Your Top Supplement Questions Answered: Timing, Pairing & More - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

Britni: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's midweek segment, “Ask a Nutritionist”. My name's Britni Vincent. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness. Today I am going to be answering a question I hear all the time. “When is the best time to take my supplements?”

If you've ever stared at your supplement bottles in the morning and wondered, should I take these all at once with breakfast? At night? Well, you're not alone, and timing does matter, and it can make the difference between your body actually absorbing the nutrients or not getting the most out of your supplements. So today we're going to break down supplement timing step by step.

Supplement quality matters

And before we dive into that, I want to touch on quality of supplements. So nowadays, you are probably bombarded with all of the supplements out there, especially if you're on social media. But beware, not all supplements are created equal. Cheaper supplements often use forms of vitamins and minerals that your body struggles to absorb.

The label might look impressive, but what's inside isn't always something your body can actually use, and in some cases they can actually be harmful for your body. One thing I always encourage people to look for is GMP certification. That stands for good manufacturing practices. It means the supplement has been third party tested for purity and quality.

So you know what's on the label is actually what's in the bottle, because honestly, that's not always the case. What is actually in the bottle might not be what's on the label. That's why professional grade supplements like the ones we use at Nutritional Weight & Wellness that you can find on our Nutrikey website make a huge difference because they're designed to be bioavailable, which simply means your body can absorb and use them, and there's not extra fillers in there.

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Timing of taking supplements (starting with water soluble vitamins)

So now that we touched on quality, let's dive into timing of supplements. Let's start with water soluble vitamins, mainly vitamin C and B vitamins. So water soluble means your body doesn't store them in fat tissue, so you need to replenish them on a daily basis, which you are going to do that from eating food, but then also if you're supplementing as well.

And if you take more than your body can use at one time, you just excrete the rest in your urine. Vitamin C is super flexible. You can take it morning, afternoon, night, with or without food. No big rules around this one.

B vitamins, though they are a little bit different, so they don't require food for absorption. But if you've ever taken a B vitamin on an empty stomach, I have, it does not go well. You may notice some nausea, some stomach upset. It's not dangerous, but it can be pretty uncomfortable. And here's another tip. B vitamins can be energizing. So taking them later in the day at dinner or before bed for some people might turn into some tossing and turning at bedtime. So general rule of thumb, take them earlier in the day, either with breakfast or lunch. That way you could get the benefit of an energy boost and not disrupt your sleep.

How to take fat soluble vitamins

Let's move on to fat soluble vitamins, which would be A, D, E, and K. These require fat in your meal to be absorbed, so if you take them on an empty stomach, your body misses out on actually absorbing all of these vitamins. So multivitamins typically contain at least some of these, so I would always take your multivitamin with food. Multivitamins are also going to include B vitamins, and as I mentioned just now, you're going to want to take those with food as well.

Vitamin D, this can often be paired with vitamin K2 as well, so technically this could be taken any time of day. The key is just to take it with a meal with some healthy fat. So with your breakfast that you're having eggs that you've fried in a little olive oil or butter or salmon at lunch, the key is to take it with a meal that has some healthy fat in it so that that really could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner, as long as that meal is including some healthy fat in there.

How & when to take minerals

Minerals: so timing with minerals do matter a little bit more because there are certain minerals that can compete with each other for absorption. Let's touch on iron. Iron is best absorbed on an empty stomach about one to two hours before or after meals. Pairing it with vitamin C, like two, at least 250 milligrams to 500 milligrams can actually improve the absorption of iron even more so you, if you've taken iron or you know, if you know somebody that has, you've probably heard that iron has the potential to cause some stomach upset.

And if it does, by all means go ahead and take it with food because we don't, we don't want to feel uncomfortable. But getting iron in the form of a chelated iron is much gentler and more bioavailable. Our Nutrikey Iron is chelated, which essentially just means that it's bound to often an amino acid, to help with the absorption process.

And honestly, I rarely see clients complain of GI issues with that particular iron product. And just a reminder, do not take iron as a supplement unless one of your healthcare providers has tested you and has recommended that you take iron. Because taking too much iron can actually be harmful for you.

Magnesium

Let's move on to magnesium. This is a favorite of mine and we talk about it quite often at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, and on our Dishing Up Nutrition podcast because it has so many benefits: sleep, muscle relaxation, stress, even bowel regularity.

So most people do well taking magnesium before bed. Since it really does support relaxation and sleep, it can put you into a deeper sleep. So a lot of people notice that they dream more when they take magnesium, and they're just more likely to feel rested when they wake up in the morning.

One thing that I have seen working with clients, if you're taking magnesium to help with constipation, you might benefit from splitting the dose a little bit. So what I have found is if you take most of your magnesium at night and just a little bit in the morning, that can help even more with constipation.

So for constipation purposes, you're going to want to look for forms either our Nutrikey Mixed Magnesium, which includes Magnesium Glycinate and Magnesium Citrate, or you could just take Magnesium Citrate because the magnesium citrate will actually pull fluid to your stool to help to soften it, and it can work wonders for constipation, along with all the other benefits that you can get from magnesium.

The other form of magnesium I will touch on is Magnesium Threonate. This one is unique in that it actually crosses the blood brain barrier, which means it can support focus, memory, reduce anxiety. This can also help with sleep. Many people take one in the morning to get the cognitive benefits and then one or two at night for the sleep and relaxation benefits.

Calcium

Let's move on to calcium. Many people also prefer to take calcium at night because it can have a calming effect and may support sleep in some individuals, and this is one I get questions of all the time is, do I need to be splitting up my dosage of calcium? You may have heard your body can only absorb about 500 milligrams of calcium at one time, and this is partially true.

So it depends on the forms of calcium that you're using. Your body can only absorb about 500 milligrams of one form of calcium at a time. So our Key Osteo, our Activated Calcium products, they use multiple forms of calcium, which allows you to take your full dose altogether, which makes it more simple.

Another important timing note: calcium and iron can compete for absorption, so if you are taking both, I would space them about two hours apart at least. And with both calcium and magnesium, you could take those either on an empty stomach or with food. So if you're taking them at night, a lot of people do prefer to take them closer to bed to maximize that relaxation that you might get out of them. Otherwise, you could also take them with dinner. Either one would work.

Probiotics

So other supplements that I will touch on: probiotics. So those are best on an empty stomach. Before bed can be a great time to take these. They can work their magic overnight while you're sleeping.

Omega-3s

And then omega-threes. I would take these with food. So this can improve absorption also can prevent that fishy burp or the stomach upset that can happen if you take them on an empty stomach.

How to remember to take supplements

Alright, so we have covered when to take your supplements, but here's the next big question I get all the time. How do I actually remember to take them? This is such a common struggle and I hear it from so many clients. They start off with good intentions, but then the bottles sit in the cupboard and days go by without actually taking anything.

And out of sight really does mean out of mind I think. So a couple strategies can make a big difference. Use a pill organizer. Personally, this has been a game changer for me, so on our Nutrikey website, we carry one that has four slots for each day, morning, noon, evening, and bedtime. Or of course you could just use any old pill organizer.

That often has a morning and a nighttime slot for each day. That way you don't have to think about it, and you can actually see if you've taken them. And then, I don't know about you, but I have sometimes forgotten if I've actually taken my supplements that day. And so the pill organizer also helps you with that.

Because you can look, is this day empty or not? Another helpful tip that has helped for some of my clients is labeling the lid. So some people like to write directly on the supplement lid how many to take, what time of day? It's pretty simple, but can be very effective. And then if you're doing this, I would probably leave them out on the counter or put them somewhere that you are visually actually going to see them on a daily basis.

The other thing that can be helpful is keep a visual reminder. So when I work one-on-one with clients, I will create a personalized supplement chart. Easy to read, laid out by time of day, and all my colleagues at Nutritional Weight & Wellness do this for their clients as well. So many people will print this out, put it somewhere visible, like on their fridge or next year coffee maker.

And, and again, that can be another visual reminder for you. And you know what? At the end of the day, the best supplement plan is the one that you can actually stick to. So building a routine is really just as important as knowing the science of the timing when to take certain things.

Summary

So let's put this all together. Water soluble vitamins are flexible. But I would take B vitamins earlier in the day and take those with food. Fat soluble vitamins always need to be taken with food. Minerals: some of them have their own rules, so iron on an empty stomach if you can. Magnesium often at night. Calcium is often at night as well, but taken away from iron.

Don't forget, probiotics do best on an empty stomach, and omega-threes do best with food. So when you know these simple timing rules, you're not just taking supplements, you're actually getting all the benefit from them.

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