What’s in your Supplements

Were you aware that the familiar RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) has now been changed to NRV (Nutrient Reference Values), and that this occurred in 2014?

No, me either!

OK, so are they the same?

Yes.

But what do they mean anyway?

As of May 2016 the daily NRVs are:

13 Vitamins:

Vitamin A	800 µg / 2664 IU
Vitamin D	5 µg / 200 IU
Vitamin E	12 mg / 17.9 IU
Vitamin K	75 µg
Vitamin C	80mg
Thiamin	1.1 mg
Riboflavin	1.4 mg
Niacin	16 mg
Vitamin B6	1.4 mg
Folacin/Folic Acid	200 µg
Vitamin B12	2.5 µg
Biotin	50 µg
Pantothenic Acid	6 mg

14 Minerals

Potassium	2000 mg
Chloride	800 mg
Calcium	800 mg
Phosphorus	700 mg
Magnesium	375mg
Iron	14 mg
Zinc	10 mg
Copper	1 mg
Manganese	2 mg
Fluoride	3.5 mg
Selenium	55 µg
Chromium	40 µg
Molybdenum	50 µg
Iodine	150 µg

NRV covers 27 nutrients

The Office of Dietary Supplements recommends between 75 & 90 mg of vitamin C a day to prevent scurvy in an adult and a minimum of 40mg per day in a newborn, however the NIH proposes 200mg per day. Further research suggests that due to absorption rates 2000 – 3000 mg should actually be minimum intake and 30,000 – 200,000 mg when ill.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 400 iu per day of Vitamin D to prevent rickets, the Vitamin D Council recommends 1000 iu per day in children, per 25kg of body weight, other information says 125-250 iu per lb of body weight.

Taking Selenium at a rate of 400 mcg per day has been scientifically proven to reduce the risk of a number of cancers.

So how does the supplement you take/give measure up?

Well, unfortunately it’s not that easy.

Some products claim 100% NRV, but are using synthetic vitamins that are not absorbed properly. Some use natural ones, but do not include the co-factors necessary for the body to utilize them.

Some ‘Children’s Multi-Vitamins’ only contain 25% of the NRV for a newborn and are recommended for children aged 3-12.

On top of this the average absorption of supplements is around 12%!

So many products don’t have any where near the variety of nutrients required by the body to function, and they also contain insufficient amounts of the nutrients they do contain, that’s if they are bio-available and not synthetic.

One supplement deficiency can lead to multiple diseases e.g. a calcium deficiency can lead to 147 different diseases.

Further, billions of dollars worth of research has found that we require, 90 essential nutrients (essential meaning we cannot produce them ourselves), including:

60 Mineral
16 Vitamins
12 Amino Acids
2-3 EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids)

So what do I do?

I refer to Naturopathy, and go to the gentleman who did the billions of dollars worth of research and produced the supplements that contain all #90forlife at amounts that benefit my body that are often well in excess of RDA/NRV :

e.g. some of the nutrients in BTT 2.0 Tablets

Vitamin A 200%
Vitamin C 2083% (plus I take more on top)
Vitamin D3 250% (plus I take more on top)
Vitamin E 200%
Thiamin (B1) 2000%
Riboflavin (B2) 1765%
Niacin 200%
Vitamin B6 1500%
Vitamin B12 16,667%
Pantothenic Acid 1500%

they also contain all the necessary co-factors and a 90-98% absorption rate and list the ORAC value (amount of anti-oxidants), it is recommended that you take 100,000 ORAC per day, you can get some from your food, but it’s a challenge to get that many: