Speaker 1: Hi, I'm from Chester Budgin and I'm Louise Area and
Speaker 1: this is season five of our New Zealand to Here
Speaker 1: with podcasts The Little Things Good to have you with us.
Speaker 2: So in this podcast, we talked to experts. We found
Speaker 2: out all the little things that you need to know
Speaker 2: to improve all areas of your life and cut through
Speaker 2: the confusion and overload of information out there.
Speaker 1: So today, supplements, we're going to talk about how to
Speaker 1: find out whether you even really need a supplement, and
Speaker 1: if you do, we're going to find out how to
Speaker 1: select a good quality supplement and make it work best
Speaker 1: for you. And we're going to get the low down
Speaker 1: on some of the supplement trends out there and talk
Speaker 1: about everything from vitamin D to Mauldi vitamins to anti
Speaker 1: aging supplements.
Speaker 2: This is one area where there is a huge amount
Speaker 2: of information. It is confusing. I mean, this just sort
Speaker 2: of fits the bill of what we what we're trying
Speaker 2: to do here through that. Yeah, Yeah, So I'm so
Speaker 2: excited we're going to talk about this today. Do you
Speaker 2: use use supplements?
Speaker 1: I do not take a single supplement these days. I
Speaker 1: toy with the idea. I definitely did. If you're a call.
Speaker 1: Coming out of my illness, I took quite a lot
Speaker 1: of supplements. Yeah, then it just kind of you still
Speaker 1: taking protein powder? You a sorry create sorry creating? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I kind of probably should, but I don't
Speaker 1: really think of those as supplement. No, yes, protein powder
Speaker 1: when I remember creating, when I remember, I must ask
Speaker 1: our guest about that, whether or not. It's the consistency
Speaker 1: that counts. Was that sort of thing. But other than
Speaker 1: those two things, yeah, nothing. Try not to even take
Speaker 1: a paracetamaf I don't need it. I'm very much the same.
Speaker 1: I do use protein powder as a way to get
Speaker 1: a little extra protein in the day, and that's about it.
Speaker 1: I was using a Mega three for a while from
Speaker 1: the joints and things, but it's just so I don't
Speaker 1: know whether they work or not. And then and then
Speaker 1: you sort of you know, and these things are costly.
Speaker 1: I don't have the money to be paying for something
Speaker 1: that's not working all. I mean, i'd probably take the
Speaker 1: placebo effect, but then I might finish a bottle and
Speaker 1: I'll think, oh, should I replace them? And I just
Speaker 1: live with things for a month and I go, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe my joints are a bits or but then you go,
Speaker 1: but actually it's winter and it's degrees outside, would be
Speaker 1: would they be like that anyway? Like with some of them,
Speaker 1: what I would really like to know is when does
Speaker 1: it matter that it's a super high quality expensive one
Speaker 1: and when does it not matter? And you can get
Speaker 1: the cheaper version of something and still get the same impact. So,
Speaker 1: for example, Amega three is a really good example of that,
Speaker 1: I think, because there are some cheap ones, you know,
Speaker 1: those really big bottles, the ones that you can get.
Speaker 1: I don't know how long is the active ingredient for
Speaker 1: who knows, Like you're right, it could just be a
Speaker 1: PLACEBA effect.
Speaker 2: And that's what I'm really excited today we're going to
Speaker 2: talk about. We're going to sort of learn how to
Speaker 2: read labels and what to look for and understanding the
Speaker 2: kind of doses that you should be taking of things.
Speaker 2: I think I have quite an old fashioned perception of
Speaker 2: taking vitamins and nutrients. I think in the past I've
Speaker 2: just got, oh, look, I'm just I'll just take some
Speaker 2: vitamin B, or I'll just take a body vitamin and
Speaker 2: all vitamin C. And you know that's fine. If I
Speaker 2: don't need it, I'll just pee it. Out. You know,
Speaker 2: I've ever thought of them as being a harmful or anything.
Speaker 2: But what we are actually seeing is the industry grows,
Speaker 2: is that it can actually you know, all these things
Speaker 2: do have to be processed by a body, and they
Speaker 2: can cause harm as well. So it's going to be
Speaker 2: great to talk about that a little bit today and
Speaker 2: making sure that what we're doing is benefiting us and not.
Speaker 2: And if you find yourself on a because the prescriptages, yeah,
Speaker 2: ages are tearing into the supplements and things now. And
Speaker 2: if you if you are on a prescribed medication and
Speaker 2: you're taking supplements, what's the you know, who knows you
Speaker 2: could be doing yourself some harm? And if the GP
Speaker 2: asks you, how often do you do you honestly say, oh, yes,
Speaker 2: here's the list of I don't think you've taken because
Speaker 2: some of these people don't think about it and or
Speaker 2: they don't admit it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe because they don't want to be poopooped by
Speaker 1: their GP. So there is a lot to cover, and
Speaker 1: I think there are times in your life where you
Speaker 1: do need them, like, for example, foll late when you're
Speaker 1: pregnant in that absolutely, so I guess today is naturopath
Speaker 1: Aaron O'Hara. Aaron holds both a Bachelor of Science and
Speaker 1: Physiology and a Bachelor of Natural Medicine. She combines that
Speaker 1: knowledge of naturopathy and science to provide an integrative, an
Speaker 1: evidence based approach to well being. Aaron has been in
Speaker 1: the health and well being industry for around twenty years now,
Speaker 1: but she continues to do extensive study to keep on
Speaker 1: top of scientific research and it is hugely passionate about health.
Speaker 1: Good to have you with us, are and welcome. Hi,
Speaker 1: Nice to have you with us, Aaron.
Speaker 2: Let's just start with the obvious question when it comes
Speaker 2: to supplements, do we need to supplement our diet?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's mixed views on that, and I
Speaker 3: was actually looking through some of the current research on
Speaker 3: do we need supplements, and there has actually been studies
Speaker 3: done with people over long periods of time, whether they've
Speaker 3: taken a multi vitamin or taken a placebo, and it's
Speaker 3: interesting the research that comes out of those studies is
Speaker 3: actually there's very little difference between the two groups. So
Speaker 3: it really depends on your own health and well being
Speaker 3: and what sort of diet you're having, as well as
Speaker 3: if you do have any specific sort of deficiencies that
Speaker 3: you'd want to be looking out for. So people who
Speaker 3: were maybe likes of being on a vegan diet, you
Speaker 3: might be looking at supplementing on top of that, or
Speaker 3: maybe certain health conditions like ours herporosis that we may
Speaker 3: want some extra supplements. When it comes to a multi vitamin,
Speaker 3: I think people are quick to grab them off the
Speaker 3: shelf and be like, it's my insurance policy for keeping
Speaker 3: myself healthy. But actually, I think we need to really
Speaker 3: take a second look at Okay, what are we taking,
Speaker 3: what is in't it? What extra additives are in that supplement,
Speaker 3: and are they going to be doing more benefit or
Speaker 3: harm to your body? And it's not the same for everyone, unfortunately,
Speaker 3: we are all a little bit different and unique, and
Speaker 3: I think that's where it depends on your natural nutrient
Speaker 3: levels in your body, but also how your organs also
Speaker 3: process those supplements as well, and the quality of the
Speaker 3: product is huge.
Speaker 1: I guess, like everything that we talk about on this podcast,
Speaker 1: it isn't a one size fits all situation. And so
Speaker 1: how if we wanted to know whether or not we
Speaker 1: needed a specific supplement, how do we know?
Speaker 3: I think it's first looking at your own health. So
Speaker 3: I think the question I would usually ask someone is
Speaker 3: why are you wanting to take supplements? Are you looking
Speaker 3: at some sort of symptom that you've got, or do
Speaker 3: you have a medicine condition you're wanting some extra support with,
Speaker 3: and then from there looking at doing blood testing. It's
Speaker 3: usually where I like to start. I like to know
Speaker 3: where our baseline is and not just packing supplements based
Speaker 3: on what it could possibly be good for, but instead, okay,
Speaker 3: what is your general wellbeing like before you start putting
Speaker 3: in supplements, and then you also know the effect of
Speaker 3: those supplements on your body, particularly things like liver that
Speaker 3: might be holding more toxic load when you're adding more
Speaker 3: supplements in and actually having an educative view of what
Speaker 3: you're supplementmenting in.
Speaker 2: So that's interesting. You're not just take You're not just
Speaker 2: doing the testing to see if you may be deficient
Speaker 2: in something like iron, but you also once you start
Speaker 2: a supplement is actually worth testing to make sure that
Speaker 2: it's not having an impact on certain parts of your
Speaker 2: body like your liver and things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's looking about sort of where your general
Speaker 3: health is at. And when you look at basic bloods,
Speaker 3: you've got complete blood count. That's really looking at whether
Speaker 3: you've got anemia, how your red blood sell how your
Speaker 3: immune system's working. And then also organ function is usually
Speaker 3: in a very basic panel, so that would be a
Speaker 3: liver function test, as well as looking at renal function,
Speaker 3: which is your kidneys. And most supplements if you're overdosing
Speaker 3: yourself or even taking the right dose, is they are
Speaker 3: actually getting processed through the liver and the kidneys. So
Speaker 3: being really mindful of those organs because they're filtering whatever
Speaker 3: you're putting in your body.
Speaker 2: So don't tell me off, because I know I should
Speaker 2: know better, But I did say in the introduction, I
Speaker 2: think I do have quite an old fashioned perception of
Speaker 2: taking a taking a vitamin, taking a supplement, which is, oh,
Speaker 2: if my body doesn't need it, I'll just pee it
Speaker 2: out like it's harmless. And you know, we've always talked
Speaker 2: about that with vitamin C, and everyone said the bright
Speaker 2: yellow P at some point and you're just kind of going, oh,
Speaker 2: that's fine, if my body doesn't need it, I'll just
Speaker 2: pay it out. And I think we worry. We feel
Speaker 2: like does anyone else Did anyone else used to think
Speaker 2: like that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I know, And I think you can tune that
Speaker 1: around and say, if my body doesn't need it, why
Speaker 1: would I make my body process something I don't need
Speaker 1: Because I do remember when I must have been I
Speaker 1: can't remember somewhere in that bloody haze of illness, but
Speaker 1: you know, they've talked about liver loading a lot, and
Speaker 1: it's stuck in my mind. Is that what am I
Speaker 1: doing if I take this or that or the other thing.
Speaker 1: And also when I went to the GP recently and
Speaker 1: they said, oh, yeah, that's cool, you probably should take
Speaker 1: something for your cholestol, but let's just get your kidneys.
Speaker 1: Are like, oh really, I hope blood tested it. She
Speaker 1: was like, well, I need to know before we prescribe
Speaker 1: you something that could even impact on your you know,
Speaker 1: renal function.
Speaker 3: And that's where looking at that as your first line,
Speaker 3: because if you get some testing done and you're also
Speaker 3: looking at your diet and your lifestyle first, it really
Speaker 3: supplements are their next sort of extra. On top of that,
Speaker 3: they're not the instead of eating a healthy diet, you're
Speaker 3: going to supplement in nutrients. It doesn't work like that,
Speaker 3: even if you might like it to work like that.
Speaker 3: And then I also think just your general public, if
Speaker 3: you're looking at supplements like, obviously, I've spent six years
Speaker 3: at university, and I know what's a fat soluble vitamin
Speaker 3: that's going to get processed through the live and what's
Speaker 3: a water soluble vitamin that's going to get processed through
Speaker 3: the kidneys. But I think basically, if you haven't sort
Speaker 3: of studied supplements in depth, you wouldn't know that from
Speaker 3: picking up a bottle and a container and reading the label,
Speaker 3: because basically it will have the ingredients in it and
Speaker 3: maybe a few warnings, but it's not going to tell
Speaker 3: you whether you're going to be overdosing yourself on something,
Speaker 3: whether it's right for you or not, or whether it
Speaker 3: even interacts with possibly any medications that you're taking. And
Speaker 3: I think that's what people quite often don't look at. Okay,
Speaker 3: is there any what's known as polypharmacy of the interaction
Speaker 3: between your supplements and your medications and are they going
Speaker 3: to be helping the medications work better or are they're
Speaker 3: actually going to be doing more harm than good and
Speaker 3: actually making maybe the medication not even work, which is
Speaker 3: actually not something you want to be doing. If you've
Speaker 3: got a chronic health condition.
Speaker 2: Maybe we should this is a good time to talk
Speaker 2: about labeling because half the time I don't have my
Speaker 2: glasses on me and I can't read anything anyway, that's
Speaker 2: so tiny.
Speaker 1: Intentionally, I'm sure I.
Speaker 2: Completely agree with you. So are our supplements well labeled
Speaker 2: erin in New Zealand, well, they have to have.
Speaker 3: A certain amount of information on the label. Definitely. Australia
Speaker 3: is stricter on what labeling goes on, particularly of having
Speaker 3: the warnings and having their right sort of listing of ingredients.
Speaker 3: In New Zealand we're even a little bit more lax
Speaker 3: than that, and that we wouldn't always put the warnings. However,
Speaker 3: in New Zealand we do have a stricter regulation around
Speaker 3: you're not allowed to label the bottle based on the
Speaker 3: action that it would have. For instance, a probatic that's
Speaker 3: for ezma wouldn't say that on the bottle, where in
Speaker 3: countries like Australia they can actually have a little bit
Speaker 3: more guidance based on the labeling of what they're putting
Speaker 3: on the branding of maybe the product name. So different
Speaker 3: countries have different regulations and how they sort of do
Speaker 3: the labeling and the labeling gives you a lot of information,
Speaker 3: but also like unless you know what you're reading. And
Speaker 3: I think how many people actually read the label before
Speaker 3: they take supplements. Probably very few, and they don't always
Speaker 3: have the warnings of exactly, Okay, you can't take it
Speaker 3: with this medication, this medication, this medication. Instead you kind
Speaker 3: of left to like it usually has just a very
Speaker 3: broad spectrum check with your practitioner for docing or medical advice,
Speaker 3: and I think that generally it's on every bottle kind
Speaker 3: of something like that at the bottom of it'll have
Speaker 3: that sort of warning of like make sure you're checking
Speaker 3: with your professional doctor, and that's right, good, But also
Speaker 3: do we actually do that, as my question to most
Speaker 3: people is do they actually check that they're taking, you know,
Speaker 3: before they're taking something, they're checking in with either a
Speaker 3: natural path or who actually would know more about supplements
Speaker 3: than your doctor because that's what they study at university,
Speaker 3: or even checking in with your doctor, especially if you're
Speaker 3: taking a medication and maybe doing a double check of both,
Speaker 3: because the labor won't necessarily telling you whether it's safe
Speaker 3: for your body or not.
Speaker 1: So we're sort of getting we're getting an education from
Speaker 1: the industry rather than a you and hoping, you know,
Speaker 1: crossing our thing isn't hoping that's right or not even
Speaker 1: crossing our fingers. We're just grabbing it off the shewers, really,
Speaker 1: aren't we. And I don't like you say, franchis gra,
Speaker 1: I don't think people do read. I think you're looking
Speaker 1: for that star product, like you say, like the AMGA three's,
Speaker 1: that's the thing that you're looking for, But do you
Speaker 1: read everything else that's involved in it, including the casing
Speaker 1: that it comes in.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of additives that actually added to supplements
Speaker 3: that actually when they are really small amounts, that don't
Speaker 3: actually have to be put on the label. So unless
Speaker 3: you actually go in and you look at that actual
Speaker 3: product information which quite often is more available to a
Speaker 3: practitioner than it is to your average person, then you
Speaker 3: won't see all the hidden ingredients because it all have
Speaker 3: the active ingredients and maybe some of the main ingredients
Speaker 3: like vegie capsules, but it won't have the extra little
Speaker 3: additives that are in there. And maybe you're reacting to
Speaker 3: one of those things, which is absolutely possible too.
Speaker 2: Here in New Zealand, do we test any of our
Speaker 2: supplements to make sure that what they tell us is
Speaker 2: on the bottle is actually in the tablet.
Speaker 3: No, and there are very few countries that do. And
Speaker 3: it's interesting around the regulations in New Zealand that the
Speaker 3: dietary supplement regulations in New Zealand are actually classified under
Speaker 3: Dietary Supplement Regulations nineteen eighty five, so we're talking about
Speaker 3: forty years ago, and it falls under the Food Act
Speaker 3: of twenty fourteen, so it's actually quite old regulations that
Speaker 3: we have in place. And I've worked in this industry
Speaker 3: for a long time and obviously the supplement industry growth
Speaker 3: is now in the trillion dollar industry. Yet our regulations
Speaker 3: are still set back forty years ago and they're still classified,
Speaker 3: especially in New Zealand, under a food product rather than Yes,
Speaker 3: they've got the dietary supplement sort of regulations, but it's
Speaker 3: still classified as under foods rather than under medications.
Speaker 2: So if Australia is more highly regulated in the way
Speaker 2: that they manufacture and the way that they label and
Speaker 2: what they produce, should we be looking for products that
Speaker 2: are also sold in Australia. Is that quite a good
Speaker 2: way around, you know, saying oh, here's a good quality
Speaker 2: New Zealand product and oh look it also happens to
Speaker 2: meet the Australian standards. So that's a little double tip.
Speaker 3: That's something that I personally always look for because I
Speaker 3: know that the TGA, which is the regulating body in Australia,
Speaker 3: is a lot stricter than New Zealand, and New Zealand
Speaker 3: kind of falls under that's under the sort of medsafe
Speaker 3: it kind of falls under. They kind of follow what
Speaker 3: Australia is doing in general. However, there's certain funny rules
Speaker 3: in New Zealand, especially around things like zinc, where zinc
Speaker 3: and New Zealand assoppment's not allowed to be above fifteen
Speaker 3: milligrams per day, which actually, if you're deficient in zinc,
Speaker 3: will not be enough to get your zinc back to
Speaker 3: normal levels, which means whoever's prescribing it's going to have
Speaker 3: to dose it higher than that get you back to
Speaker 3: normal levels. And that's where it comes down to sort
Speaker 3: of testing and taking the right dose of what you need.
Speaker 3: But in New Zealand we have more broad spectrum sort
Speaker 3: of regulations were things like iron supplements they can only
Speaker 3: be a set amount, which I think is twenty four
Speaker 3: milligrams per tablet and an iron supplement. When it comes
Speaker 3: to vitamin D, the regulation New Zealand is one thousand units,
Speaker 3: which for most people that probably doesn't mean much. But
Speaker 3: if I'm dosing vitamin D and I'm just trying to
Speaker 3: keep someone at like a healthy level for their body size,
Speaker 3: then I'd classify one thousand international units. Theres enough for
Speaker 3: a twenty five K low child, So you would have
Speaker 3: to really know how to dose that and get the
Speaker 3: right dose for your size.
Speaker 2: So what I'm getting from this is if you think
Speaker 2: that you know, if you're looking for something to help
Speaker 2: you out, like if you feel that you know, as
Speaker 2: you say, you've got a symptom, you're dealing with something
Speaker 2: else or whatever. You get your blood tests and then
Speaker 2: you find someone who can professionally tell you exactly how
Speaker 2: much you need to of a zero product to actually
Speaker 2: make an impact on you, and then keep an eye
Speaker 2: on you to make sure that it's actually doing the
Speaker 2: trick and you're not harming your body, and hopefully it's
Speaker 2: you making an impact.
Speaker 3: And that's where really supplements should be looked at more
Speaker 3: being something to create change in the body to bring
Speaker 3: you back to optimal health, rather than having a supplement
Speaker 3: plan that's the supplement pan that you take for the
Speaker 3: rest of your life to stay healthy, like it shouldn't
Speaker 3: be like that. And when I see most people come
Speaker 3: into my personal clinic, if they've picked their own supplements,
Speaker 3: generally they pick what i'd call basics, which is like
Speaker 3: a multi vitamin, maybe a probiotic, maybe a for suil
Speaker 3: and a magnesium and they kind of don't go from there.
Speaker 3: But when it comes to further sort of from their supplements,
Speaker 3: there's actually a lot of supplements out there, like thousands
Speaker 3: of supplements around the world, and trying to pick what's
Speaker 3: right for you really depends on what's going on in
Speaker 3: your body. And again that about creating change, Like if
Speaker 3: you're looking at something like arthritis, you want to get
Speaker 3: on some stuff to get the information down, and then
Speaker 3: you want to go on to like a maintenance plan,
Speaker 3: and that's where your supplement plan. And even for my
Speaker 3: own personal supplement plan, it's not a cookie cutter of
Speaker 3: like the same thing that I take every month. That
Speaker 3: will depend what's going on in my body and what
Speaker 3: I'm taking, so I might rotate iron supplements in and out.
Speaker 2: It's so true because if you take something and you
Speaker 2: think it's working.
Speaker 3: You're terrified.
Speaker 2: You don't want to stop it. No, You're like, no,
Speaker 2: I'll just stop just then, like money and taking it,
Speaker 2: and you potentially could stop it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But for example, if you are like for me,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be training for something and I'm going
Speaker 1: to be training further and longer and be out there,
Speaker 1: you know, what I'm doing to my body or what
Speaker 1: I'm needing for my body is going to change and
Speaker 1: over these next coming you know, six nine months. Can
Speaker 1: I just ask a question, where is the hold up
Speaker 1: with getting better regulation?
Speaker 3: Well, there's talk about it being more like a global regulation,
Speaker 3: and there has been talk about that and having better
Speaker 3: sort of international requirements internationally to make it more standard.
Speaker 3: And there's obviously two sides to that as well, is
Speaker 3: that you know, that could create some benefit but also
Speaker 3: some problems as well. When we're looking at like having
Speaker 3: stricter regulations and making them more become like drugs and
Speaker 3: that that need to be prescribed for something that you
Speaker 3: need to take, which I do feel like there are
Speaker 3: certain supplements that should be in that classification because people
Speaker 3: taking them and not knowing what they're doing usually is
Speaker 3: not a good thing. Where there could be other sort
Speaker 3: of there could be two ranges. That's just my view
Speaker 3: on it. When it comes to having strict regulations, obviously
Speaker 3: there's safety concerns around that, and also who's doing the
Speaker 3: regulating do they actually know? Like is it based on
Speaker 3: somebody's view and how they like to work with a body,
Speaker 3: Like then you'd need a certain team and how they
Speaker 3: work on what's okay and what's not okay. Also, strict
Speaker 3: regulations claim so you kind of cut back on that
Speaker 3: because you also have tied a regulation of what's going
Speaker 3: on labels and how they work, and also then stricter
Speaker 3: regulations around interactions with sort of medications as well, which
Speaker 3: is something that's really important, which as a practitioner myself,
Speaker 3: when I'm working with someone with med toast taking medications
Speaker 3: for a health condition, obviously I'm not trying to take
Speaker 3: them off their medications, but instead I actually have access
Speaker 3: into databases where I can put in their medications and
Speaker 3: will tell me what active ingredients and supplements will interact
Speaker 3: with that medication. And I think that's where when you're
Speaker 3: picking your own supplements, like, are you doing these safety
Speaker 3: checks because they are really important?
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, what worries me, I guess is I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about those really vulnerable people out there. For example, if
Speaker 1: you do get a diagnosis of cancer, a lot of
Speaker 1: people go, I'm throwing out everything that's not organic, like
Speaker 1: it's just a normal reaction to control what you can
Speaker 1: control well. And then I'm going to take these mushrooms
Speaker 1: because I've been told, and I'm going to take some
Speaker 1: tumor because that's an anti inflamma. And some of these
Speaker 1: are contraindicated with the treatment you'll be receiving for your
Speaker 1: chemotherapy or your immune therapy or whatever. It's important, it's
Speaker 1: really important that that. I mean, I worry about all
Speaker 1: of us just wolfing down supplements for no reason and
Speaker 1: wasting our money, but I really worry about those vulnerable
Speaker 1: populations in particular.
Speaker 3: And I think that's where, like I think people quite an't.
Speaker 3: They're beg into doing what I'd call the Google researching
Speaker 3: of supplements, and especially if they get a serious health
Speaker 3: diagnosis like cancer, and so it kind of gives them
Speaker 3: like so many products they could possibly take. Like if
Speaker 3: you take cancer, for instance, you would come up with
Speaker 3: probably like a hundred products or more that could possibly
Speaker 3: be good for anti cancer. But are they the right
Speaker 3: things for you and the type of cancer you have
Speaker 3: and depending on what pathways are actually the problem and
Speaker 3: you body that needs support. And also if you're working
Speaker 3: then alongside immunotherapy, obviously you need to know what you're
Speaker 3: doing because you could actually stop the immunotherapy from working
Speaker 3: as well if you're taking something that's actually stimulating the
Speaker 3: immune system and it's not having that action that you require.
Speaker 3: And that's where if you are doing treatments, don't just
Speaker 3: pack your own supplements like it is helpful to have
Speaker 3: someone who actually has some experience in the area that
Speaker 3: you're looking and improving your health because they will give
Speaker 3: you some good advice hopefully and help you guide on
Speaker 3: what supplements you'll need and what supplements you shouldn't be taking,
Speaker 3: because it does need to be a lot more cautious
Speaker 3: when there are medications in place.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the little things and I guess on
Speaker 2: the podcast today is Natropath Aaron Ohara talking supplements and
Speaker 2: how to get the best out of them. We'll be
Speaker 2: back shortly after this break. Welcome back erin. Maybe we
Speaker 2: could talk about some of the popular vitamins and supplements
Speaker 2: and things and the fads out there that we use.
Speaker 2: Love to get your opinion on this. You've kind of
Speaker 2: already spoken about the multi vitamin and whether it's useful
Speaker 2: or not, and whether we should be a little bit
Speaker 2: more targeted. I was just saying to Loub before I
Speaker 2: seat of this. I can remember maybe in my twenties
Speaker 2: or thirties, was really popular for you know, every second
Speaker 2: woman I know was on a vitamin B or B plus.
Speaker 2: Was it called well B twelve and all this kind
Speaker 2: of like vitamin B was really big. Is that still popular?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Right, They kind of get so that there's always
Speaker 3: fad things that are going through the industry, particularly with
Speaker 3: supplement products. I think the B vitamins were big, and
Speaker 3: then they kind of always have been there, but probably
Speaker 3: more into the background of the multi vitamin. But right now,
Speaker 3: obviously it's quite big. The methylation, which I know not
Speaker 3: everyone will know.
Speaker 2: That is what does this make you?
Speaker 3: What's this methylation? I think people are getting more into
Speaker 3: doing gene testing and seeing whether they methylate, which is
Speaker 3: basically providing the right types of B vitamins to support
Speaker 3: detoxification pathways in the body. And so I think because
Speaker 3: people are moving into doing more functional medicine or genetic testing,
Speaker 3: they're then getting trying to get more precision with what
Speaker 3: kind of products they're trying to take.
Speaker 2: Metholate methylate. Okay, so does that also if that's talking
Speaker 2: about detoxing, does that talk about how while you handle
Speaker 2: alcohol things to a certain degree. Yep, it's drugs in
Speaker 2: general things.
Speaker 3: Okay, for woman, how you detox estrogen, which is really good,
Speaker 3: things like in amenttriosis, maybe anyone who has more high
Speaker 3: esogen dominance. Then methylation is critical to make sure you're
Speaker 3: detoxing estrogen through the body because you use those methylated
Speaker 3: B vitamins basically to then bind and then detox out
Speaker 3: through the body. So they do a really good function.
Speaker 2: Once again an example of it's just a little bit
Speaker 2: more complicated than just grabbing a bottle of item and
Speaker 2: puffing a pill.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: I'm finding this so fascinating, and I think in the
Speaker 1: first half of this week we discussed it. We're not
Speaker 1: anti supplement, We just want to know the facts and
Speaker 1: arin you're not anti supplement, you prescribe them all the time.
Speaker 1: So that's why we are asking you specifically now about
Speaker 1: you know, the ones that we hear about a lot.
Speaker 1: So you know, we're not here in name or shame
Speaker 1: or anything. Like that. But vitamin D. What about vitamin D?
Speaker 1: I think what we don't know is what does our
Speaker 1: body make and retain and what does our body not keep,
Speaker 1: So we need to keep topping it up. That's a
Speaker 1: bit that gets me. I don't know about you, Franchisciver
Speaker 1: that that always surprises me. So vitamin D we need
Speaker 1: top ups, all right.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So Vitamin D is also known as the sunshine vitamin.
Speaker 3: It is a fat soluble vitamin, so it stores in
Speaker 3: your body and we get it from getting sunlight on
Speaker 3: the skin, particularly UVB and so if you're getting it
Speaker 3: onto the skin, then your body will naturally manufacture vitamin D. Now,
Speaker 3: some people don't produce it as well as others, and
Speaker 3: it's not necessarily to do with the pigment color of
Speaker 3: your skin, So whether you're fear or dark skin is
Speaker 3: actually a bit more complicated than that. And that's where
Speaker 3: in the summer months we're generally outside a lot more
Speaker 3: so we're going to have more sustained vitamin D levels,
Speaker 3: and naturally, usually over the winter months where indoors a
Speaker 3: lot more so, we will get a little bit more
Speaker 3: drop in the vitamin D levels. When it comes to supplementing.
Speaker 3: This for me is one I would not prescribe without
Speaker 3: doing testing, because some people are super absorbers of vitamin
Speaker 3: D from the sun through their skin, and even without
Speaker 3: a supplement they can be really high normal levels and
Speaker 3: other people, for instance, I'll use myself. I know I
Speaker 3: have recessive genes for vitamin D that I don't absorb
Speaker 3: it very well through my skin, so I monitor it
Speaker 3: a little bit more carefully. Now. Some countries, like Australia
Speaker 3: again for example, they do vitamin D testing twice a
Speaker 3: year as their regular checkups and it's funded through Medicare.
Speaker 3: Well in New Zealand, it is something you would have
Speaker 3: to request as an extra additive and you would have
Speaker 3: to pay to do that test. However, I feel like
Speaker 3: it's very beneficial because if you're going to supplement it,
Speaker 3: you want to know how much your body actually needs
Speaker 3: because it's going to be storing it. And the one
Speaker 3: time I've seen a lot of extreme high levels is
Speaker 3: actually kids where moms have given their children to boost
Speaker 3: their immunity vitamin D and obviously because they are small,
Speaker 3: they have dosed them pretty high and they've had them
Speaker 3: really up very high levels to the point where it's
Speaker 3: actually toxic when it's high, so you want to be
Speaker 3: a bit careful. This That was what I was going.
Speaker 1: To ask you about vitamin D because I have heard
Speaker 1: that too, that it can be toxic and like, for example,
Speaker 1: if you're pregnant, you would definitely want to know before
Speaker 1: you took something like vitamin D because it can actually
Speaker 1: have some implications, yeah, for your pregnancy.
Speaker 3: Any of the fat soluble vitamins, if you're pregnant, you
Speaker 3: want to be kindful. Like vitamin A is the same.
Speaker 3: If you take vitamin A, you're going to cause birth defects.
Speaker 3: So something to be really cautious around. It's those fat
Speaker 3: soluble vitamins that need to be extra extra causa, which
Speaker 3: is vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E. So they
Speaker 3: are all fat soluble, so you want to be careful
Speaker 3: around how you're supplementing them. And if you look, for instance,
Speaker 3: coming back to the multi vitamin, if you look at
Speaker 3: your bottle of multi vitamin for most products, one of
Speaker 3: the main ingredients is actually vitamin A. And vitamin A
Speaker 3: obviously really important for your health, but too much is
Speaker 3: actually not good for your health either, So something to
Speaker 3: be careful around. Most people when they're taking a multi vitamin, though,
Speaker 3: are generally taking just what's on the bottle label, which
Speaker 3: is actually quite safe because they are based on recommended
Speaker 3: daily allowances, which is actually just enough to survive, which
Speaker 3: is not enough to actually boost anything into extreme levels.
Speaker 3: So for most labeling to be honest, because there's a
Speaker 3: level of caution with the labeling that actually the dosing
Speaker 3: on the label is probably less than you actually require
Speaker 3: because of the safety element with the labeling. And that's
Speaker 3: where sometimes a practitioner, for instance myself, I would dose
Speaker 3: a lot higher than what it says on the label
Speaker 3: because you usually the dose in the label is like
Speaker 3: the low doses conservative day, very very conservative, and if
Speaker 3: you're actually wanted to create change in the body, sometimes
Speaker 3: you need higher levels than what's actually on the label.
Speaker 2: As we head into our middle years, we see a
Speaker 2: lot more arthritis popping up, or we just you know,
Speaker 2: with thanks to perimenopause and the mystery of perimenopause, aches
Speaker 2: and pains, enjoying pains you know that can't be explained,
Speaker 2: and things like that. You hear a lot of products
Speaker 2: that promote good joint health. What is good for our joints?
Speaker 3: I think it's about understanding that naturally, as we age
Speaker 3: the joints, so like any parts in a car, everything's
Speaker 3: going to get a lot more worn. And so the
Speaker 3: more you can protect your joints through anti inflammatory lifestyle,
Speaker 3: maybe making sure you've got enough good essential fatty acids
Speaker 3: in your diet, all that prevention is actually more helpful
Speaker 3: than actually waiting until you have severe joint pain and
Speaker 3: then you try and put supplements in. Because one thing
Speaker 3: I will say about supplements, there is nothing for instant
Speaker 3: pain relief. So if you're looking for a magical pill
Speaker 3: that's going to get rid of your pain instantly, like
Speaker 3: panidoal or neurofin, you will not find it in your supplements.
Speaker 3: It will not be there because there's nothing for instant
Speaker 3: pain relief. And that's where if you're looking for supporting
Speaker 3: your joints, it would be more making sure you've got
Speaker 3: the right joint support there before you have a lot
Speaker 3: of joint pain. And a lot of that comes down
Speaker 3: to maybe locking at your genet. If you know your
Speaker 3: mother and your grandmother had arthritis and needed kneed replacements
Speaker 3: and hip replacements, you might actually be a bit more
Speaker 3: cautious and be like I'm going to be a bit
Speaker 3: more preventative and put in an anti inflammatory diet. Be
Speaker 3: mindful what type of movement you do, so maybe don't
Speaker 3: become a marathon or ultramarathon runner where you're going to
Speaker 3: get more wear and tear. It's just pointing maybe and
Speaker 3: maybe putting in a little bit more joint support, especially
Speaker 3: if you know you love exercise and you want to
Speaker 3: have that extra support. It might be around putting in
Speaker 3: some joint nutrients, which would be things like glucosamine, controutin
Speaker 3: all your minerals really good for joint connective tissue. Maybe
Speaker 3: looking at collagen which actually obviously there's mixed views on collagen.
Speaker 3: It is collagens on our list one of the fad
Speaker 3: things that's kind of out there. But those sorts of
Speaker 3: things more supporting connective tissue and holding the joint structure
Speaker 3: really good. When it comes to all your anti inflammatory
Speaker 3: sort of herbs, it's more looking at ucing information. So
Speaker 3: if you don't have joint pain, they're actually not going
Speaker 3: to prevent joint damage unless you know you just want
Speaker 3: to keep that support with the anti inflammatory. If you
Speaker 3: know you're getting a little bit achy, then that's where
Speaker 3: you want to bring in those more things like tumoric
Speaker 3: and maybe boswalia, which we may or may not have
Speaker 3: heard of before, but it's in really nice anti inflammatory
Speaker 3: things like Devil's core another herb that's really good for
Speaker 3: anti inflammatory as well. But those are going to reduce inflammation,
Speaker 3: so if you're feeling a bit achy.
Speaker 1: Once you have they're going.
Speaker 2: To be helpful. But once again, it comes back to
Speaker 2: what you said before. It's where your body is at
Speaker 2: right now, what it's dealing with, looking forward and coming
Speaker 2: up with a sort of a specific plan for you
Speaker 2: and kind of what you might need in things. Should
Speaker 2: we finish off a few, should we go through a
Speaker 2: few more, we'll get to collegen a few are more
Speaker 2: of the supplements which sort of come under anti aging.
Speaker 2: But look, should we talk really quickly about vitamin C
Speaker 2: because of course there is a tendency, especially in winter,
Speaker 2: that we need to dose up on vitamin C to
Speaker 2: boost our immunity. Is that necessary?
Speaker 3: Well, that's really I would call it misunderstanding of vitamin
Speaker 3: C because vitamin C is actually an antioxidant, so it's
Speaker 3: more going to clean up free radicals in your body.
Speaker 3: It has actually not really any pathways in boosting your immunity.
Speaker 3: And instead, if you did have any extra free radicals,
Speaker 3: like if you're running or if you're getting sick, then
Speaker 3: you get those free radicals, then the vitamin C will
Speaker 3: actually more help you with cleaning up infection. So actually
Speaker 3: more helpful to you when you're sick or feel like
Speaker 3: you're getting sick, then it is helpful you take prevented daily, yes, okay,
Speaker 3: And that's where there's so many other great options for
Speaker 3: I'd call them immune modulating, so basically something that would
Speaker 3: up regulate your immune system if it needed it, or
Speaker 3: bring it down to normal if it didn't need that
Speaker 3: sort of support. And that's where really your things like
Speaker 3: mushroom products, and that's not magic mushrooms, but instead the
Speaker 3: mushrooms like rishi, shitaqi, turkey tail, all things that are
Speaker 3: supporting with immune modulation and supporting that balance of the
Speaker 3: immune system, they're going to be more helpful to keep
Speaker 3: you well over winter.
Speaker 2: Mushrooms are interesting. You tried much the cancer, didn't you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I didn't use them during chemo because they
Speaker 1: were a little bit contraindicated as far as I was weird,
Speaker 1: But I did use them afterwards to support my immune
Speaker 1: system as I recovered. I mean, I don't know where
Speaker 1: they you know, but I was glowing with health for
Speaker 1: quite some time after that.
Speaker 3: You can actually usually if you're taking something like that
Speaker 3: that has a good active ingredients, you can actually see
Speaker 3: how it's affecting the immune system by just your basic
Speaker 3: complete blood count, because there's immune cells in this, so
Speaker 3: you can see how white blood count, liversites, neutral feels,
Speaker 3: how they're behaving when you're taking something that is an
Speaker 3: immune modulator and giving your immune system that support.
Speaker 1: And those things did recover quite quickly because they are
Speaker 1: obviously really badly knocked around. I don't you know, as
Speaker 1: I say, I'm not sure, but it was a really
Speaker 1: quality product that I was actually getting from the States
Speaker 1: through a friend who was a practicing medicine at Chinese medicine.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we can get them here. They're
Speaker 1: probably incredibly expected. I can't even remember the brand name,
Speaker 1: but you know, and also even if they weren't, I did,
Speaker 1: I didn't mind taking them. They were quite nice.
Speaker 3: It's interesting you should say that because there's actually I've
Speaker 3: looked into other research over the years around even just
Speaker 3: that belief that what you're taking is working. And actually
Speaker 3: that's even big with medical treatment. There's actually a lot
Speaker 3: of research that he's done on even medical treatments that
Speaker 3: they know technically don't actually work that well, but if
Speaker 3: the person believes it's going to work, it's going to work.
Speaker 3: And I think that also comes down to sometimes the supplements.
Speaker 3: If somebody's taking something and they're told that it's going
Speaker 3: to reduce their inflammation or it's going to boost their immunity,
Speaker 3: then maybe there's an element of like there's active ingredients
Speaker 3: plus the mindset that's like this is working for.
Speaker 1: Me, and you might also be doing other healthy things,
Speaker 1: like you might be following a healthier diet at the
Speaker 1: same time and all that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: And they usually go hand in hand. Generally, when people
Speaker 3: are like I'm working on my houth, they don't just
Speaker 3: generally take something they're usually ready for, like Okay, I'm
Speaker 3: going to look at the diet, I'm going to look
Speaker 3: at sleep, and I'm going to look at exercise. And
Speaker 3: I think that's where when you look at your overall
Speaker 3: well being, supplements is not top of the list. It's
Speaker 3: actually further down the list until you've got the foundations
Speaker 3: of your health. So nutrition and sleep was I Sleep
Speaker 3: is just as important as nutrition, Like if you're not
Speaker 3: sleepy enough, even if you eat well, you will not
Speaker 3: be healthy. And then also making sure you're getting stress
Speaker 3: management and exercise and get the foundations right first.
Speaker 2: So when it comes to sleep, some people swear my
Speaker 2: magnesium has made a huge difference to the sleep, and
Speaker 2: other people came it hasn't made a difference at all.
Speaker 2: But we hear a lot about magnesium these days too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, magnesiums actually some than quite safe for people to take.
Speaker 3: It's more to do the type of magnesium that I
Speaker 3: think people don't look at. There's actually loads of different
Speaker 3: types of magnesiums and how well they absorb into the body,
Speaker 3: and some will have more of effect of having a
Speaker 3: laxative effect on the gut than others.
Speaker 2: But they do absorb differently. So powder might absorb better
Speaker 2: than a tablet. It's not so much powder to a tablet.
Speaker 2: It's the type of form of magnesium. So the two
Speaker 2: that are more organic forms of magnesium are magnesium citrate,
Speaker 2: magnesium glycerate or biglycrate, same thing, and they are highly
Speaker 2: absorbable forms of magnesium. When you're looking at things like
Speaker 2: magnesium oxide. I personally wouldn't suggest anyone takes magnesium oxide
Speaker 2: as it doesn't have good clinical research to back it up.
Speaker 2: And that's where when you're picking a magnesium it's like, okay,
Speaker 2: well what sort of magnesium?
Speaker 3: Same with zinc, there's lots of different types of zinc.
Speaker 3: It's not all one thing called zinc. It's actually there's
Speaker 3: zinc picolate by glacera, you know, and they all do
Speaker 3: have slightly different actions in how they absorb in the
Speaker 3: body too.
Speaker 1: Okay, well keep going because we want we want to
Speaker 1: get as much out of this as we possibly can.
Speaker 1: Jim go as we hear a lot about protein powder
Speaker 1: and creatine. Obviously, again I think you're going to tell
Speaker 1: us there's a large variety of protein powders out there,
Speaker 1: and the way you take it will make a difference.
Speaker 3: Protein is like the hit thing at the moment, Like
Speaker 3: there's always the thing that's like in the limelight. Protein
Speaker 3: is huge at the moment, and I think when you're
Speaker 3: looking at protein, like I personally don't have a problem
Speaker 3: with protein powders, depending on the quality of them, So
Speaker 3: looking if they do have any artificial flavors, colors additives
Speaker 3: added into the protein powder. But also you should be
Speaker 3: looking at food first, and powder is just more if
Speaker 3: you are needing that extra boosters. So if we look
Speaker 3: at them more as an extra booster rather than our
Speaker 3: first choice of protein for each meal, because nobody is
Speaker 3: going to have a protein powder and breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
Speaker 3: or hopefully they don't because it is at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, is still an ultra processed food. You
Speaker 3: don't bump into protein powder when you're out in nature.
Speaker 3: So I think it's about reminding yourselves that it's still
Speaker 3: in the ultra processed food category and that if you're
Speaker 3: using it, great, but you should use it more as
Speaker 3: the additive to help you maybe reach your protein.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right, because it is quite hard according to
Speaker 1: what the protein recommendations are to get that for me
Speaker 1: in a day in my food so and I don't
Speaker 1: need a lot of meat, so the protein powder I
Speaker 1: use a vegetarian one.
Speaker 3: And for some people that can also be super helpful
Speaker 3: because it can also reduce the load on the gut
Speaker 3: when you're having those protein powders. When it comes to
Speaker 3: protein bars, please read the label because some will just
Speaker 3: give you a very sore, bloated tummy with the sugar alcohols,
Speaker 3: and they're actually quite high calories, so you actually won't
Speaker 3: feel that full. I feel like you've satisfied, like you've
Speaker 3: had a big meal, but you've eaten a huge amount
Speaker 3: of calories generally in a protein.
Speaker 2: Bar, I don't get that's the time.
Speaker 3: So it's something to be really cautious of, probably more
Speaker 3: so than protein powders. And then when it comes to creatine,
Speaker 3: there is actually a good clinical research on creatine is
Speaker 3: actually something quite safe for most people to take. Exception
Speaker 3: if you do have any kidney issues, definitely check with
Speaker 3: your doctor as well as if you have on any
Speaker 3: blood pressure medications, might want to be a bit more
Speaker 3: cautious around that. And then also just knowing that you
Speaker 3: can get a bit of fluid retention, which is for
Speaker 3: women in particular, might not be their thing that they
Speaker 3: are side effect that they don't like and they might
Speaker 3: want to just start slowly. And that's the thing with
Speaker 3: things like creating, especially if you've got a powder, is
Speaker 3: that just dosing it cautiously if you're trying something new,
Speaker 3: and you can even monitor how the creatine's working in
Speaker 3: the body by doing a blood test for the kidney
Speaker 3: function because nine is the byproduct of creatine. So if
Speaker 3: you're overdosing, you'll see it in your blood tests.
Speaker 2: Because we hear that it could be quite good for
Speaker 2: premenopause and menopause or women. Absolutely, they help with a
Speaker 2: variety of things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, really good for cognition, keeping up lean muscle mass,
Speaker 3: and there's actually good significant studies there for it. And
Speaker 3: I think it's just been mindful around how you dose.
Speaker 3: It is really what you want to be cautious of.
Speaker 3: And then when it comes back to quality of supplements.
Speaker 3: You know, recently there was the push gummies that were
Speaker 3: creating product. You know that somebody tests them and actually
Speaker 3: contain no creating so or virtually no creating. So just
Speaker 3: know that just because it might say it's got three
Speaker 3: to five grams of you know, creating and it does,
Speaker 3: it really pick a good quality one. And it should
Speaker 3: be microlized so it's small molecules that it can actually
Speaker 3: absorb into the body. And when it comes back to
Speaker 3: those things, just in general supplements when it says gummies,
Speaker 3: so I think mindful not you know, especially not a
Speaker 3: small child that and you can swallow supplements because generally
Speaker 3: a gummy is sugar additives. They've usually got gelatine and
Speaker 3: to make them into a jelly. They're really like any
Speaker 3: a lolly, but we like to pretend that we're not
Speaker 3: eating a lolly because we're having a supplement because it's
Speaker 3: come out of a supplement container. However, the quality of
Speaker 3: a gummy is usually very low because they have to
Speaker 3: put a lot of additives in to make a gummy.
Speaker 3: So if you if you can't swallow tablets, maybe look
Speaker 3: at powders before gummies. And usually I would only look
Speaker 3: into gummies if I had a very picky child in
Speaker 3: the clinic that I couldn't get anything into them and
Speaker 3: all the other options and I'm getting a little bit limited,
Speaker 3: then I might start looking at chewaballs or gummies.
Speaker 2: Okay, well you wanted to take some marijuana, just kidding.
Speaker 1: A lot of people are putting electrites in their water
Speaker 1: on the every day, like literally just at their desk.
Speaker 1: Is that necessary?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: Thank you for ex simple answer, And I think that's
Speaker 3: where electrolytes. Yeah, they're important to keep the body in balance,
Speaker 3: but unless you're sweating a lot the body's great at
Speaker 3: staying in its homeo status balance, like it knows how
Speaker 3: to regulate things. And if you're taking too much electrolytes
Speaker 3: and you're just sitting around, they're actually mainly sodium and
Speaker 3: sodium what effect that has is actually up it helps
Speaker 3: you absorb water. If you have more blood volume or
Speaker 3: more water intake, you're gonna have more blood volume, which
Speaker 3: is that you're going to put your blood pressure up.
Speaker 3: So something to be really careful around, because too much
Speaker 3: sodium is actually going to affect your blood pressure regulation.
Speaker 2: But if you were doing some sort of full on
Speaker 2: training for a you know, if you're an athlete of
Speaker 2: some sort, and you know, it can be.
Speaker 3: Used any hardcore training where you're running or sweating a lot,
Speaker 3: or you know, anything where you're sweating a lot. So basically,
Speaker 3: if you're really or in a hot climate, or if
Speaker 3: you had a gastrobug, really good place for electrolytes. So
Speaker 3: there's definitely a place for electrolytes, but it's more around
Speaker 3: like illness, vomiting, diarrhea, intense exercise, extreme heat. So if
Speaker 3: you've gone from here to you know, Thailand and you're
Speaker 3: not used to the heat and you're suddenly sweating a lot,
Speaker 3: then yeah, take electrolytes every day. You live in New
Speaker 3: Zealand and it's winter and you're not sweeting. Probably okay
Speaker 3: for beginners.
Speaker 1: If you're taking electrolytes, like if you're taking them in
Speaker 1: a gel or whatever, and you haven't usually used the
Speaker 1: caffeine ones, don't start using the caffeine ones.
Speaker 2: Wow, it's something to be cautious of.
Speaker 3: If you're training hard, then you don't want to be
Speaker 3: throwing too much caffeine and.
Speaker 1: Nic and then wonder why you can't get to sleep
Speaker 1: that night.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally, you're And you mentioned in collagen before in
Speaker 2: association will joint health and things, but it is often,
Speaker 2: you know, something that people are very attracted to instead
Speaker 2: of protein powder. They might be throwing the collagen into
Speaker 2: their smoothie because they want, you know, luscious hair and
Speaker 2: strong nails and things like that, or good skin. Maybe
Speaker 2: we could just talk very briefly about things like collagen.
Speaker 2: And I know that there are a lot of other
Speaker 2: anti aging sort of trends I think which people are
Speaker 2: going to hear about soon, like m N or NAD
Speaker 2: plus and things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, longevity is really the big thing and especially if
Speaker 3: you're a big social media follower, you'll be like, oh,
Speaker 3: I need the next longevity product, and collagen's probably i'd
Speaker 3: say it's on the phase out phase. Yeah, it's really pete.
Speaker 3: And if you think back through history, there's always fad
Speaker 3: products from like sperrillina powder, nonny powder and weak grass
Speaker 3: and coconut product.
Speaker 2: You know, most people be like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 3: I did that, and then they're still around, like they
Speaker 3: haven't gone anywhere, they're just not popular as much anymore.
Speaker 3: And that's where really your collagen has become really trending.
Speaker 3: And I think it's looking at what's in your collagen
Speaker 3: because they can have it can be all the sort
Speaker 3: of leftover ingredients, which means it can also contain things
Speaker 3: like heavy metals. To be careful around what you're putting in.
Speaker 3: But there's like, actually, when it comes to collagen pearls
Speaker 3: and powders, our bodies cannot absorb collagen in its whole form,
Speaker 3: so instead look in how can you get it through
Speaker 3: boosting it through your diet, and that comes through eating
Speaker 3: protein rich foods. Vitamin C helps the synergize collagen in
Speaker 3: the body, as well as the other nutrients that actually
Speaker 3: help with collagen production. So it's not just that you
Speaker 3: need the collagen, but actually you need those other nutrients
Speaker 3: that helps your body synthesize collagen production in the body.
Speaker 3: So it might be that you're adding things like bone wrath,
Speaker 3: maybe eat more but more fish and chicken and eggs
Speaker 3: and those are all going to help with collagen formation
Speaker 3: within your own body. And getting whole foods such a
Speaker 3: good way of doing it.
Speaker 2: What's all this in mn in nad's business.
Speaker 3: Yeah, minn and NAD plus is like pretty trending. I
Speaker 3: personally find that it's still in the area would call
Speaker 3: needs more research phase, Like it's still lots of research underway,
Speaker 3: but I think knowing that why you're taking it. So
Speaker 3: those sorts of products are really working around cellular energy
Speaker 3: production and upregulating sort of mitochondria function, which is like
Speaker 3: the batteries within your cells, and yes they are the
Speaker 3: building blocks in the body. My biggest hesitation around them
Speaker 3: is that upregulate cellular function, which is great if you
Speaker 3: have healthy cells in your body, but what if you
Speaker 3: have some cancer cells? Like what effect is that going
Speaker 3: to have? And that's where I feel like sometimes products
Speaker 3: can get rolled up out in the market and they
Speaker 3: might be still in that research development phase, or the
Speaker 3: research may have been done by the supplement company that
Speaker 3: makes it, which makes it very very bias. And I
Speaker 3: think that's where it'll be interesting to see where that
Speaker 3: goes over the years to come. Knowing that practitioner only brands,
Speaker 3: which are brand that you can only access through seeing
Speaker 3: an integrative doctor or naturopath or chiropractor, they don't have
Speaker 3: lots of MNY or NDA plus not really out in
Speaker 3: any of the ranges, which for me is usually alarm
Speaker 3: bows is not enough clinical research to actually then be
Speaker 3: putting them under the clinical brand.
Speaker 2: So if you see that coming through on your socials,
Speaker 2: do a little bit more research. Just be a little
Speaker 2: wary of that.
Speaker 3: Absolutely do the research. And if you know you've had
Speaker 3: a history of cancer or family history of cancer, I'd
Speaker 3: be a bit more careful around putting it in. If
Speaker 3: you're a little bit unsure, you're better to pick just
Speaker 3: a simple B vitamin because you will do less harm.
Speaker 3: And I think knowing that when we start dosing really high,
Speaker 3: we want to be cautious. Even if they might make
Speaker 3: you feel good short term, you just want to still
Speaker 3: be mindful of what you're putting in and what's the
Speaker 3: benefit and the risks.
Speaker 1: Of it too mindful. It has come up a lot,
Speaker 1: hasn't it. We have given a lot of information.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I know, I think we could probably talk for
Speaker 2: another hour on this fascinating We could throw so much
Speaker 2: at you, but what we are at a time, Erin
Speaker 2: is thank you so much for coming back and doing
Speaker 2: another episode with us on the little things. Very much
Speaker 2: appreciate it.
Speaker 3: You're welcome.
Speaker 2: Well, there was a bit of information there.
Speaker 1: Always it was a lot, wasn't it. I'm sorry we've
Speaker 1: given you another one of those ones. We listen to
Speaker 1: it on your walk and then listen to it again
Speaker 1: at home with a pen and paper, because yeah, there
Speaker 1: was a lot of really very useful information in that.
Speaker 2: I think it's a really fascinating topic. I mean, I
Speaker 2: personally feel for me, I like, try and get everything
Speaker 2: I need out of my diet. But there are absolutely
Speaker 2: times in our lives where our body needs some support
Speaker 2: or we have a deficiency. It absolutely should be looking
Speaker 2: to finding the best possible solution to help us out
Speaker 2: and to help us on our way in things. Didn't
Speaker 2: realize it was so as complicated.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: I didn't. Well, I've always I've always sort of been
Speaker 2: I've always wanted a test for iron before I took
Speaker 2: an iron supplement. And we learned a lot about iron
Speaker 2: doctor Levy recently, and I've always so I've always I've
Speaker 2: always sort of take gone down the blood test route
Speaker 2: before I kind of tear into anything. And yet now
Speaker 2: there's so many questions to ask, isn't there there is
Speaker 2: really think about a lot of questions to ask, a
Speaker 2: lot of you know the importance of making sure that
Speaker 2: it's not doing any harm to you.
Speaker 1: Well, iron is the perfect You've given the perfect example.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't go I personally wouldn't go take an iron
Speaker 1: supplement without any evidence for it, right. I probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: even take a probiotic. It's been my money on a
Speaker 1: probiotic if I, you know, was having showing no signs
Speaker 1: of any gap issues.
Speaker 2: Actually we didn't even touch on there because but that
Speaker 2: is in itself, there are so many different as Aaron
Speaker 2: would tell you, just like she did with magnesium and zinc,
Speaker 2: there were so many different kinds of probudcies. Actually, go
Speaker 2: back and listen to Will Yes Bolshwitz, stop the will Boss,
Speaker 2: and if we told he talked about the best ones
Speaker 2: to take if that is of interest to you. No,
Speaker 2: I thought that was really interesting, and I think it's
Speaker 2: really interesting in New Zealand about the regulation and the
Speaker 2: lack of regulation and things around that. So just reminding
Speaker 2: people to double check, you know, the brands that maybe
Speaker 2: they're they're purchasing. And I don't want to always be
Speaker 2: the tide hoss on this podcast, but my god, there
Speaker 2: are so many competing things for our money. Why on
Speaker 2: earth would we go and buy a multi vitem and
Speaker 2: we've got no indication for needing or no idea whether
Speaker 2: it's doing us any benefit. You're better to spend your
Speaker 2: money on going to see someone like Aaron. And if
Speaker 2: you are feeling a particular way, if you've got a
Speaker 2: particular symptom, if your diet isn't hitting it, if your
Speaker 2: diet isn't cutting it, if your exercise isn't cutting it,
Speaker 2: if you're still feeling blah, you're seeing doctor, your blood testing. Okay,
Speaker 2: you've taken all the things off the list. Healthylbout style.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I think it's very very easy just to
Speaker 1: just go through and grab something off the shelf. But
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying they're not useful. I'm not even
Speaker 1: saying they may have a place, but gosh, you know,
Speaker 1: we're putting it in our bodies and there is a
Speaker 1: evenits We read an article preparation for this person in
Speaker 1: the States was having thought he was doing himself a
Speaker 1: favor and ended up in liver failure. I mean it's
Speaker 1: quite you know, not to be too alarmist about it.
Speaker 1: I did ask about the fatty Essa's people. That's your
Speaker 1: olive oil and your avocado and things like that, so
Speaker 1: that's easy to get.
Speaker 2: You can find erin at Aaron O'Hara dot co, Doosh
Speaker 2: and Z and of course you can hear her every
Speaker 2: Sunday morning on the Sunday Session. She's our wellness contributor
Speaker 2: on just before eleven. Have you got a little tip
Speaker 2: of something that's brought your joy this week?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yes, Well you were talking about connecting with old friends.
Speaker 1: I've made a couple of new friends, which has been
Speaker 1: a surprising. I thought I was kind of my dance
Speaker 1: card was fault and anybody else, And it actually isn't
Speaker 1: about needing. It's just about enjoying the company of some
Speaker 1: people from time to time. Totally different lafestyle, no kids,
Speaker 1: not even a pet, fancy free fun, a lot younger
Speaker 1: than us. Actually that's kind of starting to sound weird now.
Speaker 2: But just just waiting for you to say, and we're swinging,
Speaker 2: but we just meet for a beer or we go
Speaker 2: to a quiz lad or something.
Speaker 3: It's really fun.
Speaker 2: I think you're too old to make new friends. Reason
Speaker 2: I don't know, Like it's busy, and we just don't
Speaker 2: think about that. We think to ourselves we don't have
Speaker 2: time for our old friends, so we don't. And maybe
Speaker 2: it is a function of your kids leaving home too.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why we're a couple of guys that are
Speaker 2: because that's my son said to the other day, said
Speaker 2: what have you been up to? And I told her
Speaker 2: he goes, you guys are really getting out and about
Speaker 2: and I'm like, yeah, well now that we've we've spent
Speaker 2: nineteen years racing, you go at a time on our hands.
Speaker 2: This is great, And what about you, Francisca sunshine has
Speaker 2: not been gorgeous? That simple find the corner of the
Speaker 2: room where the sun is, you know, coming into the house,
Speaker 2: or where it hits the garden, and just take a
Speaker 2: cup of tea and just go and sit outside, shut
Speaker 2: your eyes for five minutes and just taken this unshine.
Speaker 2: Yes too good, all good. Thank you for joining us
Speaker 2: on our new Zealand Herald podcast series, The Little Things.
Speaker 2: We hope you share this podcast with the women in
Speaker 2: your life so we can all get the right support
Speaker 2: we need.
Speaker 1: You can follow this podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts, and for more episodes from us on
Speaker 1: other topics, head to inzaid Herald dot co dot zid
Speaker 1: and we'll catch you next time on the Little Things.