Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

We've long heard about the benefits of taking vitamin C to prevent colds.

Zinc to ward off viral infections.

Fish oil for cardio health.

Protein drinks for muscle strength.

Probiotics and prebiotics for gut health.

These are just a handful of the hundreds of dietary supplements available on the market today.

But what do consumers need to know about those supplements and how to use them?

Our own Grover Silcox is here now with some answers.

Grover, always wonderful to see you.

Always great to be here.

Brett.

So what do we need to know about some of these supplements or all of these supplements, for that matter?

Well, that's a good question, because the the number one word in terms of your approach to supplements is education.

You really need to do your homework about the supplements you either take or plan to take because they you know, they can do a whole lot to sustain health and prevent illness, but they're not regulated by the FDA.

So it's important to ask essential questions before using them or actually even buying them.

Sure.

So is there a tendency for people to take supplements just a little less serious than they would say their regular prescribed medications?

Yes, according to the expert I spoke with, that is an issue and people really need to take them much more seriously than perhaps that they do.

So asking the right questions is important.

And as the expert told me, it's always important to understand what you put in or on your body.

Sure.

So educating yourself is the key here.

Exactly.

According to the CDC, more than 50% of Americans over the age of 20 use some kind of supplement.

And it can be difficult navigating the hundreds of supplements on the market today, taking them blindly without understanding what they do, how they do it, and why you do or do not need it can defeat the purpose for taking it in the first place.

Kristen Bentson, chiropractor, nutritionist and functional medicine practitioner, maintains that there's lots to know about dietary supplements and how best to use them.

A supplement is a product like a vitamin or mineral probiotics enzymes that are designed to enhance or augment health.

And I always tell patients supplements are just that they really are designed to supplement what we're already doing with our healthy lifestyle, with nutrition and physical activity, stress transformation, breast sleep.

As a functional medicine practitioner, Benson works with patients to determine the root causes of their health issues or concerns.

As a result, she often recommends dietary supplements along with lifestyle changes and other remedies.

When it comes to vitamins and minerals, many people really are deficient or have insufficiencies in key nutrients.

And so when we test and we see they have a low vitamin D or their magnesium is low or low zinc levels, by taking a vitamin or mineral supplement, it can really help to bolster those levels.

I do all those things right.

Jill Huber, a Lehigh Valley mother of three boys, has been Benson's patient for more than ten years.

I was seeking general wellness.

I have struggled with gut health and migraines and headaches really, my whole life.

I remember getting my first migraine at four years old, and I reached a point in my adulthood that I thought, I want to get to the bottom of this.

I don't want to live this way.

And so I thought functional help for that.

And supplements became exactly that.

They supplemented my health.

So after lifestyle changes, it was, okay, how can I support my body through this?

And supplements taken the right way with the right dosage are what helped on that.

The most popular form of supplement in America is the multivitamin.

These pack a number of vitamins and minerals all in one pill.

So when we're looking for a multivitamin, you know, what we want to see is that we have appropriate dosage of, you know, key nutrients, individualized to each patient.

Quality is also key.

When you're purchasing higher quality, especially pharmaceutical grade supplements, you're going to find that they're going to have those better forms of certain nutrients like that.

Bentson reminds patients that dietary supplements are not meant to replace nutrition as foods.

Still, some people fall short and benefit from a supplement.

Take vitamin D, for example.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 35% of adults in the U.S. have a vitamin D deficiency, which can impact bone and muscle health, among other things.

Most people living in the Lehigh Valley that when we test their vitamin D, insufficient or vitamin D deficient, that northern latitude, we're lacking some sun, especially in the winter.

So it's important to understand if you're taking a loading dose versus a maintenance dose.

So if we're looking you see, even though these are both vitamin D, this one here is a loading dose, more like a 5000 IU or international units.

And this one is 1000, which is closer to more like a maintenance dose.

Right.

So this is important.

This is test.

Don't gas know what your vitamin D level is.

And then again, titrate appropriately.

Got it.

Benson uses blood tests and other lab work to determine a patient's vitamin and mineral levels.

So amount is very important.

It is?

Yeah.

You know, not enough.

You might not have the therapeutic effect, but too much could actually cause some health, you know, ramifications in a negative way.

Right now, let's take a look at vitamin C. Vitamin C is a key antioxidant.

Vitamin C has immune enhancing properties.

Taking it in a combination, for example, with bio flavonoids, that's where we're going to get the best bang for our buck.

This is just one example of how supplements often work together for greater efficacy.

What about zinc?

It's touted as a remedy for colds.

It's best for boosting immunity, really, at the onset of a viral illness.

But there can definitely be a negative impact to taking too much zinc.

Watching that you're not taking really above 30 milligrams of zinc is very important and you'd never want to do that for a long term.

How about over here?

So this is fish oil?

Yeah.

So this is.

yeah, omega three fish oil.

People need omega three fatty acids and get them in certain foods.

For a lot of people and omega three supplement is really helpful, especially if they don't eat cold water.

Fatty fish like salmon, Tuna, Mackerel.

Herring.

Omega three essential fatty acids support important bodily processes.

Cardiovascular for neurologic health, also for arthritis, autoimmunity.

Absolutely.

This is a great natural anti inflammatory.

But a word of caution before purchasing fish oil.

Fish is very high in mercury, PCBs, dioxins.

And so if you're taking this in a concentrated form, you want to make sure that it's molecularly distilled and it's been tested, third party tested for purity to make sure that there aren't those PCBs, dioxins and mercury.

This brings us to the importance of reading product labels.

I'm always looking at the amount of any given active ingredient, you know, So this area is going to be the active ingredient.

But I'm always also looking at this other ingredients area.

And we're looking for sugar numbers, chemicals, making sure that we aren't seeing those.

While I also suggest that you look for third party testing or certification, that's not always listed right on the label, but you'll be able to find that on their website as well.

Other certifications might include gluten free, vegan or kosher, depending on the product.

So how effective are supplements in improving one's health?

I've absolutely seen the results.

If a patient is deficient in a certain nutrient, you know, bolstering that nutrient through supplements, a lot of times, again, we can't always get it through.

Diet can be very effective and helpful.

Okay, that's great.

That's.

Yeah.

So identifying why you're looking to incorporate those supplements really is the starting point.

And then from there, I absolutely recommend working with a qualified provider to help you to establish what is the best supplement for you to be taking in the context of that condition, in the context of the other medications that you're taking.

That's a really great starting point.

This is why I'm telling you this is it.

Absolutely.

Dr. Benson provided us with what might be considered a crash course in supplements, but she hopes that it will motivate folks to learn more because there's so much to know and there's so many ways supplements can help people.

She says she sees the benefits every day with her own patients go over.

It seems like there's so many different supplements that can help people along the way if they know how to take them correctly.

And that seems like that is the key here, making sure that you know what to take and how to take it correctly.

Exactly.

And as Dr. Benson pointed out, you know, it's important to know how much you're taking.

For instance, if you take a multivitamin, which is the number one supplement most Americans take, and you're taking other individual vitamins, A, C or D, you might be taking too many.

okay.

And so, as she pointed out, it's important not only to understand what supplements you're taking, but also how much.

So I think it's important to reiterate, talking to your doctor about it is the key here to make sure that you're not overdoing or under doing it.

That's right.

If you're putting it on or in your body, you need to know a lot about it.

Sure.

Awesome.

Grover, some great information, as always.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Sure.

That'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.