Welcome to the Wellness Connection MD Podcast . I'm Dr McBin . Ever wonder what supplements might be helpful for your specific health issues ? Well , we have some answers for you on the show today . We'll review for you the main causes of disease , along with some specific , evidence-based suggestions for some supplements that may be helpful for these medical conditions .
So kick back and enjoy the show . We hope you find it helpful . So kick back and enjoy the show .
We hope you find it helpful . Welcome to the Wellness Connection MD Podcast with Dr McMinn and Coach Lindsay , where we bring you the latest , up-to-date , evidence-based information on a wide variety of health and wellness topics , along with practical take-home solutions .
Dr McMinn is an integrated and functional MD , and Lindsay Matthewzy Matthews is a registered nurse and IIN certified health coach . Together , our goal is to help you optimize your health and wellness in mind , body and spirit . To see a list of all of our podcasts , visit McMinnMDcom .
And to stay up to date on the latest topics , be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast player so that you'll be notified when future episodes come out . The discussions contained in this podcast are for educational purposes only and are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease .
Please do not apply any of this information without approval from your personal doctor . And now on to the show with Dr McMinn and Coach Lindsey .
Hello and welcome to Wellness Connection MD , the evidence-based podcast on all things wellness . We thank you so much for joining us today .
I'm Dr Jim McMinn , and today Coach Lindsay and I are going to talk just a bit more about the topic of supplements , but from a different and important perspective Unbiased , up-to-date , evidence-based , outcomes-oriented information , along with practical solutions in order to empower you to overcome your healthcare challenges and to optimize your wellness in mind , body and
spirit and to become a great captain of your ship when it comes to your health and wellness . First , let me just remind you that our podcast remains commercial-free , so we can stay unbiased . We're not here to sell you anything and we're not going to waste your time with any annoying commercials .
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First , if you buy nutritional supplements like the ones we're talking about on the show today , then consider purchasing physician-grade supplements from our Fullscript dispensary at a 10% discount . You can see a link to the full script below in the show notes , or go to mcminnmdcom .
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And please don't forget to subscribe to the show and tell your friends and family about us so we can bring this valuable information to more people . And now on to the show . On our last show , we shared with you our top 10 list of supplements for all-purpose use , along with some solid science to support our recommendations .
However , today we're going to look at the supplement issue from a different perspective . We're going to list for you the most common and important diseases that affect folks , and then we're going to share with you some evidence-based suggestions for supplements that may be helpful for these diseases .
Dr Pita Adia , in his excellent book called Outlive , described the four horsemen of diseases that cause slow and sometimes miserable death , and these are cardiovascular disease , cancer , neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic dysfunction like diabetes . These four diseases will be the cause of death for the vast majority of Americans .
So let's take a look at some of the supplements that might be helpful against these four diseases . We'll start with the number one cause of death , which is cardiovascular disease , and I purposely say cardiovascular disease instead of heart disease , since cardiovascular disease also includes stroke , which , at the end of the day , is mainly a vascular issue .
Most of the supplements that we recommend for cardiovascular disease include the things that we've already discussed , like curcumin , a bioflavonoid complex , vitamin D , magnesium , and then just that good general multivitamin and a multimineral formula .
Also , there is an association between heart health and a healthy gut microbiome , so the probiotics can even play a role here in heart health .
Another one I like is called garlic . You can get this through the food you eat or you can take a garlic supplement . I take one called Allicin Max , s-a-l-l-i-c-i-n Max , which I get online . It's just one pill once a day .
An article from the journal Nutrition concluded that garlic supplementation has the potential for cardiovascular protection based on risk factor reduction , which include hypertension and total cholesterol . An article from the UAB School of Medicine states that eating garlic is one of the best ways to lower blood pressure and protect yourself from cardiovascular disease .
Garlic seems to act by cholesterol reduction , blood pressure regulation , antiplatelet effects , antioxidant effects and inflammation reduction .
Vitamin K2 may also be helpful . A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Nutrients in 2019 found that higher dietary intake or supplementation of vitamin K2 was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality .
The next of the four horsemen we'll look at is cancer . There are two issues here cancer prevention and cancer treatment . We'll start with vitamin D . Several studies have linked low vitamin D levels to higher risk of various cancers , including breast , colorectal , lung and prostate cancer .
However and this is an important point even though low levels meant more cancer , vitamin D supplementation did not seem to reduce risk in these studies . We see this every now and then in medicine . For instance , a low HDL may mean more heart attack risk .
However , raising the HDL doesn't seem to improve risk , so we have to make sure not to make assumptions here . But there is a workaround here that Lindsay is going to tell you about .
So , as you know , exposure to sunlight triggers our bodies to produce vitamin D . Interestingly , even though supplementation with vitamin D did not change outcomes , in some studies a higher exposure to sunlight resulted in a lower risk of breast , prostate and colorectal cancer , although the risk of skin cancer went up significantly .
So I guess you got to pick your poison .
That's right . Another one I like is medicinal mushrooms . Yes , they contain a wide variety of bioactive compounds which act on the immune system . Mushrooms have been shown to exhibit anti-cancer properties in preclinical studies .
Several studies have suggested a greater intake of mushrooms may result in decreased risk of certain cancers , including breast cancer , prostate and colorectal cancer . Remember that most of our chronic diseases are caused by , at least in part , inflammation , and inflammation is often immune-mediated . So mushrooms help to boost the immune system .
So , then , that may have beneficial effects downstream vis-a-vis less inflammation and then less disease . I take a product called MRS by Pure Encapsulations , which is a combination of mataki , reishi and shiitake mushrooms .
The next supplement that may help is DIM , diindylmethane , which is derived from cruciferous veggies . An observational study reported that supplementation with DIM produced a decrease in MRI breast density by greater than 10% . That was associated with a 63% reduction in breast cancer risk 63% .
That's huge , isn't it ? Yeah ? And next up is folate . A guy named Dr Zhang that's Z-H-A-N-G at Harvard School of Public Health found that supplementation with folate reduced incidence of breast cancer by 45% in women who consumed one or more alcoholic drinks per day . So listen up out there , women . If you're a drinker , then you should be taking fully .
Yes , and a lot of times . That's going to be in your good multivitamin formulation . Fish oils , flaxseed , curcumin , green tea , probiotics , flavonoids like luteolin and iodine they all have some supporting evidence for cancer , but the studies are inconsistent . So we just got to stay tuned for more research to keep coming out .
The next of the four horsemen is the neurodegenerative diseases that include Alzheimer's , parkinson's disease and ALS . A small study evaluated the effects of curcumin patients on Alzheimer's disease . After six months , significant improvements were observed in cognitive function behavior in the curcumin group compared to the placebo group .
When it comes to curcumin and Parkinson's disease , there's a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial that was published in 2012 that investigated the effects of curcumin in patients with Parkinson's disease , and that study found that curcumin was well-tolerated and showed potential benefits in improving motor function and reducing oxidative stress markers .
Moving on to the flavonoids , one small pilot study published in 2010 evaluated the effects of quercetin-rich supplements in patients with Alzheimer's disease . After 26 weeks , the quercetin group showed improvements in cognitive function and mood compared to the placebo group , but the study had small sample size and was not placebo-controlled .
Several epidemiological studies have suggested a diet rich in flavonoid-containing foods , such as berries , citrus fruits and green leafy vegetables , is associated with lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline .
Ashwagandha , so there have been very few clinical studies investigating the effects of ashwagandha in Parkinson's disease patients .
However , there's a small pilot study that was published in 2019 that evaluated the effects of standardized ashwagandha root extract in patients with Parkinson's disease , and that study found that ashwagandha supplementation for 12 weeks was well-tolerated and it also showed benefits in improving motor function , cognitive function and quality of life for Parkinson's disease patients
as compared to the placebo .
And now we'll look at the herb Bacopa minori . One small pilot study published in 2012 evaluated the effects of Bacopa minori extract in patients with Parkinson's disease .
The study found B bacopa minori supplementation for six months was well-tolerated and showed potential health benefits improving cognitive function , attention and memory in Parkinson's disease patients , compared with the placebo group .
So , when it comes to bacopa and Alzheimer's disease , there was a small pilot study published in 2008 that evaluated the effects of bacopa Monore extract in patients with age-associated memory impairment , and the study found that Bacopa Monore supplementation for 12 weeks was again well-tolerated and it showed potential benefits for improving memory , attention and cognitive
function compared to the placebo group .
Now let's turn to magnesium . We're still again on the issue of neurodegenerative diseases , but limited clinical data exists on magnesium supplementation in Parkinson's patients .
There are a few studies on this , but anecdotal reports from some patients suggested magnesium supplementation may help relieve muscle cramps , pain , I think when you think of Parkinson's you think about tremors and maybe even Parkinsonian dementia , blah , blah blah . But other effects like cramping , pain , constipation those are also important .
So if you can relieve those kind of symptoms , that can be helpful as well .
So let's also talk about vitamin C in Parkinson's disease . While clinical trials are lacking , observational and mechanistic studies suggest that higher vitamin C levels or higher intake may reduce Parkinson's disease risk and delay the age of onset , likely because of the antioxidant and neuroprotective mechanisms of vitamin C .
The list of supplements that some experts have suggested may be helpful and is quite long , but much of the hype around these supplements is based on hopeful and or mechanistic thinking . For instance , we know that the accumulation of amyloid plaque is a finding associated with Alzheimer's disease , and a particular substance may reduce this buildup of amyloid plaque .
Therefore , one might conclude that it might be good for Alzheimer's disease . However , in most instances , there is no direct evidence that the substance really significantly changes the outcomes in Alzheimer's disease .
The bottom line is that more robust , well-designed clinical trials are needed to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of many of these supplements in neurodegenerative diseases .
So we come to the last of those four horsemen of the deadly chronic diseases , and that was diabetes . A number of clinical trials have suggested that the herb berberine may help with blood sugar regulation . Clinical trials have suggested that the herb berberine may help with blood sugar regulation .
Other studies have also concluded that Gynema sylvestre it's an herb that's also known as , and it may be helpful for managing blood sugar . So there's also other studies that have suggested that supplementation with chromium , ala or alpha lipoic acid , magnesium and cinnamon can improve glycemic control .
However , at the end of the day , the scientific evidence is mixed and inconclusive , so it's hard to give these a ringing endorsement .
Before we close out , there are two other common medical conditions that we frequently see in the clinic We'll just briefly mention , and those are arthritis and osteoporosis . Starting with arthritis , one of the most common supplements would be the glucosamine , chondroitin and MSM compound . It seems like about half of our patients benefit from this and half didn't .
It's worth a try . It falls into the category of might help and probably won't hurt you . Other supplements to consider for arthritis include fish oil , curcumin and boswellia .
The last one that we'll mention is osteoporosis , and this is a huge problem , especially for us women . Certainly , there are drugs for this , but the drugs do have those potential side effects and risks , and I have seen some women come back with significant increase in bone mineral density based on follow-up DEXA scans , without drugs .
And you're asking what was the secret ? And they had been on a combination of bioidentical hormone replacement , some targeted supplements . Some of those supplements included vitamin D , calcium K2 , and a good mineral support formula like OsteoPrime Ultra by Integrative Therapeutics or BoneUp Ultra , along with good weight-bearing exercise . That's important too .
So a few studies have suggested that melatonin supplementation could also be helpful in maintaining bone mineral density for postmenopausal women , who have an increased risk of osteoporosis due to the estrogen deficiencies .
Okay now we're closing out now with a few pearls of wisdom . Before you start taking a supplement , look for potential drug supplement interactions . You can ask your doctor or pharmacist , or you can find this information on websites such as WebMD Interaction Checker or Drugscom Interaction Checker .
And , in an attempt to be thorough , we have covered a lot of ground . However , if you're like me , you can only take so many pills , so you want to choose wisely , based on your particular need , and for most of us , there are kind of four basics a good multivitamin , a probiotic , vitamin D and fish oil .
Always work with your healthcare provider to make sure that the supplements and dosing are appropriate for you . Coach , I think that'll about do it for this episode of the Wellness Connection MD . Thank you so much for joining us today . We hope we're able to share something with you that was helpful for you . After all this , why don't we do the podcast ?
Don't forget to check us out at mcminnmdcom , where you can find lots of great resources and check out the Wellness MD blog Also . Please help us grow this podcast by telling your friends and family about us . Share on your social media , please .
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If you want to reach out to me by email , you can do so at drmcmindy , at yahoocom . You can also find me at facebookcom , slash mcmindy or instagramcom , slash mcmindy . I'll have all our links at the bottom of the page for you at our homepage at mcmindycom . And now , coach Lindsay , leave us with a . Coach Lindsay , pearl of wisdom .
Well , thanks , dr Mack . You know we said this at the beginning , but I think it's worth a revisit that there is no magic pill and , at the end of the day , no supplement will replace diet and exercise , and so that's just always so important to be consistent with that .
And we've talked about that 80-20-90-10 rule where you know majority of the time you're doing all those right things , but gosh . I hope you listeners enjoyed this podcast , though it's so highly practical . I hope you enjoyed getting to see . You know these are some of our brands . Welcome to the kitchen here .
Yeah , they're right , you know we're telling you these are what's on our shelves . And these are what's on our shelves and these are important things and we appreciate you listening .
Well , thank you , coach , for your pearl wisdom , and that should wrap it up . Thanks again so much for listening . We really appreciate it . This is Dr McMinn .
And this is Coach Lindsay Take care and be well .