Speaker 1: Have you had low iron before? Have you taken your
Speaker 1: iron supplements? Then notice that your iron levels never actually improved.
Speaker 1: On today's episode of The Nutrition Couch, we deep dive
Speaker 1: iron supplementation and discuss the factors that impact how well
Speaker 1: your iron is absorbed in the body.
Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Leanne.
Speaker 3: Ward and I'm Sissy Burrow, and together we bring.
Speaker 2: You The Nutrition Couch, the weekly.
Speaker 1: Podcast that keeps you up to date with everything that
Speaker 1: you need to know in the world of nutrition as
Speaker 1: well as all things iron absorption. We also talk the
Speaker 1: trend of fibermaxing. We have a brand new Woolli's meal
Speaker 1: on the go to review, and our listener question is
Speaker 1: all about the evidence and truth behind collagen supplementation. But
Speaker 1: to kick us up today, Susie, we are chatting fibermaxing
Speaker 1: and it is quite the trend. I've seen it all
Speaker 1: over social media, all over TikTok, all over Instagram, and
Speaker 1: I don't mind it. And you will rarely ever hear
Speaker 1: me saying that I don't mind a social media nutrition trend,
Speaker 1: But this is one of those ones that I actually
Speaker 1: quite like because basically, what the fibermaxing trend is is
Speaker 1: it's deliberately trying to encourage people to actually increase their
Speaker 1: fiber intake by adding more things like legumes, whole grains, vegetables, fruits,
Speaker 1: nuts and seeds to their meals and to their day.
Speaker 1: So you know, this is actually a very real problem
Speaker 1: when we look at the nutrition landscape, Ninety something plus
Speaker 1: percent of people in Australia are not eating enough vegetables
Speaker 1: and they're very likely not eating enough fiber either, so
Speaker 1: we know that fiber intake needs improving. The fibermaxing trenders
Speaker 1: I think basically talking about how to increase your fiber
Speaker 1: intake as much as you possibly can, But there are
Speaker 1: some little nuances to that that I just wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about on the podcast because I do think that
Speaker 1: people need to deliberately increase the amount of vegetables they eat,
Speaker 1: whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. So I think most
Speaker 1: dieticians actually agree with this trend because we do fall
Speaker 1: well short of our recommended fiber intakes, and we know
Speaker 1: that fiber is really important from a gut health perspective.
Speaker 1: It helps to manage cholesterol, blood sugar control, and theres
Speaker 1: actually a lot of research in terms of people who
Speaker 1: have adequate the whole food. Fiber intakes can help prevent
Speaker 1: some long term chronic diseases as well, but more fiber
Speaker 1: isn't always better, particularly for those people with quite sensitive tumbies.
Speaker 1: And I believe that the average Australian gets in around
Speaker 1: sort of fifteen grams of fiber. So if you're trying
Speaker 1: to go from fifteen grams of fiber to like fifty
Speaker 1: grams of fiber overnight, that is not.
Speaker 2: Going to end well.
Speaker 1: I can promise you that you were going to be
Speaker 1: very bloated, very uncomfortable, probably quite gassy, and not wanting
Speaker 1: to be in a contained room with other people. So
Speaker 1: you've got to go low, and you've got to go slow.
Speaker 1: You've got to start with your fiber and gradually increase
Speaker 1: it slowly, and then you need to add enough water
Speaker 1: in because if you're adding a ton of fiber and
Speaker 1: you're not adding enough water in, you are going to
Speaker 1: be very, very uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: You're probably just going to make things worse.
Speaker 1: So that is the first point I really really want
Speaker 1: to drive home for our nutrition catch listeners that yes,
Speaker 1: fiber is super important, but do not increase it too quickly.
Speaker 1: Do not go from you know, ten, twelve, fifteen grams
Speaker 1: of fiber up to fifty overnight, it will end badly.
Speaker 1: I promise you that, and make sure that you have
Speaker 1: enough fluids. Now, the type of fiber also matters, because
Speaker 1: I believe Susie was it. A few episodes ago we
Speaker 1: reviewed one of the fiber wraps and it had like
Speaker 1: sixteen grams of fiber in a tiny, small, mini white wrap.
Speaker 1: Like not a great idea. So really make sure that
Speaker 1: that fiber is coming from whole food sources as much
Speaker 1: as possible. Yes, you can use things like celium hust
Speaker 1: meta musle to get that fiber intake up, but I
Speaker 1: certainly would not be getting in you know, thirty grams
Speaker 1: of celium husts and then you know increasing, you know,
Speaker 1: a tin of beans and legumes, a couple of slices
Speaker 1: of grainy bread, you know, four queue fruits.
Speaker 2: All in one day. Because you're not it's just it's
Speaker 2: gonna bad leave.
Speaker 4: I think what I say with fiber is people have
Speaker 4: incredibly low amounts one day and then super lowd the next.
Speaker 4: So forgetting that, it's about consistency with digestive healths. So
Speaker 4: a classic example is when you go traveling and all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, you get terribly constipated because you've gone
Speaker 4: from eating your regular diet with fresh food and fresh fruits,
Speaker 4: and you're on a flight for twenty four hours and
Speaker 4: eating plain food which was notoriously low in dietary fiber.
Speaker 4: It's stop people using the bathrooms too much, so you've
Speaker 4: got lots of white rice and playing chicken kind of meals.
Speaker 4: And then the snacks are things like potato chips and
Speaker 4: biscuits and ice cream, so you're not getting that fresh
Speaker 4: food bulk, and then you become dehydrated and of course
Speaker 4: not moving. And that's the tree ad for terrible gut health.
Speaker 4: And what I see with busy people is similar. You know,
Speaker 4: they're good on the days they're at home and having vegetables,
Speaker 4: and then suddenly they're at an event and they're all
Speaker 4: at a conference or traveling or at an early morning flight,
Speaker 4: and they skip their regular whole grain bread and cereal
Speaker 4: for something like a protein shake or just coffee. They're
Speaker 4: having catered lunches, which is sort of notorious for low
Speaker 4: fiber options like sushi or white bread and white wraps
Speaker 4: on cakes and biscuits as the snacks, not a lot
Speaker 4: of fresh food or at the Quantus club with the
Speaker 4: cheese and crackers, and then you know the dinners are
Speaker 4: eating out, and when you go to a restaurant or
Speaker 4: even catered food cannot past the mostly low in fiber.
Speaker 4: So all of a sudden, your poor gut goes from
Speaker 4: having a certain amount to very low, and we wonder
Speaker 4: why everything slows down. And on top of that, we
Speaker 4: drink alcohol because we're socializing or traveling, not drinking enough fluid,
Speaker 4: and we're not doing our regular exercise. And again, these
Speaker 4: are the three things, and what I often see with
Speaker 4: my clients is that they're all of a sudden stressed
Speaker 4: because they're not going to the bathroom as frequently. They're bloated,
Speaker 4: and then then they super load the fiber as you describe,
Speaker 4: so they're having four Kiwi fruit and then they're having
Speaker 4: a bowl of bran and a bowl of vegetable soup
Speaker 4: and all these beans, and it just compacts in and
Speaker 4: nothing's working. So you're much better to do it consistently.
Speaker 4: And one thing I've always done when I travel, funnily enough,
Speaker 4: is that I'll always have brand when I go away,
Speaker 4: Like I'll just start with the cereal when I get
Speaker 4: there to stop getting clogged up. I try not to
Speaker 4: eat a whole lot on planes because I find it
Speaker 4: makes it worse. I always have a soup before I go.
Speaker 4: So there's certainly some strategies that you can implement when
Speaker 4: you are traveling, but just being mindful that it's those
Speaker 4: three things you require. It's not about more and more
Speaker 4: and more. It's about getting the right types of fiber.
Speaker 4: Keeping in mind there's different types of fiber in cooked
Speaker 4: vegetables versus raw vegetables. Making sure you're getting the high
Speaker 4: fiber fruits, making sure you're getting a lot of fluid,
Speaker 4: and some good quality type of brand or whole grain
Speaker 4: bread cereals, not just loading up on beans for example,
Speaker 4: a whole mix of options. But you need to have
Speaker 4: plenty of fluid, and sometimes the best thing is going
Speaker 4: to the gym or going for a run to get
Speaker 4: everything moving. So it's the three tiered approach rather than
Speaker 4: just I've got clients who definitely just super loads. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I think it's a really interesting trend, but I would
Speaker 4: prefer people to just be consistent with it and be
Speaker 4: mindful that when you're going to a cafe, you're not
Speaker 4: getting much fiber from a sour dough bread. When you're
Speaker 4: picking up food on the run and you're having fish
Speaker 4: bowl which is incredibly popular at the moment, or you're
Speaker 4: having wraps or you're having salads away from the home,
Speaker 4: you're often not getting that great quality fiber. So if
Speaker 4: you haven't had a fiber rich meal at lunchtime, making
Speaker 4: a concerted effort to add a soup in or have
Speaker 4: cooked vegetables at night are just things we automatically should
Speaker 4: be doing, because I would much rather somebody have twenty
Speaker 4: five grams of fiber every day than fifty one day
Speaker 4: and twenty your ten the next. And that's what I
Speaker 4: notice tend to happen, particularly over the weekends when people
Speaker 4: are having the bunting sausages or the cannapas, the pizza.
Speaker 4: The fiber intake goes from good to really low really quickly,
Speaker 4: and that will absolutely have an impact on your digestive
Speaker 4: health and regularity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and people notice it on Monday, you know, we
Speaker 1: always get comments from clients saying, my bowels are all
Speaker 1: over the place, what's happening? And it is just that
Speaker 1: consistency with weekend eating. So as dietitians, we are certainly
Speaker 1: very supportive. We want all the strains to eat more
Speaker 1: fibers and all of our listeners to eat more fiber.
Speaker 1: But rather than fiber maxing, we want to call it
Speaker 1: being fiber smart, don't we being fiber consistent. We want
Speaker 1: you to focus on more plants, more legumes, more nuts
Speaker 1: and seeds, more variety, more water, more whole foods, and
Speaker 1: build it up gradually and do it consistently and your
Speaker 1: gut will thank you rather than hating you from going
Speaker 1: from ten grams to fifty grams back down to ten
Speaker 1: grams a day.
Speaker 4: And we've forgot the most important thing that we talk
Speaker 4: about all the time. The fiber in formulated food is
Speaker 4: not the same. So when you see these mega rab
Speaker 4: with this process fiber or even snack bars packed full
Speaker 4: of chickory root and what are the others that they
Speaker 4: stick in there?
Speaker 1: Inulin and the tapiocre starch, And yes it has some benefit,
Speaker 1: but really, when you look at the research around the
Speaker 1: health benefits and the reduction in chronic disease and the
Speaker 1: support that you get from a gut microbio perspective, it's
Speaker 1: really it's the whole foods. It's the legumes and nuts
Speaker 1: of seeds like actually add some beans into your dinner.
Speaker 1: If you're making a spaghetti, put a tin of lentils in.
Speaker 1: If you're making Mexican, add some black beans. That is
Speaker 1: the type of fiber that you want. We don't want
Speaker 1: twelve grams of fiber coming from a protein bar or
Speaker 1: fifteen grams of fiber from your breakfast granola. It's probably
Speaker 1: going to do your gut, you know, worse than could
Speaker 1: because you're going to be so bloated and gassy for
Speaker 1: so many people. So focus on real food when it
Speaker 1: comes to increasing your fiber and you will be a
Speaker 1: lot happier for it.
Speaker 4: And if you're seeing these products like the wraps we
Speaker 4: talked about that have got you know, ten, twelve, fifteen grams,
Speaker 4: it's too much in one sitting and straight away we
Speaker 4: know that's process fiber and not as good for you.
Speaker 4: So just stick to the natural sources all right ly.
Speaker 4: And we're excited, aren't we? Has dieticians. We don't get
Speaker 4: that excited very often. It's actually in my career, because
Speaker 4: I've worked a long time now, it's very.
Speaker 3: Rare that I see something that excites me. It's very rare.
Speaker 4: I see research and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's new
Speaker 4: and this I had actually not seen this before, which
Speaker 4: is I probably should have but super interesting. But I
Speaker 4: came up on Instagram because at the moment, my feeds
Speaker 4: filled with all things iron deficiency, and it was actually
Speaker 4: something I hadn't seen before. I thought it was fascinating,
Speaker 4: as did you when I sent it to you. So
Speaker 4: we desperately wanted to talk about it on the Nutrition
Speaker 4: Couch because we've spoken a few weeks ago about iron
Speaker 4: and low ferritin and this is a fascinating study that
Speaker 4: will make things a little bit clearer why perhaps you
Speaker 4: have supplemented with iron before and perhaps not had the
Speaker 4: best results. So it's a study published in a very
Speaker 4: reputable journal, the Lancet Hematology, way back in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 4: so this certainly isn't new. And the title, I'm going
Speaker 4: to read it because it's a very strong study, and
Speaker 4: it's called iron absorption from oral iron supplements given on
Speaker 4: consecutive versus alternate days and as a single morning dose
Speaker 4: versus twice daily split dosing in iron depleted women to
Speaker 4: open label randomized control trials. So this is a very
Speaker 4: very well designed study and to put it into Layman's terms.
Speaker 4: It's basically comparing the effect of iron uptaking the body
Speaker 4: of a group of women who had low, extremely low
Speaker 4: ferretin levels.
Speaker 3: So we spoke about this the other day.
Speaker 4: So their ferretin I think was under twenty five and
Speaker 4: I think the ranges like fifty to two hundred, So
Speaker 4: they were way way low in ferretin. And that's my
Speaker 4: concern when I see women who are particularly low in ferretin.
Speaker 4: And basically what they were looking at was the effective absorption.
Speaker 4: So given quite high amounts of iron sixty milligrams at
Speaker 4: a set time each day on consecutive days for fourteen days,
Speaker 4: and the other group was given the same dose but
Speaker 4: on alternate days for double the amount of time, and
Speaker 4: it was randomly controlled. So it was all a very
Speaker 4: very well designed study. Now, what the study is looking
Speaker 4: at and what I actually want to talk about, we'll
Speaker 4: talk about the results in a second. Basically, Physiologically, what
Speaker 4: happens when the body is trying to absorb iron, A
Speaker 4: lot of it comes down to the role of a
Speaker 4: peptide hormone called hepsidon hepsidon hahgp hepsidon hgpc id I
Speaker 4: in hepsidon. I call it Leam would say hepsidon. She
Speaker 4: is from Queensland. They pronounce things slightly differently, but it's
Speaker 4: the same thing. And it's basically produced by the liver
Speaker 4: and it acts as the master regulator of iron homeostasis,
Speaker 4: so it's basically managing our iron levels. And interestingly and
Speaker 4: people with hemochromatosis they don't have that, and hence they're
Speaker 4: more likely to iron overload, which is fascinating physiologically they're
Speaker 4: missing it. So basically it's telling the liver how much to.
Speaker 3: Absorb or not.
Speaker 4: But it's got a couple of mechanisms that can impact
Speaker 4: the way that we absorb iron, so basically all different things.
Speaker 4: If you've got infection, for example, it can block it
Speaker 4: to allow the cells to be without ion so that
Speaker 4: it replicates too quickly. But in the case of supplementing,
Speaker 4: so when you've got a female who has very very
Speaker 4: low ferrihin levels and she suddenly takes a really high
Speaker 4: elemental dose as you would see in pherograd ce or
Speaker 4: in multipher they are the supplements we use here in Australia.
Speaker 4: When you take a very very high amount, basically this
Speaker 4: peptide hepsidem. It triggers a temporary spike in that that
Speaker 4: lasts for about twenty four hours and acts as a
Speaker 4: block to subsequent doses, and it's like a protective mechanism
Speaker 4: to prevent iron overload.
Speaker 3: So suddenly the body is like not like, oh we're low,
Speaker 3: I need more and more.
Speaker 4: The basic physiology is, oh, you've got a huge amount
Speaker 4: come in. Sixty million romes is huge, and I think
Speaker 4: multiphas even more. I think multiphus like isn't ferrograd c
Speaker 4: like one hundred one hundred ye, so super high amounts.
Speaker 4: Keep in mind our idea is like fifteen eighteen or something.
Speaker 4: So you're having amounts three, four or five times that
Speaker 4: coming in. The body goes or hang on. I need
Speaker 4: to be careful with this because I don't want to
Speaker 4: have too much because that's also damaging to the body cell.
Speaker 4: So it basically blocks it for twenty four hours. And
Speaker 4: hence the recommendation from a number of GPS and rightly
Speaker 4: so that if you are supplementing with iron and you're
Speaker 4: very low, you need to only take it on alternate
Speaker 4: days to avoid this reaction where you're taking it but
Speaker 4: it's not being absorbed and actually being blocked. So back
Speaker 4: to the results of the study, which were so interesting,
Speaker 4: so interestingly land and not surprising given now we know
Speaker 4: how that peptide.
Speaker 3: Is it a peptide? What did I say it was?
Speaker 3: It was a it's a hormone.
Speaker 2: It's a hormone now.
Speaker 4: So basically the differences in the alternate day group was
Speaker 4: the total iron absorption was seventy one point four compared
Speaker 4: to one hundred and ten, So basically, as we would expect,
Speaker 4: it was significantly better in the group who had alternate
Speaker 4: day supplementation. So I thought, it's not groundbreaking in the
Speaker 4: sense it makes sense, but it also is a reminder
Speaker 4: as why if you've been taking iron supplements too frequently
Speaker 4: when your levels of ferretin are low, that you might
Speaker 4: not have had the response that you were looking for.
Speaker 4: And certainly it's better to split to have the dose
Speaker 4: on alternate days for maximum absorption.
Speaker 3: And I think, did it say it's better to split
Speaker 3: it as well?
Speaker 2: No, it's just alternate day, it's.
Speaker 4: All turnate days. So yeah, so that's basically why. Because
Speaker 4: of that, So if you're on social media, you would
Speaker 4: have seen a lot of people writing about absorption. So
Speaker 4: the question I have leanne Are you still then better
Speaker 4: to orally supplement versus getting in fusion? And that's I
Speaker 4: think a question because I think if iron supplements don't
Speaker 4: agree with you, you know, you get an upset stomach
Speaker 4: from them, you find that it's really harsh on the gut,
Speaker 4: You're probably better to get an infusion. But for whatever
Speaker 4: reason you have difficulty getting it, you don't want to
Speaker 4: pay because it can be an elective choice. The doctors
Speaker 4: recommending against it. Certainly the best advice has been to
Speaker 4: supplement and scientifically on alternate days at a reasonably high dose.
Speaker 4: I prefer multi for myself, Like if I was recommending
Speaker 4: a supplement for clients, I would go that over fair
Speaker 4: grad Sea, but I've had some people who use ferro
Speaker 4: grad CEA. I think that it's more important to do
Speaker 4: it occasionally, like every second day, at a good dose,
Speaker 4: to bring the levels up, and then you ultimately want
Speaker 4: to be checking to make sure that it's been uptaken
Speaker 4: by the body because for a range of different reasons,
Speaker 4: sometimes iron won't be well absorbed. You might have an infection,
Speaker 4: you might have some other things going on. You might
Speaker 4: consume a lot of tea or coffee, that you hadn't
Speaker 4: thought about. All those factors do have impacted the way
Speaker 4: you're consuming it because it can block it. And I
Speaker 4: had a listener question come up about timing of oxalates
Speaker 4: as well, which we're going to cover in a future episode.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think it's just most important that you're
Speaker 4: doing that follow up a month or two later to
Speaker 4: make sure that your stores have been brought up back
Speaker 4: to regular levels and then make a decision rather than
Speaker 4: assuming that it's okay, because I do notice a lot
Speaker 4: of people will come in on iron, they'll start some supplements,
Speaker 4: they feel a bit better, and then they let it go.
Speaker 4: But you forget, you've got to build the stores right
Speaker 4: up again back to normal and make sure that you
Speaker 4: maintain them with it an adequate oral intake or if
Speaker 4: you know your ideal is to take a low dose
Speaker 4: supplement long term whatever, you've got to have a plan
Speaker 4: for it. Basically, you don't want to just hope it's
Speaker 4: up there because you feel a bit better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's super super interesting, and you know, as dieticians,
Speaker 1: and you know, many gps have always recommended every second day,
Speaker 1: you know, for iron supplementation, but it's good to actually
Speaker 1: have the research to come back to you. Like you said,
Speaker 1: it's not new. The study has been around for a
Speaker 1: long time. It wasn't a huge, huge, huge study.
Speaker 2: It was a great.
Speaker 1: Design study, but there was only nineteen women, so it
Speaker 1: wasn't huge, So it is worth a good discussion with
Speaker 1: huge GP. But certainly, many of the gas show introlgists
Speaker 1: I've worked within the past have always recommended second day
Speaker 1: aren't absorption. So basically the practical implication that the study
Speaker 1: was recommending was they're sort of saying, instead of taking
Speaker 1: a hundred milligrams of iron every day, it may actually
Speaker 1: be better to take two hundred milligrams of iron every
Speaker 1: second day. That's a whopping dose as well, because they're
Speaker 1: saying that the alternate day dosing improved iron absorption by
Speaker 1: around forty to fifty percent, and that is absolutely massive.
Speaker 1: But the big question I had when I read this,
Speaker 1: SUSI was well, what are the GI side effects, because
Speaker 1: surely two hundred milligrams of like elemental iron is a
Speaker 1: huge amount every second day. But interestingly, there were no
Speaker 1: like hugely significant differences in the GI side effects between
Speaker 1: both groups. So the most common side effects from a
Speaker 1: gashuintestinal perspective was nausea and epigastric pain for both doses,
Speaker 1: So in both groups there were a few women who
Speaker 1: both experienced a bit of nausea and a bit of pain,
Speaker 1: but it was no worse in the two hundred milligram
Speaker 1: dosing versus one hundred milligram dosing, so quite similar. And
Speaker 1: I think one of the ladies had a case of
Speaker 1: some vomiting as well, So basically the difference between the
Speaker 1: amounts were similar from a side effect perspective, which would
Speaker 1: for me as a dietician, if the GP was on
Speaker 1: board and happy, I'd probably be recommending the high dose
Speaker 1: every second day. But then we also know that iron
Speaker 1: can be quite constipating for some people as well, so
Speaker 1: that there brings the fiber fluid physical activity thing back
Speaker 1: into play as well. So a few things to manage,
Speaker 1: I think, but certainly worth a trial, I think if
Speaker 1: you're someone who's consistently had low iron or you know
Speaker 1: it takes a really really really long time for that
Speaker 1: eriton to come up on the blood test as well,
Speaker 1: But just really really fascinating.
Speaker 4: Yes, And I will say the single dosing, not splitting
Speaker 4: the dose is important too, because that impacts the peptide
Speaker 4: that's impacting it all. So yes, single dosing, even if
Speaker 4: it's every second day, don't split it all right, Lenn, Well,
Speaker 4: these have got a new ready made range of meals
Speaker 4: and I did have you noticed this?
Speaker 1: I have noticed them. I haven't tried them, but I
Speaker 1: have noticed them. I had a client try them.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: I have to be honest, so I've been talking about
Speaker 4: this for a while now. I have loved what Coals
Speaker 4: are doing in this space for a while. Unfortunately we're
Speaker 4: not paid by either Coals or Willies. We are open
Speaker 4: to it, but I have preferred what Coals have been
Speaker 4: doing in a ready meal sort of pre made option
Speaker 4: for quite some time. I think some of their coal's
Speaker 4: finest is really good. And I had noticed Woolies were
Speaker 4: lagging behind a bit, but they've come to the party
Speaker 4: with a whole new range of ready to go meals
Speaker 4: in the fresh food section. I don't love the packaging,
Speaker 4: I'll be honest. I think that it's not overly attractive.
Speaker 4: If they've got that real like the salad, sort of
Speaker 4: that glossy plastic film with the black riding, I just
Speaker 4: don't think it is overly appealing looking. But let's not
Speaker 4: take away from the nutritionals. So we're going to look
Speaker 4: at one of the products there at the moment, and certainly,
Speaker 4: like many food suppliers, they are targeting a higher protein approach.
Speaker 3: So there's the ones we're going to look at today.
Speaker 3: The bowls.
Speaker 4: There's a whole range of bowls there that are heavily
Speaker 4: marketed as high protein with thirty five grams and I
Speaker 4: just randomly chose the Woolworths Tariachy chicken bowl. Now, as
Speaker 4: I said, I don't love the packaging. It's not visually
Speaker 4: appealing to me. It retails for twelve dollars, so that's
Speaker 4: twelve dollars for the meals. Not insignificant, not overly high,
Speaker 4: but it's up there for Health Star rating. As we know,
Speaker 4: there's issues with the Health Star ratings, so it doesn't
Speaker 4: always give us a lot of information. If I look
Speaker 4: at the ingredient list, which is generally what we go
Speaker 4: to first cook brown rice thirty percent, followed by RSPCA
Speaker 4: preof chicken twenty five. So that is a high amount
Speaker 4: water at amame beans nine percent, and a lot of
Speaker 4: food companies will use edto marmae to bump up the
Speaker 4: protein a little bit. I will say that edom marmee
Speaker 4: look discolored in the packet, which is not overly appealing.
Speaker 4: Ede mama's got to be bright green, doesn't it? Otherwise
Speaker 4: it does look like a real mushy color. Broccoli florets, carrot,
Speaker 4: cook kinoa, three point five percent soy sauce, mirran, brown sugar,
Speaker 4: corn starch, cheriaki seasoning, vegetable gum, acidity regulator, crushed ginger, garlic, dextros, salt,
Speaker 4: canola oil, sesame seeds, tapioca starch, black pepper, citrus, citrus,
Speaker 4: citrus fiber, and a natural preservative. So safe to say
Speaker 4: that those things are in there, and relatively small amounts,
Speaker 4: even though there is quite a few ingredients and additives listed.
Speaker 4: So nutritionally perserve at three hundred and fifty grams, which
Speaker 4: is about the size of a small frozen meal. Weight wise,
Speaker 4: comes in at just shy of four fifty calories per serve,
Speaker 4: so a decent load for a meal. Thirty five grams
Speaker 4: of protein, which is a nice amount for that calorie load.
Speaker 4: It's low fat seven grams of fat definitely less than
Speaker 4: one percent saturated, fifty six grams of carbohydrate, twelve grams
Speaker 4: of sugars less than five percent sugar overall, though coming
Speaker 4: from those sources, Tiaki sauce is notorious for having a
Speaker 4: bit of sugar five point two grams of dietary fiber,
Speaker 4: which is not overly high for that calorie load. You'd
Speaker 4: really want eight to ten for a meal. Seven fourteen
Speaker 4: milligrams of sodium. Not high, not overly low. Ah, what
Speaker 4: do we think?
Speaker 2: Leanne?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't have bought this one because I didn't think
Speaker 4: it looks very nice. It looks a bit mushy to me.
Speaker 4: The protein is high. I think for.
Speaker 3: Twelve dollars, is it high?
Speaker 4: Well, you can get a can of tuna for what
Speaker 4: twenty grams of protein for four bucks, so it's not
Speaker 4: overly cheap for that level of protein. I give it
Speaker 4: a I don't know, eight out of ten. I guess
Speaker 4: if it tastes good. We have not tried it. What
Speaker 4: are you think?
Speaker 1: I fight a client who tried it, and she has
Speaker 1: a very particular palette, and she was not impressed.
Speaker 2: She just said it was a bit mushy.
Speaker 1: And it looks to me like it looks like it's
Speaker 1: been overcooked a little bit like it doesn't look very
Speaker 1: like the photo on the front looks better than the
Speaker 1: bowl itself. It does look a bit mushy, like it's
Speaker 1: sort of been oversteamed a little bit. She wasn't that impressed,
Speaker 1: She said she wouldn't buy it again. She did try
Speaker 1: a few of the others in the range. She said
Speaker 1: they were a little bit better, but I think in
Speaker 1: her opinion, the calls one sort of come out on top.
Speaker 1: But all of these pre made meals, they're never going
Speaker 1: to be as good as making it fresh from home.
Speaker 1: So this is they're targeting a certain busy person who
Speaker 1: doesn't have the time or I guess they want to
Speaker 1: cook for themselves. So there's a little bit of you know,
Speaker 1: sacrifice that comes with that. I guess you're not going
Speaker 1: to get chef style quality meals from the supermarket. Would
Speaker 1: I buy it myself, No, Would I recommend it to clients, yes,
Speaker 1: but again a certain type of client.
Speaker 4: A certain type of client, but someone who doesn't mind
Speaker 4: mushy foot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and who doesn't want to cook and you know,
Speaker 1: just wants to reheat something I guess is fine, and
Speaker 1: who's not you know that particular about food and taste,
Speaker 1: and you know, some people are really like it has
Speaker 1: to taste amazing.
Speaker 2: Other people are like, well.
Speaker 3: Someone with really low standard's nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's fine, but I wouldn't be rushing
Speaker 1: out to buy it myself.
Speaker 2: I think nutritionally it's all right.
Speaker 4: What I would say is this is where frozen is
Speaker 4: better than fresh, because the thing about a lot of
Speaker 4: the frozen meals is that they're snap frozen, so they
Speaker 4: retain a lot of quality. So there at a marmade
Speaker 4: doesn't look so brown and mushy. It's often looking a
Speaker 4: lot cleaner, like a lot brighter. It actually retains a
Speaker 4: lot more if you don't overcook it. And people always
Speaker 4: think fresh is better. Well, fresh is better if you're
Speaker 4: doing it at home, but not if it's sat in
Speaker 4: the supermarket production line for a week before you get it.
Speaker 4: So I'm a bit like, actually, if you're got to
Speaker 4: have these meals, I think in a lot of instances
Speaker 4: you better to have the frozen ones.
Speaker 3: I actually quite like the Woolies fresh one.
Speaker 4: There's a preciudo chicken, there's a salmon, there's a steak
Speaker 4: I've recommended and use, so it's for quite some time.
Speaker 4: They're not discimil price points and they've got cook veggies
Speaker 4: in them, so yeah, I think there's better options, and
Speaker 4: I don't think you should assume that frozen is inferior
Speaker 4: nutritionally than fresh, because in that instance, you would argue
Speaker 4: that the frozen would be better and higher in nutrients
Speaker 4: because it's been snap frozen, whereas I guarantee you if
Speaker 4: something's discolored, it's losing some of the nutrition. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I think it's interesting and it will be interesting to
Speaker 4: see what survives in supermarket because I think generally skews
Speaker 4: are given three months and if they're not doing well,
Speaker 4: they'll be out. So yeah, I think watch this space.
Speaker 4: Will is obviously trying to come to the party with
Speaker 4: better options, and certainly they need to because if you've
Speaker 4: got overseas and spent time in whole foods in the
Speaker 4: States or Marks and Spencer, their quality of pre made
Speaker 4: food is beyond what we have here at the moment,
Speaker 4: and I think we will only improve because people are
Speaker 4: looking for more quick and easy options, particularly with the
Speaker 4: cost of food, because for twelve dollars for thirty five
Speaker 4: grams of protein, it is probably cheaper than buying the
Speaker 4: chicken breast the different vegetables. That's probably going to cost
Speaker 4: you close to twenty but they've got to taste good
Speaker 4: for people to invest that kind of money. Given that
Speaker 4: originally frozen meals were five bucks, now they're sort of
Speaker 4: eight to ten, and it's getting into that ten plus
Speaker 4: dollar people do expect a certain level of standard and
Speaker 4: quality with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'd rather go to a sandwich shop
Speaker 1: and get a beautiful fresh sandwich with all of the
Speaker 1: salads and some lean chicken breast and a bit of avocado,
Speaker 1: And it's certainly going to be It's pretty high protein.
Speaker 1: Maybe not thirty five grams, but it's a lot fresheran
Speaker 1: to me, a lot more appealing, and not really twelve
Speaker 1: dollars either.
Speaker 2: Oh, I mean, depending on where you go.
Speaker 4: I thought it was the price was quite high for it.
Speaker 4: I thought it was probably more an eight dollar product,
Speaker 4: So they're certainly trading on the protein aspect. Thirty five grams.
Speaker 4: It is good, But yeah, I think that it's not
Speaker 4: visually so appealing right now.
Speaker 5: They've got to do a bit of work on it.
Speaker 5: I don't think a lot of people will be jumping
Speaker 5: for it reaching for it. Yeah, true, true, true. Speaking
Speaker 5: of jumping and reaching, well, what do we need to
Speaker 5: do that. Lean college keeps our joints.
Speaker 4: That's beautiful and iluds wrong and fluid flex or the.
Speaker 1: Listener question of the week, what is the evidence behind
Speaker 1: collagen supplementation? Now, I think I've taken collagen for a
Speaker 1: long time, probably a lot longer than you. I've always
Speaker 1: been a bit of a fan of it and you
Speaker 1: look twenty five. So it's working well done, and a
Speaker 1: filter too. But I will say collagen isn't magic, right,
Speaker 1: Collagen is not botox, no matter how much we want
Speaker 1: it to be, it is not magic. However, there is
Speaker 1: a reasonable amount of evidence behind specific hydrolyzed collagen peptides
Speaker 1: and certain strains of them, certain brands of them, and
Speaker 1: when taken consistently, not sporadically randomly, when you remember twice
Speaker 1: a week, consistently by that I mean daily, the research
Speaker 1: has shown that it can actually modestly improve important things
Speaker 1: like skin elasticity, hydration, and wrinkled depth. That's where the
Speaker 1: bulk of the strongest research lies. But you need to
Speaker 1: take it daily for about eight to twelve weeks. That's
Speaker 1: what the research shows. So for skin health, yes, not
Speaker 1: for fat loss, not for hormos, not for repairing your gut,
Speaker 1: it's not bowtop, but for skin and joint heals. Yes,
Speaker 1: there is some good research now. The most studied collagen
Speaker 1: peptides are called verasol. Now In some of the research,
Speaker 1: Charles found that about two point five grams of verasol
Speaker 1: collagen a day for eight weeks reduced irinkle volume and
Speaker 1: increased different markers of dermal matrix synthesis, including procollagen type
Speaker 1: one and elastin now it Also there was another study
Speaker 1: that find that verasol bovine collagen in women between the
Speaker 1: ages of thirty five and fifty five found that two
Speaker 1: and a half grams of collagen daily improved wrinkle volume,
Speaker 1: skin elasticity, and hydration after eight weeks. So there are
Speaker 1: some systematic reviews that generally show that cardrolized collagen and
Speaker 1: the bulk of the research has been done on austrand
Speaker 1: called verasol. Veerisol, like I said, helps with skin hydration, elasticity,
Speaker 1: and some fine lines and wrinkles, but the effect is
Speaker 1: modest and some of the studies are on smaller site.
Speaker 1: That is important to know. So do I like collagen overall? Yes,
Speaker 1: it adds protein into the diet. If you're looking at
Speaker 1: it from a joint health perspective, you need more so
Speaker 1: for from that skin elasticity perspective, you're looking at two
Speaker 1: and a half to five grams a day. From a
Speaker 1: joint health perspective, you're looking at ten to fifteen grams
Speaker 1: a day. Now, there's been some chatter online that like
Speaker 1: a marine collagen is superior. The research does not show
Speaker 1: that I personally prefer bovine collagen. But if you're not
Speaker 1: someone who you know eats meat or something, then marine
Speaker 1: collagen might be a better option for you.
Speaker 2: But it is not any better.
Speaker 1: It's just like people say that, you know, vegan protein
Speaker 1: is better than way, it's actually not. The research shows
Speaker 1: that the opposite way protein is actually better than vegan protein.
Speaker 1: So if you were going to do it, I would
Speaker 1: say you need to do it daily. You need to
Speaker 1: take it for eight to twelve weeks, take some photo
Speaker 1: see if it makes a difference. Try to find a
Speaker 1: brand that uses verasol, because that is the most research
Speaker 1: collagen peptide out there. A lot of brands talk a
Speaker 1: big game, They charge a hell of a lot of money,
Speaker 1: They have beautiful models modeling for them, but really we're
Speaker 1: looking at the evidence and where the science actually lies.
Speaker 1: And as I said, if you're going to take it
Speaker 1: when you remember sporadically, when you feel life, get half
Speaker 1: a dose here, half a dose there, You're probably not
Speaker 1: going to get the best results. Because the research really
Speaker 1: does show two point five to five grams a day
Speaker 1: for eight to twelve weeks using if you can, vasol,
Speaker 1: which is a trademarked collagen peptide.
Speaker 2: So that is exactly what we did when we.
Speaker 1: Formulated out designed by Dietitian renew collagen. We used five
Speaker 1: grams in a serve of verasol collagen. We manufacture it
Speaker 1: in Australia. We're bound by very tight TDA regulations. It
Speaker 1: doesn't come out of China like a lot of different
Speaker 1: supplement brands do. And we use that viasol collagen as well.
Speaker 1: So if you want to try it, there is some
Speaker 1: research behind collagen and it also adds to your overall
Speaker 1: protein intake for the day, So scoop of our designed
Speaker 1: by Dietitian renew collagen actually adds about five grams of
Speaker 1: protein to your day as well, so numerous benefits. Whether
Speaker 1: or not you want to try it is entirely up
Speaker 1: to you. But if you are looking at it from
Speaker 1: a joint health perspective, I double the dose and do
Speaker 1: ten grams a day.
Speaker 2: What do you think?
Speaker 4: I think that definitely when you're getting into your forties
Speaker 4: and fifties and you start to notice that knee pain,
Speaker 4: it's worth a try because that can be debilitating and
Speaker 4: there is evidence for it. But it's like anything, it's
Speaker 4: about the consistency and doing it in the right way.
Speaker 4: And my collagen users love it, you know, they're deeply
Speaker 4: committed to it. So yeah, it's like all supplementation, it's
Speaker 4: a personal choice, but we can relate the science. And
Speaker 4: I also think it's important. I've noticed on social media
Speaker 4: a few doctors hopping on a bandwagon about collagen supplementation,
Speaker 4: and I think you've also got to keep in mind
Speaker 4: where you're getting your positioning from, because it's like with HRT.
Speaker 4: If you see a doctor who's deeply against HRT or supplements,
Speaker 4: that's the message they send, and that's also a personal
Speaker 4: position as opposed to reporting the science. And that's what
Speaker 4: we will do here at the Nutrition Couch. They're not
Speaker 4: saying that that super letting collagens like botoxs are going
Speaker 4: to make you look twenty years younger, which I think
Speaker 4: some brands do allude to in their marketing, and they're
Speaker 4: off their brands by people you don't. They're faceless brands
Speaker 4: who's making them? So I think with supplements, you want
Speaker 4: to make sure you're getting it from someone qualified to
Speaker 4: be formulating, which is why we create a design by dietitians.
Speaker 4: But I think just be wary when you get haters,
Speaker 4: you know, doctors saying no evidence, shouldn't be having it.
Speaker 4: And I look at some of the doctors and I think,
Speaker 4: you don't even wear makeup, so you're not using or
Speaker 4: promoting supplements ever, and as such, you're putting your personal
Speaker 4: opinion on things. And my position always on supplements, it's
Speaker 4: a personal choice. I can tell you what I think
Speaker 4: has evidence behind it. I'll tell you what I take
Speaker 4: and why, but then I let my clients go and
Speaker 4: make an informed decision themselves. Whereas I think when you
Speaker 4: get experts or professionals telling people what they think they
Speaker 4: should and shouldn't do, I'm always a bit wary because
Speaker 4: it's like, you know, what political party do you go for?
Speaker 4: You're bringing your personal opinion on it versus actually just
Speaker 4: reporting the science and letting people make an informed choice.
Speaker 4: So yeah, if you're watching a doctor who clearly isn't
Speaker 4: about anti aging in her presentation, she's probably not the
Speaker 4: person to be giving commentary about college and supplementation for
Speaker 4: whatever purpose. Because you're right, particularly when it comes to
Speaker 4: joint health, there is evidence for it and has been
Speaker 4: for many, many years, and as such, we have used
Speaker 4: it with athletes, et cetera for a long time in
Speaker 4: their joint rehab and recovery. In a different context, And
Speaker 4: can I also say that just because a brand charges
Speaker 4: a heck of a lot of money, like I've seen
Speaker 4: College in eighteen ninety dollars, it doesn't mean it's better.
Speaker 4: As I said, if you actually look at the clinical research,
Speaker 4: verasol is the best most research studies strain of collagen,
Speaker 4: and a lot of these brands aren't even using that
Speaker 4: and they're charging ninety dollars that designed by dieticians. We
Speaker 4: want the best quality research and we want fair prices
Speaker 4: all year round. We don't inflate our prices to constantly
Speaker 4: go on thirty or forty percent off.
Speaker 2: That's just not what we do. I like to think
Speaker 2: we have integrity, Suzi, like some of the brands.
Speaker 3: Well, we don't.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we don't overcharge for similar you know, we charge
Speaker 4: what we need to charge as a business, but we
Speaker 4: don't double it just to make extra profit, which is
Speaker 4: what you see all the time with creation and with pollogen,
Speaker 4: which makes us very angry. And the hot chocolates I've
Speaker 4: spoken about the eighty dollars hot chocolate. That's abominable. You know,
Speaker 4: if ex influencers and models are selling double the active ingredient,
Speaker 4: it's dodgy as and I think it is good to
Speaker 4: be aware of that because if you want it's like
Speaker 4: when you go to the chemist and you're looking at
Speaker 4: the active molecule in the allergy med you know, don't
Speaker 4: pay more for a brand name if it's the same
Speaker 4: active ingredient. And that's the same thing with supplements. Just
Speaker 4: buy beware because you can waste a lot of money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: And if we're using the best quality available strains of
Speaker 1: collagen and packing and you know, actually manufacturing it in
Speaker 1: Australia is most brands are manufacturing straight out of China,
Speaker 1: and we can do our collagen for thirty seven dollars
Speaker 1: a bag. You don't need to be paying ninety dollars
Speaker 1: when some of these celebrity brands are charging, you're not
Speaker 1: getting anything better.
Speaker 3: I was looking at creating in.
Speaker 4: I had to do a review article for Good Food
Speaker 4: and I had to do Creatin in the supermarket, so
Speaker 4: I actually went online to look at all the different
Speaker 4: brands because I wanted to report. So seek German Creating
Speaker 4: for the pure option, and none of the mainstream brands
Speaker 4: in supermarket. We're marketing on German source Creatin, which means
Speaker 4: it's all Chinese. So that's also what's going on in
Speaker 4: the background.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well, little supplement chitchat for our listeners.
Speaker 1: But that brings us to the end of another episode
Speaker 1: of the Nutrition Catch And like we said, if you
Speaker 1: know that your diet needs a little bit of extra
Speaker 1: protein or creatine, or you'd like to trial some collagen,
Speaker 1: go and check out our scientifically formulated range of supplements
Speaker 1: at designed Bydietitians dot com. Thank you for listening, and
Speaker 1: we will catch you in next week's podcast.
Speaker 3: You will have a great week.