This is an interesting introduction to what could be a fascinating discussion of values. Do you prefer to extend your life x years, knowing that those would be years of illness? Debilitating illness? Would you sacrifice x years of lifespan, knowing you could increase y years of healthspan?
My father passed away in April at age 93 after 2 years of paralysis from a stroke (caused by the jab, I believe). He wanted to prolong his life at any cost. But he was completely helpless and dependent.
Most people I know, but not all, prefer fewer but healthier independent years. That makes sense to me.
Thank you for this fascinating read. When you recommended at the beginning one or two ounces of liver, are you referring only to beef liver or will chicken liver also work for that purpose? For me chicken liver is more palatable and more accessible.
Secondly, if we don't eat oysters, is there anything else you'd recommend instead?
I wonder if you have ever done an article on vitamin E? I have learned through difficult trial and error that I cannot tolerate much of it in supplement form, racing heart, anxiety, lightheadedness – – it happens every time. Most of these high end supplements have 400% or more of vitamin E. Over the last few years my lab tests are all the same – – barely marginal d alpha tocopherol and below normal gamma tocopherol. So whatever the problem, I’m trying to solve it with food and some combination of mixed tocopherols (like Jarrow) at a very low-dose. I see that huge doses of vitamin E are no longer everyone’s darling. I’d like to learn whatever I can about this so I can work on fixing the problem..
He wrote about vitamin E in his "vitamin and mineral cliff notes" (which he sells for a couple of bucks). Yes, Jarrow and life extension have low dose vitamin E supplements (13mg) which is much better than the high doses. To get vitsmin E from foods, I think organic extra virgin olive oil or egg yolks or avocados are probably best if you do well with fats.. Good luck
Excellent article. "There are multi-vitamins and there are multi-vitamins, I want you to take the latter." (small joke / reference to Vesper's line in James Bond "Casino Royale")
The junk they sell in grocery stores and such is well pretty much that... junk. There are a few that are excellent formulas but as you point out in this article, certainly nutrients simply "don't fit" in a multi (when is the last time you saw a multi with a decent amount of EPA and DHA Omega 3 fatty acids?). Then there are the "marketed" multi products which may be good products but are absurdly over priced.
Agreed, but I cringe when I read the labels of "drug store multis".
One concern how they will use synthetic alpha tocopherol instead of a full suite of Vitamin E forms (both tocopherols and tocotrienols). As I'm sure you know, some published studies show this kind of usage of synthetic alpha tocopherol does more harm than good.
Is it worth noting that certain minerals can compete for absorption in multis(like zinc and copper for example or calcium and iron) or is that untrue/insignificant/contingent on specifics? I wonder if this is also true in food if so.
It's been a while since I came across studies on this but this always comes to mind when anybody mentions multivitamins.
If that were actually a problem, no one would ever be able to get good nutrition from food (which invariably mixes all these together) and almost everyone would be getting serious nutrient deficiencies from not getting their minerals separated with sophisticated supplementation plans.
I think you have deeper issues to fix as no one should be that vulnerable to methylation seesawing, but Seeking Health has other multi’s without methylated Bs.
Getting all of the nutrients you need is important, but I suspect that for many people, getting the toxins out may be even more critical. Chelation and other practices may yield great dividends.
So if you recommend 1-2 oysters/day and I don't eat oysters, do you recommend the 4 capsules of Oyster Max? Is that the equivalent? I read somewhere that 2 brazil nuts have your selenium for the day?
Certain multis like Centrum and many other mainstream ones that are advertised on television and sold in drug stores, have such low amounts of each nutrient and are filled with a lot more fillers. If you are taking a multi, make sure it's a good one (with as few fillers as possible or even better to have no fillers) and I also like to make sure the capsule is bovine gelatin.
I use the Irwin Naturals 75-ingredient multivitamin. My morning drink is Orgain Protein Powder with 50 superfoods, in a blend of coconut milk, oat milk, and banana milk. I supplement with B-complex + C, and Zarbee's C + D + zinc. Also, DHEA, spirulina, NAC.
I use thepeopleschemist.com product, Daily Dose, without ANY fillers, made by a master biological chemist. Orgain is vegan. Since you are vegan, make sure you are taking a good B12 (methylcobalamin), as it's not in all B vitamin products. I get my D from the sun, my zinc and coQ10 from liver supplements, take 10 grams/vitamin C/day when I'm not sick and more if I am.
This is an interesting introduction to what could be a fascinating discussion of values. Do you prefer to extend your life x years, knowing that those would be years of illness? Debilitating illness? Would you sacrifice x years of lifespan, knowing you could increase y years of healthspan?
My father passed away in April at age 93 after 2 years of paralysis from a stroke (caused by the jab, I believe). He wanted to prolong his life at any cost. But he was completely helpless and dependent.
Most people I know, but not all, prefer fewer but healthier independent years. That makes sense to me.
I'll take health over longevity any day! (but aiming to get both)
Thank you for this fascinating read. When you recommended at the beginning one or two ounces of liver, are you referring only to beef liver or will chicken liver also work for that purpose? For me chicken liver is more palatable and more accessible.
Secondly, if we don't eat oysters, is there anything else you'd recommend instead?
Thank you 🙏
I said "liver" because I meant "liver." The liver you eat is sustainably is the best liver to eat.
Higher volumes of beef and cheese can largely make up for oysters.
I wonder if you have ever done an article on vitamin E? I have learned through difficult trial and error that I cannot tolerate much of it in supplement form, racing heart, anxiety, lightheadedness – – it happens every time. Most of these high end supplements have 400% or more of vitamin E. Over the last few years my lab tests are all the same – – barely marginal d alpha tocopherol and below normal gamma tocopherol. So whatever the problem, I’m trying to solve it with food and some combination of mixed tocopherols (like Jarrow) at a very low-dose. I see that huge doses of vitamin E are no longer everyone’s darling. I’d like to learn whatever I can about this so I can work on fixing the problem..
Vitamin E:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/vitamin-e
He wrote about vitamin E in his "vitamin and mineral cliff notes" (which he sells for a couple of bucks). Yes, Jarrow and life extension have low dose vitamin E supplements (13mg) which is much better than the high doses. To get vitsmin E from foods, I think organic extra virgin olive oil or egg yolks or avocados are probably best if you do well with fats.. Good luck
Now E oil can work too if not going for tocotrienols.
How can this be valid if people are taking different brands of multi? Isn't that just assuming all are the same and have content?
Specific studies used specific multis in the RCTs, in the cohorts it’s any multis.
Excellent article. "There are multi-vitamins and there are multi-vitamins, I want you to take the latter." (small joke / reference to Vesper's line in James Bond "Casino Royale")
The junk they sell in grocery stores and such is well pretty much that... junk. There are a few that are excellent formulas but as you point out in this article, certainly nutrients simply "don't fit" in a multi (when is the last time you saw a multi with a decent amount of EPA and DHA Omega 3 fatty acids?). Then there are the "marketed" multi products which may be good products but are absurdly over priced.
I agree, but then again even drug store multis look decent compared to standard diets with no multi from the trial results.
Agreed, but I cringe when I read the labels of "drug store multis".
One concern how they will use synthetic alpha tocopherol instead of a full suite of Vitamin E forms (both tocopherols and tocotrienols). As I'm sure you know, some published studies show this kind of usage of synthetic alpha tocopherol does more harm than good.
Is it worth noting that certain minerals can compete for absorption in multis(like zinc and copper for example or calcium and iron) or is that untrue/insignificant/contingent on specifics? I wonder if this is also true in food if so.
It's been a while since I came across studies on this but this always comes to mind when anybody mentions multivitamins.
If that were actually a problem, no one would ever be able to get good nutrition from food (which invariably mixes all these together) and almost everyone would be getting serious nutrient deficiencies from not getting their minerals separated with sophisticated supplementation plans.
In cronometer it looks like liver + unfortified yeast every day is a ton of iron. Is that not a concern to you?
About 12% of people need to care about too much iron and few of those 12% should be focused on decreasing it in their diet.
See here:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/understanding-iron
This is a particularly interesting column, partly due to the subject & partly due to Chris' treatment.
The multis Chris suggested won't work for me since I had a bout w/ over methylation this year.
That is the worst thing to ever happen to me in 69 yrs, bar none.
Those multis have methyl forms & I'll never try those again.
I think it was methylfolate that caused the issue, afterwards I found it in 2 or 3 different supplements.
Now just a few cups of coffee can start the process & I take the antidote again.
Overmethylation is incredibly hard to find info on, & I feel very fortunate to have found the antidote.
I'm still having issues & have to take the antidote, time to time.
And since there's no one near me that knows anything about it I'm pretty much on my own.
Talk about the blind leading the blind.
I think you have deeper issues to fix as no one should be that vulnerable to methylation seesawing, but Seeking Health has other multi’s without methylated Bs.
Thank you for your input, I'm working w/ a functional dr, & starting w/ a naturopath trying to sort it.
Getting all of the nutrients you need is important, but I suspect that for many people, getting the toxins out may be even more critical. Chelation and other practices may yield great dividends.
You need nutrients to clear out toxins, so nutrients come first in my view.
And plenty of water and exercise. I always remind clients of the *free* therapies first which are often even more effective.
Surprised that there is no mention of iodine, though that is included in the Seeking health Multi.
Why? There are many nutrients I didn’t mention.
Because many people will not get enough without supplementation.
Iodine is very, very valuable. But multis contain absurdly trivial amounts of iodine.
So if you recommend 1-2 oysters/day and I don't eat oysters, do you recommend the 4 capsules of Oyster Max? Is that the equivalent? I read somewhere that 2 brazil nuts have your selenium for the day?
I think you’d need more like 6-12. Brazil nuts vary 20-fold. Organ meat and seafood are less variable.
Certain multis like Centrum and many other mainstream ones that are advertised on television and sold in drug stores, have such low amounts of each nutrient and are filled with a lot more fillers. If you are taking a multi, make sure it's a good one (with as few fillers as possible or even better to have no fillers) and I also like to make sure the capsule is bovine gelatin.
Most people should not by default be getting great excesses over the RDAs for any of the nutrients.
I use the Irwin Naturals 75-ingredient multivitamin. My morning drink is Orgain Protein Powder with 50 superfoods, in a blend of coconut milk, oat milk, and banana milk. I supplement with B-complex + C, and Zarbee's C + D + zinc. Also, DHEA, spirulina, NAC.
I use thepeopleschemist.com product, Daily Dose, without ANY fillers, made by a master biological chemist. Orgain is vegan. Since you are vegan, make sure you are taking a good B12 (methylcobalamin), as it's not in all B vitamin products. I get my D from the sun, my zinc and coQ10 from liver supplements, take 10 grams/vitamin C/day when I'm not sick and more if I am.
I'm not vegan. That same breakfast includes chicken sausage, scrambled eggs with chives, and sweet potato.
Sorry. I thought Orgain was vegan and coconut, oat and banana milk would be too.
Orgain is vegan. Omnivores sometimes eat vegetables.