Combining Nutritional Supplements with Chinese Herbs

This month's newsletter is in response to the type of questions I often come across.

It is common that supplements are marketed to give the impression that you will be guaranteed a longer, healthier life just by taking whatever it is they are selling. It may actually be an effective product but it usually it needs to be integrated into a complete health program to yield meaningful benefits.

Below are some of the suggestions I give to my patients on a regular basis. These suggestions are based on observations of myself and my patients over the last 16 yrs. Some people may not agree with me, but I find that all of my patients experience positive changes in their health when following the instructions below. I am not going into a lot of detail on why I make these choices, because that is beyond the scope of a short newsletter and more of a topic for a book. (Which is not planned yet)

Some Suggestions for a Healthy Lifestyle

1. Protein -- 3X day -- totaling about 1/2 your body weight in grams. For example a 120lb man or woman should take in about 60 gms of protein daily. Many people only take in 20% or less. This inevitably leads to a protein deficiency. By the way, eggs (from chickens who run free and are not given antibiotics and hormones) are one of the best proteins to eat. No, they do not give you high cholesterol. Other good protein sources are Organic chicken and meats. Fish is excellent but not deep sea fish (too much mercury) or shell fish (commonly produce an allergic response)
   
   
2. Vegetables -- Organic if possible and all you can eat. Double or triple the government's daily requirement.
   
   
3. Grains -- minimize -- Most people do not do so well with a lot of grains. Wheat is particularly troublesome since it is one of the most common foods causing an allergic response (along with corn)
   
   
4. Drink enough liquids -- water, green tea -- At least 32 oz preferably 48 oz. Contrary to popular marketing milk is not a good choice. I do not recommend drinking alcohol or coffee (or at least only minimum amounts)
   
   
5. Dairy -- Contrary to the barrage of advertising, there is an awful lot of evidence to show that drinking milk is NOT healthy. Minimize your intake of cheese.
   
   
6. Don't eat between meals. -- If you eat enough protein you will not need to.
   
   
7. Exercise -- This is absolutely essential. It does not have to be Olympic traininglevel, but a consistent program that includes walking or other aerobic activity and some weight training. Without some exercise, it is not possible to gain and maintain good health. Especially as we age.
Supplements

When I suggest supplements to my patients, I consider them as one part of a triangle to promote healing and good health. Proper Nutrition is at one point, supplements and herbal formulas are at the other 2 points. In the center is environment, in which I include:

1. Mental/emotional -- Stress (excess or lack of)
2. Physical environment and healthy living habits (exercise etc.)
3. Spiritual - Meditation





The key to assessing what formulas and supplements to use is to analyze one's life style and physical pre-dispositions. One may now have a healthy lifestyle, but needs to make up for a time when they did not live that way. Or, one may need to work with an acute or chronic illness.

Healing and keeping healthy is more of what I consider an Art/Science. Each one of us is ultimately the director of our bodies and should decide what goes into it. Even after conferring with a health practitioner, we need to take the information and decide how to integrate it into our lives.

Question: Is there a problem combining vitamins and other supplements when taking Chinese herbs?

Answer: The general answer is no. But in the view of Chinese medicine, to optimize any treatment, it is important to have an understanding of both the acute condition that is being treated and the underlying constitutional tendencies.

Question: I take a multiple vitamin along with other supplements (i.e. Antioxidants) to maintain good health. I would also like to take an herbal formula for sleep and stress, does this present any problems or contra-indications?

Answer: There should be no problem taking a formula for stress (like Calm & Clear ) or for sleep (like Fast Asleep) if they are taken between or away from meals. If we were to categorize multiple vitamins in the Chinese healing system, they would be considered a Spleen tonic (with a tendency to create some digestive congestion). This means that they can have an energizing and strengthening effect on the body. There are many different formulations on the market, with different potencies and combinations. Usually it is the B-Complex vitamins that cause people to feel some digestive difficulties, more so if they already have a weak digestive system. But, it can also be due to formulation of the vitamin or even the quality of the ingredients.

Vitamins are best taken with food. They are not food, but nutritional catalysts that help the body function more optimally. Some supplements can be taken with or without food and others should be taken between meals. It all depends on the supplement and what you are trying to accomplish by taking it.

Herbal supplements are best taken between meals. That way they can be absorbed more rapidly into the body without dilution. In some cases they are taken before meals to lessen the digestive difficulties that a particular formula may tend to give.

Question: How can I use vitamin therapy and herbal therapy to treat/prevent colds and flu.

Answer: Obviously prevention is always preferred. But, inevitably, there are times when we are more susceptible to catching a cold/flu virus then other times. Working with a practitioner who understands and uses nutritional supplements can be very helpful to fine tune your preventative health program.

To treat the onset of a cold/flu with supplements, increase your vitamin C to 3000-4000 mg 3-4X daily. If your bowels become loose, than reduce the amount until they become normal. Most people take way too little vitamin C to treat their colds. I prefer to use the Ester form of C.

Some people respond well to vitamin A in higher doses: 25,000 units 3 X a day until the symptoms change is a good starting point. Vitamin A does not become toxic at this dose and for short periods (1-2 weeks). I have not been able to find any reports of toxicity at these doses.

Zinc supplements or lozenges can also be useful to reduce the severity and increase healing time.

But, I find that not everyone responds to this.

If along with your cold symptoms your digestion is sluggish, it is ok to stop taking your multiple vitamin until it improves. If you cannot digest a supplement properly, than you may not be absorbing it. In this case there are little or no benefits from taking it.

These days catching a Cold/flu has the potential to develop into a serious illness. I prefer to be very aggressive on the first appearance of symptoms. It is a lot easier to knock it out or reduce the severity at the beginning stages. For an understanding and an herbal treatment approach, take a look at my newsletter: Treating Colds and Flu with Herbal Medicine for guidelines on using herbal formulas. The formula Deeply Immune is used as a preventative, Self Defense is taken at the first symptoms and Attack or Attack 2 is used when there is a full out cold/flu.

Question: What supplements do you personally take on a daily basis.

Answer: since I live in an urban environment, I feel it is important to take supplements to counter the levels of toxicity commonly found there. I would probably not take as many if I was living in a rural setting and growing my own vegetables.

What I take:

High potency Multivitamin -- 2 X daily
Ester C Complex (with bioflavonoids, rutin) -- 2000 mg 3X daily
DHEA -- 50mg -- 1X daily (in the morning)
Fish oil (EPA/DHA) -- 1200mg Cap -- 4 caps daily
Vita E -- Mixed Tocopherols -- 400 iu (total 800 iu daily -- multi has 400iu) -- 1X daily
COQ10 -- 100mg (with tocotrienols or E) -- 1X daily
Proanthocyadins -- 120 mg -- 3X daily
Lipoic Acid -- 100 mg -- 1 X daily
NAC -- 500 mg -- 2X daily
Milk Thistle -- 150 mg -- 2X daily
Chlorella -- 1 tablet -- 3X daily
Lactobacillus combination (high potency) -- 1 before meals
Digestive enzymes -- after main meal

During the fall and winter months I like to also take a tonic such as Super Tonic. Other good tonics to consider are Male Tonic, Female Tonic and Deeply Immune.

Supplements can be adjusted according to age, activity level, local environment conditions and to address any specific conditions you may be trying to correct.

Biased Reporting in the News
There has been a lot of negative publicity in the news recently concerning the ill effects of herbs like MaHuang, St. Johns Wort , Kava Kava etc. It is frustrating to see such poorly reported and biased news. In each case, once the actual facts were investigated, it became doubtful that the herb in question was the cause of the claimed illness. Unfortunately, this part of the news is almost never reported. A trained herbalist (especially in Chinese medicine) rarely gives only a single herb to his/her patient. A clinically trained herbalist, thinks in terms of formulas, combinations of herbs designed to enhance the therapeutic action and minimize side effects.

Yes, there are cautions with certain herbs when combined with pharmaceutical drugs. There are cautions with over the counter drugs or even certain foods, when taken with prescription drugs. In other words one needs to adhere to some basic common sense and guidelines. It is always best to consult with a health practitioner if your condition is worsening or not responding to simple treatments. Any substance can be taken wrongly and result in problems.

In general, for the millions of people using herbs over the years there is an amazing lack of problems reported. So few proportionally (even with MaHuang and Kava Kava) that if it were a drug, the manufacturer would consider it a wildly successful product.