How many supplements do you take? In the UK alone in 2019, it’s believed that the UK spent over £500 million alone on taking supplements and vitamins. You, too, might have been in this statistic and may have found yourself taking more than one supplement at a time. While there are many benefits to taking supplements, you shouldn’t take them until consulting with your doctor first. Similarly, if you’re already taking them, it’s important to know their side effects and interactions before adding anything else into your lifestyle. To give you an idea of what supplements work together, we will look into what works well and how your body breaks them down.
Can you combine supplements?
It is possible to combine supplements and take several each day. However, you have to be extremely careful if you plan to do so. Part of the reason for this is that your gut aims to compete to absorb different minerals. Therefore if you take vitamins with a higher supplement or mineral ratio, one may be absorbed more effectively than the other. Sometimes, when taking some supplements, both cancel out each other, making them ineffective. If you want to take supplements together, you also have to consider the following:
- Dose: You should always stick to the dose suggested by the manufacturer when combining multiple. This is to ensure efficient nutrient absorption. When adding new supplements to your lifestyle, you don’t want to just jump directly into taking them. You must take a break before adding new ones into your lifestyle to allow your body to adjust.
- Medication: If you’re on any treatment for certain medications, you should take caution before combining supplements. There are some supplements that might interact with your medication. For example, if you take anticoagulants (blood thinners) and then take omega-3 and ginkgo Biloba together, there’s a higher risk your blood may start thining more.
- Timing: When taking multiple supplements together, the timing is equally important for them to be effective. For instance, there are certain supplements that should be just taken at mealtimes. Especially fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K can be broken down more effectively when you consume food.
How does the body break down supplements?
How your body absorbs supplements completely depends on the type of vitamins in them. The vitamins are either water-soluble or lipid-soluble.
Water-soluble supplements
Water-soluble vitamins are absorbed directly into your blood when digestion occurs. However, as they can dissolve in water quickly, they can easily be excreted through your urine; therefore they need to be taken in larger doses.
Lipid soluble supplements
These supplements get dissolved with fats before they can fully enter your body. The fats they dissolve into are bile acids that come from your liver and the small intestines. The acids are essential to help transport vitamins and minerals into your intestinal wall, body and liver for storage.
Powerful supplement combinations
If you want to add more supplements to your diet, you should consider taking well-matched combinations. Here are a few great combinations from our range you might want to consider:
Boron+Vitamin D3 & K2
Choline Bitartrate+Uridine Monophosphate
L-Theanine+5-HTP
Final Thoughts
Overall, when taking supplements, you have to be extremely cautious about combining them. You must consider your dosage, current medications you’re taking, times you are taking them and more. Similarly, you might want to ease into taking them, so your body gets adjusted. It’s always important you speak to a doctor first before taking them, so they can advise you on the correct dosage on what to take. After all, some supplements may make your gut compete for more absorption, making others less effective. However, if you know what supplements you can take, check out our range.
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