Even Elite Supplement Users Make Big Mistakes With Their Daily Dietary Supplement Regimen

Dec 11 2016

One of the brainiest men on the planet has trimmed his dietary supplement regimen down from 225 to 100 pills a day.  [Business Insider]  It is said that some avid supplement users consume food with their supplements not supplements with their food.  But I maintain most supplements users, like the elite user mentioned above, can fill all the nutritional gaps in their diet with 10-12 pills a day.

One of the biggest mistakes dietary supplement users make is that they consume nutrients they either don’t need or are simply inappropriate.

Coenzyme Q10 is an example.  This widely promoted antioxidant is synthesized naturally in the body in modest amounts.  The human body makes about 2-5 milligrams of coenzyme Q10 a day.  Co-Q10 is a mitochondrial antioxidant.  Mitochondria are the atomic power plants that produce energy in the form of adenotriphosphate (ATP) inside cells.  A shortage of Co-Q10 drastically reduces cell energy needed for muscles in the heart to pump blood, for instance.  CoQ-10 would be especially appropriate in cases of heart failure.  [Journal Pharmacy & Bioallied Sciences July 2011]

However, the required nutrient to produce ATP is magnesium.   The total magnesium content of the human body for a 160-lb adult is reported to be around 24 grams.  The content of calcium in the body is 42 times greater than magnesium.  [Journal Nuclear Medicine 1977]  Around ninety-nine percent (99%) of magnesium is located in bone, muscles and soft tissue.  The remaining 1% is mostly found in blood serum.  Magnesium is mostly found within cells and is required for the production of cell energy (ATP).  Muscle contraction, glucose utilization via insulin production, fat synthesis and release of brain chemicals requires magnesium.

Magnesium is nature’s calcium blocker and inhibits the inrush of calcium into cells that kills them.  Chlorophyll and green vegetables are the main source of magnesium.  With the boiling of processed foods and de-mineralized soft-water, and use of phosphate fertilizers, populations in industrialized countries are frequently deprived of magnesium.  [Clinical Kidney Journal 2012]

Many elite supplement users augment their diet with Co-Q10 but not the more essential magnesium. It may be appropriate for statin cholesterol-lowering drug users to take Co-Q10 supplements because that medication depletes Co-Q10, which in turn compromises the production of cell energy (ATP).  However, statin drugs lower magnesium blood levels by 35-65%.  Magnesium has parallel properties to statins.  This is not well known. [Journal American College Nutrition 2004]

It is not unusual to find an adult who is in heart failure due to damage to heart muscle caused by a heart attack to be taking supplements like Co-Q10 and red yeast rice, a natural source of statin molecules, but not taking the all important magnesium.

Magnesium, not statins or Co-Q10, rescue heart muscle by countering the destructive  influx of calcium into heart muscle.   This is not to belittle those who take Co-Q10.  It is one the most consumed dietary supplements.  For commercial reasons Co-Q10 has been promoted more avidly than magnesium.

By the way, red yeast rice may be natural but it still is toxic to the liver just as are statin drugs.

What you have learned here is that supplement users, healthy or not, should supplement with magnesium, not calcium, not red yeast rice, and only rely on Co-Q10 after magnesium levels have been normalized.  And statin drugs may be overrated and replaced altogether by magnesium as well.

But what about calcium for bone health you ask?  The American diet, usually rich in dairy products, provides calcium and very little magnesium and is usually sufficient to meet calcium need for bone health.

Americans consume anywhere from 600-1200 milligrams of calcium/day.  Post-menopausal women who are at risk for bone loss (osteoporosis) are advised to consume 1200 mg calcium/day which was determined by calcium from the diet + supplements.  [National Institutes of Health]

However, most calcium supplements provide the entire 1200 milligrams of calcium, resulting in calcium overload.  It’s very possible for a woman to consume 600-1200 mg of calcium from the diet and obtain another 1200 mg from supplements and have a total intake of 1800-2400 mg calcium and maybe just 600-800 mg of magnesium, an undesirable 3-to-1 ratio of calcium to magnesium.  Most calcium supplement makers are oblivious to the fact the suggested 1200 mg of calcium per day for older women is to be derived from the diet + supplements.

Furthermore, age-related bone loss does not result from a lack of calcium but rather a shortage of estrogen.  Estrogen sends a signal to hold calcium in bone.  Without supplemental estrogen, calcium pills are like pouring calcium into a barrel with a hole in the bottom.  The calcium will just spill out of bone and into the arteries and stiffen them.  It is precisely when women cease making estrogen from their ovaries that arterial disease begins in women.  It would be more appropriate for women to obtain a prescription for bio-identical estrogen (same molecule as made by the human body, obtained from yams) or to consume weak plant estrogens like resveratrol or pueraria mirifica, an Asian phytoestrogen.  [International Journal Molecular Medicine Oct 2006; Maturitas 2008]

According to an authoritative source, ~70% of senior aged American women take calcium pills, $ billion of them a year.  That’s millions of women who are making a big mistake.  [National Institutes of Health]  There is a 30% increased risk for a heart attack among older women who take calcium pills. [Wall Street Journal July 2, 2012; Journal Bone Metabolism Feb 2014]  While naysayers claim calcium supplements are safe and effective, researchers who initially reported calcium pills induce heart attacks have strongly rebutted their critics. [Journal Bone Mineral Research Feb 2015; Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety Oct 2013]

Still not convinced about the futility of taking Coq10?  By age 80 only about 4% of mitochondria are operational.  What good would it do to take supplemental CoQ10 when there are few mitochondria that remain in old age?  Fortunately, there is a biological phenomenon known as mitochondrial biogenesis.  Mitochondria can be renewed a gene transcription factor called PGC-1a and AMPK, an energy sensing molecule in mitochondria.  [Essays Biochemistry 2010]  Natural molecules like the red wine molecules resveratrol and quercetin activate these genetic pathways and therefore increase the quantity and activity of mitochondria. [Biochimica Biophysica Acta April 2016; Experimental Gerontology Sept 2008]

In other words, mitochondria must exist for CoQ10 to work.  Mitochondria can be renewed with the provision of herbal molecules.  That take precedence over dietary supplementation with CoQ10.

A comprehensive daily vitamin and mineral regimen that regenerates mitochondria that focuses on magnesium and polyphenols like resveratrol and quercetin.

A comprehensive daily dietary supplement regimen should include:

• An iron/copper-free multivitamin formulated to include highly-absorbable forms of B vitamins (B1 as benfotiamin; B6 as pyridoxyl phosphate; B9 as folate rather than folic acid; B12 as Methylcobalamin) and both families of vitamin E (tocopherols, Tocotrienols) with trace minerals zinc, selenium, chromium, iodine and boron.  Plus probiotics and pre-biotics, polyphenols from grapes, tea and apples.
• A calcium-free magnesium-based mineral formula that provides anti-calcifying agents (vitamin D3, vitamin K2, magnesium, IP6 rice bran), and for women, a mild plant estrogen (phytoestrogen) to send a signal to hold calcium in bone.
• An omega-3-6-9 formula to provide essential oils

These three dietary supplements should help cover 99% of the potential nutritional gaps in your diet.

After you have provided essential vitamins, minerals and oils, then you an add to your daily supplement regimen.

For example:

Some men may want pumpkin seed oil to shrink their prostate gland.

Most supplement users will benefit from additional vitamin C taken throughout the day to achieve optimal blood levels.  500-1000 mg vitamin C taken 3-5 times a day at equal intervals would be ideal.

Women may need a dietary supplement that addresses hormonal issues.

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The dollars and cents of the MOLECULAR MULTI

FOR ELITE VITAMIN USERS WHO DON’T WANT TO TAKE 44 PILLS A DAY (and save loads of money over purchasing ingredients individually)

Buy all the 44 ingredients in the MOLECULAR MULTI separately and it would cost you ~$75.00 retail price

120 capsule bottle (4 capsules/day) 30-day supply

Suggested retail price: $54.75 or $1.82/day

Buy 3 bottles @$54.75 each = $164.25 get 1 bottle free

Effective price $41.06  ($1.37/day)

Save money, take 2 capsules/day instead of 4/day = 68-cents a day

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Examine the list of nutrients in THE MOLECULAR MULTI.