Supplements are so common these days that it’s easy to forget just how powerful they are. You can go to the grocery store, pharmacy, and most prominently, online to find just about anything you need. I think it’s great that access to supplements is so widely available, but the downside to supplements being so readily available is that they are often taken without as much consideration. Because we can add them to our cart so easily, we may not realize that they could cause more harm than good depending on the supplement and the person.

I’m going to go through three mineral supplements that I see recommended often without doing lab testing or understanding a person’s whole health picture. They are often widely accepted as general recommendations. There can be a time and place for many of these supplements, but I think they should be taken with much more consideration than most people give (practitioners included). If you are taking these supplements and your practitioner specifically recommended them, please reach out to them to discuss if you have concerns. I am also specifically talking about synthetic sources of these supplements, not food sources.

Commonly recommended supplements that could cause more harm than good:

Calcium

This is a supplement that I often see recommended to women during pregnancy and menopause.

Pregnancy

The interesting thing about calcium during pregnancy is that while it is a time of increased calcium requirements, our bodies have a mechanism in place to increase how much calcium we are absorbing in our gut. During the first trimester, our levels of 1,25 OH vitamin D (active D) increase rapidly and will reach their highest point during the third trimester. As our active vitamin D levels double, this increases calcium absorption in the gut by 25%. This increase can occur as early as 12 weeks gestation. There can also be concerns during breastfeeding, but research has shown that a mom’s calcium intake does not impact the calcium levels in breast milk and that bone remineralization takes place once lactation ends. While I would of course encourage pregnant and breastfeeding moms to consume calcium-rich foods, the idea that they need a supplement is a myth.

Menopause

When it comes to menopause, many midlife women have concerns about bone health and their doctors recommend taking calcium in order to support that. Yes, we need calcium for bone formation, but we also need magnesium since it influences the activity of osteoblasts (produce new bone tissue), osteoclasts (resorb bone), parathyroid hormone (regulates calcium levels), and vitamin D (calcium absorption), all of which are important for bone health. Low magnesium is associated with higher PTH, which leads to more bone breakdown. Higher magnesium intake is associated with better bone mineral density. Women with osteoporosis have been found to have lower serum magnesium compared to those that are healthy.

A short term study on 20 postmenopausal women saw that 30 days of 290mg/d of magnesium citrate suppressed bone turnover, indicating reduced bone loss.

Main Concerns

• Calcium supplementation can cause calcification and impact our heart health and metabolism leading to a sluggish metabolism, hypothyroid symptoms, and eventually hormone health and digestion concerns.
• Only supplementing with calcium ignores the interaction that calcium has with magnesium. Calcium deficiencies are often the result of magnesium deficiencies. Both need to be addressed.

Magnesium

I am pro magnesium before anyone freaks out that magnesium made this list, however, I think many people take magnesium without considering their sodium levels.

Main Concerns

• Can lower sodium levels since it inhibits aldosterone, the hormone that helps our bodies retain sodium. Many people already have low sodium and this can make the body less resilient to stress and make it harder to raise sodium levels. There are many people that are great candidates for magnesium that have normal or even high levels of sodium on their hair tests, so again, not a blanket statement for everyone, but a supplement that I think needs more consideration.

Zinc

Zinc is one of those supplements that I think can be helpful for certain people in the short term depending on what they have going on, but if taken long term, I worry about things like someone’s copper and iron levels getting depleted.

Main Concerns

• Can lower bioavailable copper and reduces copper absorption in the gut. This can lead to looking anemic on blood labs.
• If someone’s zinc levels are low and that is why they want to supplement, I would consider focusing on zinc rich foods. It’s actually pretty easy to get 3x the RDA for zinc from food, which can replenish a deficiency in six months.

The times when zinc could be beneficial is super short-term for an illness/cold. I wouldn’t necessarily worry about that. I also think it can be beneficial for those with ulcers or H. pylori (zinc carnosine in the short term). The important thing is to have a timeline on it. It’s so easy to keep taking a supplement because you are so in the habit of it, but with zinc, we really want to make sure we don’t create deeper imbalances. Too much zinc can also negatively impact the immune system, which often defeats the purpose of why many take it.

Hear more in this podcast episode from the are you menstrual? podcast where I go into this topic more in depth!

​reminder: i’m currently taking on 1:1 clients. if you’d like to explore what it would be like to work together and if we are a good fit, fill out this form to get more details!​