OBGYN Recommended Vitamins and Supplements

A surprising look into what I actually recommend that women take in terms of vitamins and supplements. 
This is a billion dollar industry marketing everything under the sun to you, but what do you actually need?

Find out here!

Transcript

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Hey guys, and welcome to another episode of the Four Vaginas Only podcast. In this episode, we are gonna talk about OBGYN approved vitamins and supplements. And you're gonna be surprised probably about how many I actually think that you should be taking. So if you want to find out more, take a listen to this episode, but first, let's cue the music. Hello and welcome to 4 Vaginas Only, the podcast about everything female. I'm your host, Dr. Celestine, bringing you important information about understanding your health and body in the way you wish your doctor would actually explain it. All right, now thank you guys so much for coming to the 4 Vaginas Only Podcast. I am Dr. C or Dr. Celestine, as most of you know, and I am a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist and also the host of the 4 Vaginas Only Podcast. Now, in this episode, we're gonna be talking about supplements and vitamins that I recommend women take. Now, there's not gonna be that many, which I think people are gonna be surprised about. And it's interesting because the vitamin and supplement industry is a billion-dollar industry. I mean, anything from the health fanatics to, you know, the personal trainers online or even the social media influencers telling you to take this powder or that powder, all the way down to the Kardashians are discussing and pushing out their vitamins and supplements for people to take. But it's not actually recommended to take a slew of vitamins and supplements. It's actually more recommended to get it from your diet, and there's a lot that we get sufficiently from our diet, and sometimes we're overdoing it. So that has its downsides as well. But you know, we're we'll get into it. We'll talk about which ones I actually recommend and which ones you can just get from your general diet. So let's go. Okay, so I mentioned that the vitamin and supplement industry is a billion-dollar industry. So basically, you know, they're pushing things that you actually don't really need. So experts actually recommend that the best nutrients are through food. And that's because multivitamin benefits are actually uncertain. Um, there are there's a lot of research that actually also shows that some vitamins, especially in an excessive amount, are harmful. And a lot of these multivitamins, you know, that you take one and done, are actually containing more vitamin than you actually need or that's actually recommended. And that's because a lot of people are getting certain vitamins through food, and some people just don't need certain vitamins. So let's talk about which ones I actually recommend for women. Okay, so these vitamins and supplements that I actually recommend for women to take, there are only three of them. Okay, so the first one that I recommend that women take is vitamin D. And that's because there are very few natural sources of vitamin D, and most women, most people, are not getting enough sunlight and are deficient in vitamin D, especially if you live above the equator. So, you know, in the reproductive years, especially, but for most people, you need to be taking vitamin D. And the recommended amount for the reproductive years is about 600 international units to be taken daily. So that is one extra supplement that I would say to take on top of just trying to get things through your food. Now, the next thing that I would recommend for most women to take is calcium. Now, calcium, about 1,000 milligrams per day, is recommended. Not just for bone health. There are some studies that show it decreases PMS symptoms, which is interesting. Also, some studies are coming out showing that it helps to keep lower blood pressure in pregnancy and decrease preterm birth or preterm delivery. But overall, calcium is good for bone health, especially when combined with vitamin D to help it absorb into your bones. So most people are not getting the adequate amount of calcium that they need daily. So I would recommend that as an extra supplement for most women. And then the third thing that I actually recommend that you take as a supplement, especially in the reproductive years, is folic acid. Now, what's recommended there is 400 micrograms daily, and that is mainly because there are some cereals that are fortified with folic acid, but most people are not getting enough. And it's proven that the 400 microgram dose in most people prevents something called neural tube defect when a female becomes pregnant. It prevents neural tube defect or helps prevent it in the developing fetus in their body. So it helps with the spine and the brain formation. So, really, those are the only three supplements that I would recommend the majority of women to take, as opposed to taking a general multivitamin with a bunch of vitamins in it. Now, are there other things that I think you know you need to be paying attention to? Sure, and it definitely depends on who you are. So, for example, if you are a strict vegetarian or someone that's taking daily heartburn medication, it's recommended to supplement with vitamin B12 because you are most likely deficient in it. About 2.4 micrograms per day for that specific population. For the general population, we get most of our B12 through food. And that includes fish, that includes red meat, that includes chicken, that includes eggs, all have B12 in it. So just make sure that if you are curious about it, at least check your levels with your doctor first before just starting that supplementation. The other thing that I think I wouldn't recommend to take for everybody, um, but it's iron. And it's funny because the majority of women think that they are deficient in iron. They think they're anemic. I can't begin to tell you the amount of people that come to my office and say that they are anemic when in fact they are not. So the first thing I would say is make sure you actually check your level with your doctor to see if you are anemic before starting to supplement with iron, because most of us get a good amount of iron in our red meat when we eat beans, when we eat dried fruit. Um, but those of us that have very heavy periods, which if you've ever listened to my podcast before on heavy periods or read in any of my articles, that means at least like 80 milliliters of blood you're losing or over that amount with your period. Or if you're breastfeeding or pregnant, you probably need some supplementation because you lose more iron. But the majority of us are actually not baseline anemic. So make sure you check your levels first before you just start taking iron supplements. And there are a lot of other vitamins and minerals that are promoted, especially when we're looking at, you know, the billion-dollar industry that's trying to sell us all of their vitamins and supplements that you get from your actual food that you're eating. So the other one is zinc, some links to improving depression, great, but you get that naturally in a lot of different seafoods like oysters. You also can get it in oats or chickpeas. And then vitamin E. There has been some link to decreasing PMS with vitamin E supplementation, but you get that naturally if you're eating nuts and seeds and pumpkin, things along those lines, can give you an adequate amount of vitamin E without needing to take any extra supplementation. Also, vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 is great for pregnancy, it's been shown to prevent some nausea in pregnancy, and it's beneficial in the menopausal years as well, but we get a lot of supplementation from the things we eat, such as tuna, salmon, and some cereals are actually fortified with extra vitamin B6. So a lot of us don't need to take extra supplementation of that. So that's it. The vitamins and supplements that I recommend as an OBGYN for the majority of women just include vitamin D, calcium, and folic acid. Now, we talked about some special populations where you would need some other vitamins or supplements, but a lot of us, like I said, get it majority from the food that we eat every day, as long as you're eating a well-balanced, well-rounded diet. So, overall, I would say talk to your doctor before you start any vitamins or supplements to see what category you fall in, what's going on with your health or other medications you might be taking that would indicate that you might need certain extra vitamins or supplements before you just start buying them over the counter or listening to an Instagram or TikTok ad about taking something. Okay. And that's all. Thank you guys so much for listening to the Four Vaginas Only podcast. You can catch me on all social media platforms at 4 Vaginas Only and also my brand new website that has launched, four vaginasonly.com, where you can find my social media, you can contact me, you can see what I've been up to writing-wise and information-wise, and you can listen to this very podcast episode along with all of the others. So, thank you guys so much for listening, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Bye.