pain and inflammation in rheumatoid²⁴ and osteoporosis²⁵ arthritis, and lower the risk of macular degeneration.²⁶  If that weren’t enough, a new study has shown that one of the three important omega-3 fatty acids called DHA may help us live longer.²⁷

The American Heart Association recommends 1000 mg of EPA/DHA a day for people with heart disease, which equates to taking about 3,500 mg of fish oil. If you just want to be healthy, 2,000 mg of fish oil a day should do the trick.  You can usually get that much from two capsules of most brands.

5. Vitamin B12 Injections, Patches, or Oral-Disintegrating Tablets

As we get older, most of us make less stomach acid and some of us make less of a substance needed to absorb vitamin B12 called intrinsic factor.  Less stomach acid and intrinsic factor is almost a sure way of getting no B12.  This is also a problem for those who take acid suppressing medicine like omeprazole or antacids.

Fortunately, you have options.  The best vitamin B12 supplements are the ones that you don’t swallow. You can get a prescription of B12 in an injectable dosage form.  You inject 1000 mcg into the muscle once a week.  If you hate needles or don’t want to bother going to your doctor, you can get a B12 patch to stick on your arm at b12patch.com .  If you don’t want to wear a patch, you can take an oral-disintegrating tablet each day that dissolves on the tongue and absorbs through the oral mucosa.

Conclusion

If you want to live longer and stronger, consider these five supplements and vitamins.  Increase your dietary intake and take advantage of the abundant supply of supplements.  For more information on how to obtain these supplements, click here for directions to our Compounding Pharmacy or give us a call at 801.662.0265 and talk to our on-call pharmacist.

References

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2. Howitz K, Bitterman K, et al, “Small molecule activators of sirtuins extend Saccharomyces cerevisiae lifespan”. BIOMOL Research Laboratories, Inc., 5120 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting,  Pennsylvania 19462, USA.
3. Chanvitayapongs S, Draczynska-Lusiak B, Sun A. (1997). “Amelioration of oxidative stress by antioxidants and resveratrol in PC12 cells”.Neuroreport. (8): 1499-1502.
4. Kopp P.  (1998). “Resveratrol, a phytoestrogen found in red wine. A possible explanation for the conundrum of the ‘French paradox’?”.European Journal of Endocrinology 138(6): 619–20.
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6. Das DK, Maulik N (2006). “Resveratrol in cardioprotection: a therapeutic promise of alternative medicine”. Molecular Interventions 6(1): 36–47.
7. Karuppagounder S, Pinto J, Xu H, Chen H, Beal M, Gibson G (2009). “Dietary supplementation with resveratrol reduces plaque pathology in a transgenic model of Alzheimer’s disease”. Neurochemistry International 54(2): 111–8.
8. Rivera H, Shibayama M, Tsutsumi M, Tsutsumi V, Perez-Alavrez V, Muriel P. (2008). “Resveratrol and trimethylated resveratrol protect from acute liver damage induced by CC14 in the rat”. J Appl Toxicol.  28(2): 147-55.
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10. Pompella, A; Visvikis, A; Paolicchi, A; De Tata, V; Casini, AF (2003). “The changing faces of glutathione, a cellular protagonist”.Biochemical Pharmacology 66(8): 1499–503.
11. Glutathione (GSH) – The Ultimate Natural Anti-Aging Anti-Oxidant.  www.ezinearticles.com/
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20. Houghton L, Vieth R. (2006). “The case against ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) as a vitamin supplement”. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 84(4): 694-697.
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