Dietary Supplement Quality Guide: Dr. Jimenez, Health coaches Adriana Caceres and Faith Arciniega, and Clinical Nutritionist Ana Paola Rodriguez Arciniega will discuss when practitioners are asked why they sell dietary supplements to patients, the number one response is to offer patients access to safe, high-quality products. However, for many patients, convenience and price rank very high in their decision-making. This discrepancy between practitioner and patients beliefs about the importance of quality helps explain why so many patients end up going elsewhere for refills and ongoing purchases. If patients could understand the importance of product quality to their health, they might rank trust in practitioner recommendations above all else.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Well, today we’re going to be talking about dietary supplement quality guides. Okay, now our focus is to assess how you know what a good vitamin versus a bad vitamin? So we got a group of individuals here, and we’ve got the little marker there. We are focusing on determining what is a good supplement in basil. Now all of us want the best, and we all want to make sure we take good supplements.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: But as a lot of people will know, you know, it’s like wine.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: You know, a lot of people want wine. And how do they pick wine? Well, the prettier label. No, it’s not. Sometimes you look at supplements, and there’s a lot of marketing effort to determine a good supplement. And you don’t know the quality. So a lot of it is based on the trust of the company. A lot of it is the quality, the fillers, and we’re here today to discuss what type of supplements are good supplements. So our goal today is to come up with reasoning and assess a good way of looking at a supplement. Now I know that Adriana works with many athletes and many trainers, and we have Adriana here, so say hello, Adriana. There you go. And we got Ana Paola Rodriguez Arciniega, and we got Faith over here.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Who’s going to be analyzing the certain
Dr. Alex Jimenez: components.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: So what we want to do is we’re going to bring in different ideas at the right time.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: So right now, I’d like to know what fitness people are when you say take protein or supplement? What are they interested in finding out about a supplement in terms of the quality Adriana?
Adriana Caceres: Yes, they want to know a lot.
Adriana Caceres: They first want to know about the dosage.
Adriana Caceres: So what dosage is good for me? Each body has a different type of absorption or how they absorb vitamins and nutrients.
Adriana Caceres: So that also depends on the dosage you’re going to take.
Adriana Caceres: Also, something they want to know if it’s safe. You have to make sure that the product you’re using is FDA approved, which is very important. Sometimes we see supplements that when you see the labels, they see at the back at the end, like some ingredients not all disclosed, and that’s when you sometimes have to be suspicious of labels. Also, you want to know if the product works, if it’s efficient. So this goes back to the dosage that your body needs and should take. And also, I think one of the most important things it has to do a lot in deciding to buy or purchase the product is the cost.
Adriana Caceres: Is the cost-benefit really good?
Adriana Caceres: or is there something? Or is it too expensive?
Adriana Caceres: Sometimes, as you said,
Adriana Caceres: the marketing brings us to buy a particular brand or something. And sometimes, it’s not the best one just because the dosage is not there. It has a lot of fillers, and you just really are not getting what is worth your money. So that is something to see it.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Let me ask you how to do what we’re going to be talking about this.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: But Ana Paola,
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Tell us a bit about how you recommend choosing the right brand or company in terms of supplements. Just as an introduction.
Ana Paola: Well, something that we’re looking for is this brand certified? Who is telling us that this brand is safe? So that is something significant that we’re looking at. Also, I would like to know if the supplement gives me that one hundred percent of the daily value that I’m meeting for my RDI. So that is very important for our supplement intake as well.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: So let me ask you, let’s talk about the reading of a supplement line, and let’s dive right into it. When you do, you can take over the view. Let me make sure I got you, and I will make you a co-host as we do with these things.
Ana Paola: I’m pretty sure I can share my screen right now.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: I’m just making you a co-host. So there you go. So you’re a co-host, so go ahead and see if you can share the screen on the area you want to talk about and present.
Ana Paola: Okay, let me know when you have it on your screen.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: I do. I have it on my screen, and I can see it.
Ana Paola: So reading your label is essential.
Ana Paola: And we’ve seen this in most of our packaged foods.
Ana Paola: But we should know that there are also many nutritional facts that we need to know about in our supplements. So for us to know if the supplement is working for us or if it can be certified or has a good dosage that has a good form and that the evidence supporting that supplement is working, we should go directly to the supplemental information. So basically, what we need to know about these supplement facts or this supplement sheet is when we need to know how to read it. The first thing that we’re going to have is the title, and the second most important thing is the serving size. Sometimes we see a package or a label, and we see that our supplement has around 60 pills or 120 capsules or something like that. And when you go back and turn around and see the nutritional label, you can see that the serving size sometimes is up to four capsules or tablets or gummy. So that is something that we need to consider. What is the serving size amount that will supply me with the right amount of that specific nutrient that I’m searching for? So this is one of the most important things that we need to know about. That’s the serving size. The second, well, we have the third, the serving, the servings per container. And this is something that most of the time comes in the front of the package or supplements. So this is something that is nice to know in a supplement facts sheet. Something fundamental that I find very interesting in this label is the number five, the daily value percentage.
Ana Paola: And when you go ahead and say, let’s have this example,
Ana Paola: the one from vitamin C. We have the name of the vitamin that the supplement provides us, and then we have a number seven, which is the total amount. And after that, we have the daily value. So this is a critical marker that we need to consider, and I will tell you why.
Ana Paola: Meeting of the daily value,
Ana Paola: is the amount of the dietary ingredient or the percentage of the daily value that that supplement will cover and fully support the recommended dietary intake of that specific vitamin. So, for example, the vitamin C is not only giving us 100 percent of the dietary intake of that particular date, it’s giving us two hundred and seventy-eight percent, which means that this could be a good supplement for someone who is dealing with immune recovery or that might be missing or might be having some deficiency of this vitamin. And this is something vital because that is something that we can correlate with our nutritional assessment. So that is one of the most important things that we might be looking in or looking for in the supplement fact sheet behind a supplement. So that is very important. And after that, we can see the number eight. This is an asterisk. So mainly, we will have those kinds of notes of that or that sign. If there comes a situation where we don’t know the daily value, this would mean that we do not have recommended dietary intake of a specific nutrient. And after that, we need to know what is inside of that particular supplement because I was told before that there are a lot of different forms of vitamins that we can find in the supplement so that we can have vitamin A. But is that a better carotene, or is it retinol? Is it retinol? So we need to know what is that type of vitamin A that we’re taking so we can see right here that we have 50 percent
Ana Paola: of beta carotene.
Ana Paola: So that is very important for us to know, and we need to know exactly what we’re taking. And for that, we need to know how to read the supplement, the supplement facts, and the bad part of our package.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: To that point, one of the things that we have seen is that the FDA, the Federal Drug Administration, they monitor many of the drugs or all of the drugs before they go out to the public. However, the supplements and the nutraceuticals they don’t monitor at the
Dr. Alex Jimenez: level or they
Dr. Alex Jimenez: doesn’t even at some times. Therefore, we’re left with really
Dr. Alex Jimenez: required
Dr. Alex Jimenez: documentation in the back of the supplement to be able to assess that. One of the things is the excipients that are used to make the supplements. Now, when we’re looking at this particular thing on number 10, we see the excipients in this situation integrate its calling by tar calcium carbonate. Sometimes it’ll give you information as to what type of factory
Dr. Alex Jimenez: it was produced
Dr. Alex Jimenez: in and what other things are being produced inside that factory. If you
Dr. Alex Jimenez: have issues with
Dr. Alex Jimenez: shellfish that they need to
Dr. Alex Jimenez: produce the information
Dr. Alex Jimenez: that it was produced in a factory where they do have shellfish, Cole factored in there. However, when we look at these supplements, a lot is
Dr. Alex Jimenez: based on the trust
Dr. Alex Jimenez: of the organization and where we’re left to fend for ourselves. So when we assess these things, we have to make sure that we are very clear in terms of what’s going on. So I want to take the screen here for a second here, and I’m going to see if I can share my side. Thank you and share my story. So can you guys see yourselves here and there we go and get the sound, and you guys see the picture for everybody?
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Yes, you can see it.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: All right. Or yes or no? Yes. Yes. Okay. Now you do. Okay, so it’s all good right there. So at that point, when we look at these particular supplements, when we look at this particular area here, we have to see that we have to disclose things like the crustacean, shellfish, the fish, the eggs, dairy. Some people have allergies to these supplements.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Wheat, tree nuts, soybeans, peanuts.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: These are things that are important because a lot of people may have an allergy
Dr. Alex Jimenez: or allergen
Dr. Alex Jimenez: resistant issues, and they may cause
Dr. Alex Jimenez: issues
Dr. Alex Jimenez: later on in the future as a result of those things. So our goal in this dynamics is to formulate a situation where we can
Dr. Alex Jimenez: understand what is going on
Dr. Alex Jimenez: with the patient and what we can not. We may cause a problem as a result of it. As we look at these particular areas, as Anna explained here, it’s essential to review all our patients when they tell us they take supplements. What we do is we actually make sure they bring us these supplements, and we take a look at what’s going on here. So many times, you’ll see astronomical numbers here. We’re more of the belief that we’re just trying to get the normal products in there. So products that are high quality usually don’t have extreme numbers like 10000 of, let’s say, vitamin B6 and have a normal 100 percent. And so we’re looking for more than a natural appearance. However, in certain situations, we want to look and see what’s going on. You’re also going to be able to look at certain supplements. And when you see the products, you’re going to see trademarks, and trademarks are these particular components where they have certifications actually. Many people don’t know that supplements and the way they’re organized are trademarked and law and protected by copyright laws. So the way they formulate the way they allow them, the vitamin or the supplement to enter the body may be a trademarked or a method where real certification happens. And then we’ll mark that, and you’ll see certain trademarks and registrations on the bottom to tell you that this product comes from and is produced in a way that it is trademarked.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Now, as
Dr. Alex Jimenez: I look at this dynamics; one of the things I want to be able to assess is this particular component here. Okay? So when we look at
Dr. Alex Jimenez: the overall
Dr. Alex Jimenez: products of what we got here were for Mrs. Faith. When we have a patient who has these questions, these concerns typically present these supplements and go over the supplements with them. When you sit down with a patient and when you sit down with Ana, what are the things that we cover with Ana? And you can both answer that question in terms of the supplements that we offer our patients.
Faith Arciniega: Right. So well, they would sit with Ana and me. Then we would get into what supplements they are taking, see where they are undervalued and see where they’re perhaps taking too much and how those are tying into the symptoms that they’re experiencing, perhaps inflammation. If you were low in vitamin D, you might experience hair loss or depression, anxiety, or frustration. Then we could evaluate those things in tests that we can perform here or subscribe you to. And then later do outside of the office. And then we would look over those values, and then Ana, I’m sure, can dive a little deeper into that as she works on the patients.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Specifically, when we look at a supplement, a person is sensitive to a supplement. Is it important to look at these bottles and take into consideration the whole presentation of a patient? And what are the things that you look for when working with a certain supplement for an individual?
Ana Paola: That’s a good question. And I recall this specific patient who we had. This patient, I mean, we were trying to give this patient all, and we were reviewing all of our different supplements and trying to provide the best for her.
Ana Paola: But after we did the recommendation list and everything, we were so excited about it.
Ana Paola: And then we find out that this patient had a sensitivity towards broccoli. And we had a specific supplement that had broccoli and its ingredients. So we have had to take it away just to get rid of that suspicion, and like not to mess her sensitivities.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Yes.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: As you indicated, a lot of these allergies, they’re very difficult to find. And our goal, when you assess something, you have to really look inside the ingredients of a supplement to see exactly what is appropriate. And you may be surprised that even the things and just, for example, peanuts, and it may be the fact that the recipient has peanut oil in it as a product used in the processing of the supplements.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: And you got
Dr. Alex Jimenez: to be able to understand that if you have a sensitivity
Dr. Alex Jimenez: to that, you may be
Dr. Alex Jimenez: in a situation where you actually cause issues. So it’s very important to kind of see these things as we look at them. So as we look at these dynamics overall, I think we should give a general view here. But when we go back into this particular
Dr. Alex Jimenez: thing, it’s very important
Dr. Alex Jimenez: to kind of look at these supplements, okay, and for review this particular product line or the back of it. And as Ana was really eloquent and able to do, let me kind of open this up here. We got to
Dr. Alex Jimenez: look at the overall
Dr. Alex Jimenez: purpose of how we see these things. Now sometimes, as Ana was saying if you take too much of whatever you may end up having, what did you call it expensive what? Expensive urine? That’s what she said. Right. So it’s very, she said that, but I didn’t say that. Okay, so the whole idea here is that it’s important to determine what’s best for you. So have your provider, your doctor. Make sure that as a suggestion, a really strong suggestion. Some people are taking medications, and some they’re very, very powerful medications that can be affected by simple, you know, magnesium or potassium. And some people have, you know, certain blood-thinning medications. And if you take, you know, potassium or vitamin K, let’s assume
Dr. Alex Jimenez: that there’s one of the very
Dr. Alex Jimenez: popular supplements are given here is vitamin D with K2. And if you do that well, you may be causing a reaction or a side effect that the cardiologist didn’t want you to do. So it’s essential to work with the providers to make sure what’s going on to see what’s actually happening. That’s only one example. There are lots of examples of things we have to reevaluate. So as we do these things, we want to make sure we are very mindful of what is going on in a patient’s particular dynamics. So today was a short one. We wanted to brief that up, and I wanted to keep at least connected with you guys, and we’ll be discussing some more topics specifically regarding supplements and and and probiotics and probiotics, but phytonutrients in the next couple of weeks. So look forward to talking to you guys. Thank you, guys. Anything else you guys wanted to add at this point?
Dr. Alex Jimenez: You guys looked
Dr. Alex Jimenez: great in green, guys. You guys look great in green.
Dr. Alex Jimenez: Okay, so
Dr. Alex Jimenez: that was great. Guys, you’re going to get. So I’ll talk to you guys later, and we’ll have a blessed day today.
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Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, RN*, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*
email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com
Licensed as a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) in Texas & New Mexico*
Texas DC License # TX5807, New Mexico DC License # NM-DC2182
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Florida License RN License # RN9617241 (Control No. 3558029)
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Graduate with Honors: ICHS: MSN-FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner Program)
Degree Granted. Masters in Family Practice MSN Diploma (Cum Laude)
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, MSN-FNP, RN* CIFM*, IFMCP*, ATN*, CCST
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