important questions about supplements page

[Suse]

what I would like to know is
1. what supplements should NOT be taken together
2. what supplements are best with food
3. what supplements are best on an empty stomach
4. what is the down time considered to be for an "empty stomach".. eg, if you had dinner at 6pm, is taking a supplement at 10pm considered to be on an empty stomach.

it would be good to get a lot of info in one thread. There might be other questions people have.

[Shrinking_Violet]

Okay, Katherine's the best one for this, BUT...

Most supplements should be taken with food in order to aid absorption (Kat, correct me if I'm wrong on this). If you're taking iron, it's best taken with vitamin C as that aids its absorption.

I just do what it says on the bottle - I've always assumed they print directions on there for a reason...

As for an empty stomach, I would say that 4-6 hours is about right, but be careful what you take prior to going to bed, as some supps may keep you awake (not that I know of any which do this, but I know some can)

I think it's really over to CillaKat for the rest of this one!

[Suse]

I thought there would have been a few more thoughts on this, so bump

[cillakat]

what I would like to know is
1. what supplements should NOT be taken together

wellllllll, it depends on how picky you want to get.

By and large, there are few to no concerns about what supplements are taken with what other supplements. But here are the ones you could be aware of if you felt like it

iron: typically you'll hear that iron shouldn't be taken with calcium containing foods but if it's good iron - Albion lab's chelated iron bisglycinate called Ferrochel - then it doesn't matter at all. If you require iron, get that one. Many many brands sell it. It's also in many multis. There is no benefit to taking this form of iron with vitamin c or C containing foods. It just absorbs well, period. The concern regarding iron and C has only to do with vegetable iron sources (non-heme).

zinc: ideally we'd take zinc supplements separate from other mineral containing supplements and (ideally) with meals containing little fiber, though I think that's not so important.

magnesium: if I can take magnesium separately from calcium containing foods, I do. if it's not convenient, I don't.

2. what supplements are best with food

This is *really* important. All supplements should be taken with food except for
1)proteolytic enzymes
2)amino acids used for the purpose of increasing levels of specific neurotransmitters

Fat soluble nutrients should be taken with meals containing fat For folks here, this is a non issue.

3. what supplements are best on an empty stomach

1)proteolytic enzymes
2)amino acids used for the purpose of increasing levels of specific neurotransmitters

4. what is the down time considered to be for an "empty stomach"..

at least 30 minutes before and at least 2 hours after your last meal.

[Suse]

excellent thanks for that.

I was wondering about probiotics, I know you can take with or without food depending on their coating, and generally I take before food. But I was wondering if I forgot and took my probiotic and my fish oil and vit d all at the same time with breakfast, am I stopping any absorption.

I take magnesium only occasionally (and generally half the tab) and take that before bed so my stomach is probably pretty empty by then.

[Minxxa]

Thanks for this thread. I have been taking most of my vitamins at night with no food. This is when I usually take my magnesium, my D(which comes in oil, so not too worried about that one), my multi-vitamin and my zinc. I may have to reevaluate that.

I take milk thistle and adrenal stuff midday, and my thyroid meds in the morning. Hmmm..... need to redo all this I guess!

[cillakat]

excellent thanks for that.

I was wondering about probiotics, I know you can take with or without food depending on their coating, and generally I take before food. But I was wondering if I forgot and took my probiotic and my fish oil and vit d all at the same time with breakfast, am I stopping any absorption.

I take magnesium only occasionally (and generally half the tab) and take that before bed so my stomach is probably pretty empty by then.

Most mag is better with food.

Probiotics are fine with food - really Consider that as long as humans have been getting probiotics it's been from organisms in food (dirt or fermented food). For some who are doing hard core a hardcore gut healing regimen there may be some additonal benefit to taking probiotics on an empty stomach but I woudln't worry about it ftmp.