A Few Supplements Your Body Might Thank You For

Written By Hopelessly Yellow

October 17, 2023

Author: Helen Hannan

Editor: Lexie Meltzer

With what seems like an unlimited amount of supplements available to us now, it can be near impossible to know what you should and shouldn’t be taking. However, there are some supplements that a large number of people benefit from. Here are just a few of the thousands of supplements that different people incorporate into their daily routine; you might find, like me, when I started taking them this past summer, that you didn’t even know how much you needed them.

Note: When it comes to supplements, it is recommended to first consult with your doctor and (ideally) have bloodwork done to see what you, as an individual, may need. 

Electrolytes

Adding electrolytes into your daily water intake is important even if you’re not an ultramarathoner. Our bodies need these ions — magnesium (Mg2+), potassium (K+), and sodium (Na+) — for a lot of different functions: proper cellular hydration, cardiac function, neurological processes, and more. 

This summer, I felt lightheaded and dizzy almost everyday. It turned out that I wasn’t staying properly hydrated, and this was causing huge drops in my blood pressure. Cardiologists told me to not only increase my water intake but also increase my electrolyte intake. Here’s the logic they used: water accounts for a large portion of your blood, therefore more water is more volume, and more volume is higher pressure. A higher, stable pressure keeps it from dramatically falling and causing dizzy spells. Electrolytes help your body hold onto water more efficiently, so the hydration effects are even greater than just plain water1. 

Having plenty of electrolytes in our bodies also helps the electrical impulses in our heart function properly since ions are an essential part of those mechanisms. And, yes, the common association between exercise and electrolytes is warranted— if you’re sweating a lot, you’re sweating out these essential ions, so adding electrolytes to your water can significantly and positively affect your endurance, performance, and recovery from workouts2. I try to have two servings of electrolytes per day: once when I wake up to beat overnight dehydration (which we all experience even if we don’t realize it) and once when I workout. You can try hydration multipliers like Liquid IV or LMNT, but my favorite electrolytes just come as a salt, nothing else added. Sol Salts are preferred, personally. Check them out: Sol Salts Natural Electrolytes 

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is one of the most important vitamins needed by our bodies. It’s involved in the process of making DNA and helps our cardiac and neurologic systems function3,4. If you’ve ever had laughing gas at the dentist or been exposed to nitrous oxide, your vitamin B12 could be permanently inactivated, and in serious cases, this can lead to neurological deficits5,6. It likely won’t have severe effects on you if you’ve had a few teeth pulled here and there, but it is recommended to supplement with vitamin B12 if you’ve been affected. Vitamin B12 deficiency is, after all, common. There are a few different forms of vitamin B12, but the most readily bioavailable one is the active form, methylcobalamin; my favorite is from Designs for Health.

Vitamin D3

Vitamin D plays a huge role in bone formation, muscle strength, immune, and autoimmune pathways7,8. About 50% of the world has vitamin D deficiencies, and most doctors recommend that everyone supplement with vitamin D. The catch? The supplement must be in the form of vitamin D3, sourced from animals, and not vitamin D2, sourced from plants9. Vitamin D3 is much more readily absorbed by our bodies because of slight differences in chemical structure; any benefit seen from taking vitamin D3 is not observed when taking vitamin D210. My favorite, again, is from Designs for Health. It includes vitamins K1 and K2 which help the calcium that D3 transports to actually be absorbed by your bones and not just deposited in your arteries11. 

Magnesium

As an ion, magnesium (Mg2+) is involved in over 600+ enzyme-catalyzed reactions in your body12. Supplementation with magnesium can have all sorts of positive effects on your body, short and long term. It is associated with better, more restful sleep13, a lower risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (a condition that over ¼ of American adults have)14, and a reduction in insulin resistance15. Reducing insulin resistance may sound counterintuitive, but we actually want to minimize the amount of insulin we need; high insulin resistance often leads to high blood sugar, which may eventually lead to type II diabetes16. Often, preventing insulin resistance prevents future nerve damage and heart conditions17. Just remember, it is commonly used as a sleep supplement, so I recommend you take it before bed and not in the morning! My favorite magnesium supplement also includes taurate, which makes it an even more potent regulator of blood sugar and insulin: Sol Supps Magnesium 

Works Cited

  1. Bechke, E. E., Zaplatosch, M. E., Choi, J. Y., & Adams, W. M. (2022). Utility of an Isotonic Beverage on Hydration Status and Cardiovascular Alterations. Nutrients, 14(6), 1286. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14061286

  2. Choi, D.-H., Cho, J.-Y., Koo, J.-H., & Kim, T.-K. (2021). Effects of Electrolyte Supplements on Body Water Homeostasis and Exercise Performance during Exhaustive Exercise. Applied Sciences, 11(19), 9093. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11199093

  3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Office of dietary supplements - vitamin B12. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB12-Consumer/#:~:text=on%20Vitamin%20B12.-,What%20is%20vitamin%20B12%20and%20what%20does%20it%20do%3F,makes%20people%20tired%20and%20weak. 

  4. Beitzke, M., Pfister, P., Fortin, J., & Skrabal, F. (2002). Autonomic dysfunction and hemodynamics in vitamin B12 deficiency. Autonomic neuroscience : basic & clinical, 97(1), 45–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1566-0702(01)00393-9

  5. Campdesuner, V., Teklie, Y., Alkayali, T., Pierce, D., & George, J. (2020). Nitrous Oxide-Induced Vitamin B12 Deficiency Resulting in Myelopathy. Cureus, 12(7), e9088. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.9088

  6. Chi SI. Complications caused by nitrous oxide in dental sedation. J Dent Anesth Pain Med. 2018 Apr;18(2):71-78. https://doi.org/10.17245/jdapm.2018.18.2.71

  7. Baeke, F., Takiishi, T., Korf, H., Gysemans, C., & Mathieu, C. (2010). Vitamin D: modulator of the immune system. Current opinion in pharmacology, 10(4), 482–496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coph.2010.04.001

  8. Chiang, C. M., Ismaeel, A., Griffis, R. B., & Weems, S. (2017). Effects of Vitamin D Supplementation on Muscle Strength in Athletes: A Systematic Review. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(2), 566–574. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001518

  9. MediLexicon International. (n.d.). Vitamin D2 vs. D3: Benefits, differences, and more. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/vitamin-d2-vs-d3 

  10. Tripkovic, L., Lambert, H., Hart, K., Smith, C. P., Bucca, G., Penson, S., Chope, G., Hyppönen, E., Berry, J., Vieth, R., & Lanham-New, S. (2012). Comparison of vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 supplementation in raising serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D status: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 95(6), 1357–1364. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.031070

  11. Van Ballegooijen, A. J., Pilz, S., Tomaschitz, A., Grübler, M. R., & Verheyen, N. (2017). The Synergistic Interplay between Vitamins D and K for Bone and Cardiovascular Health: A Narrative Review. International journal of endocrinology, 2017, 7454376. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7454376

  12. de Baaij, J. H., Hoenderop, J. G., & Bindels, R. J. (2015). Magnesium in man: implications for health and disease. Physiological reviews, 95(1), 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00012.2014

  13.  Zhang, Y., Chen, C., Lu, L., Knutson, K. L., Carnethon, M. R., Fly, A. D., Luo, J., Haas, D. M., Shikany, J. M., & Kahe, K. (2022). Association of magnesium intake with sleep duration and sleep quality: findings from the CARDIA study. Sleep, 45(4), zsab276. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab276

  14. Lu, L., Chen, C., Li, Y., Guo, W., Zhang, S., Brockman, J., Shikany, J. M., & Kahe, K. (2022). Magnesium intake is inversely associated with risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among American adults. European journal of nutrition, 61(3), 1245–1254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-021-02732-8

  15.  Mooren, F. C., Krüger, K., Völker, K., Golf, S. W., Wadepuhl, M., & Kraus, A. (2011). Oral magnesium supplementation reduces insulin resistance in non-diabetic subjects - a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Diabetes, obesity & metabolism, 13(3), 281–284. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-1326.2010.01332.x

  16. Insulin resistance. Insulin Resistance | ADA. (n.d.). https://diabetes.org/healthy-living/medication-treatments/insulin-resistance 

  17. Galiero, R., Caturano, A., Vetrano, E., Beccia, D., Brin, C., Alfano, M., Di Salvo, J., Epifani, R., Piacevole, A., Tagliaferri, G., Rocco, M., Iadicicco, I., Docimo, G., Rinaldi, L., Sardu, C., Salvatore, T., Marfella, R., & Sasso, F. C. (2023). Peripheral Neuropathy in Diabetes Mellitus: Pathogenetic Mechanisms and Diagnostic Options. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(4), 3554. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043554

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