Transcription
We're going to talk about the 10 vitamins and minerals you should never ever take, but not for the reason that they're ineffective, but for the bigger reason they can be very, very dangerous. And I'm really surprised that they even allow these ingredients to be sold in your vitamins. Okay?
And I, I think I know why because simply, they're so cheap. You can make so much profit on them and so there's a huge margin. And that's pretty much why they do it. Most of the big vitamin companies out there are owned by big pharma, big chemical companies, and the junk food industry. And so their motives are the best margins possible.
Let's take the first one, synthetic vitamin A. You should never ever consume synthetic vitamin A. Synthetic vitamin A has to be converted into the active form and the conversion is not very efficient. So what that means is you get this buildup of synthetic vitamin A in the liver and the fat cell and that can be very, very toxic. If you have the situation in pregnancy, that child is susceptible to a birth defect and it also can interfere with vitamin D and vitamin K2 and increase your risk for fractures because you have bone loss. And they also put synthetic vitamin A in a lot of skin products like lotions and things like that. The problem is when that synthetic vitamin A gets exposed to UV radiation, now we just increase the carcinogenic effect. You're going to identify it by this right here, usually retinol palmitate or retinol acetate. Instead, get your vitamin A from egg yolks, liver, cod liver, and not from the synthetic version of vitamin A. We need vitamin A for the internal mucous membranes of our sinuses, of our lungs, of our colon. We need vitamin A to be able to see, especially in the dark. The immune system depends on vitamin A. So vitamin A is super important.
Let's go to number two, synthetic beta-carotene. When I talk about beta-carotene, a lot of times people think, oh, that is vitamin A, isn't it? No, it is not. Even though, uh, some people think it is, beta-carotene has to turn into the active form of vitamin A. You know, you might think about beta-carotene and carrots. You would have to consume a tremendous amount of carrots to get even close to the RDAs for the active form of vitamin A. You know, they make synthetic beta-carotene from coal tar petroleum. And this is why they found when they did large studies on beta-carotene, the synthetic version, they saw an increase of lung cancer in smokers by, I think, like 18%. Now, why would that be in smokers and maybe not other people? Well, first of all, smokers have a lot of damage in their lungs, making their lungs very vulnerable and weak and even susceptible to getting cancer. So apparently, the synthetic version of beta-carotene comes in there and flips the switch and activates the cancer. So the natural version is protective. The synthetic version is not protective. It can create problems.
Let's go to number three, folic acid. Vitamin B9. It's one of the B vitamins. But folic acid is different than the active form of B9, which is folate. So it's another synthetic vitamin. Here's the problem with taking folic acid. 30 to 40% of the world population has a problem with a certain gene. It's an alteration of this gene called MTHFR. The simple explanation is that this gene helps you convert folic acid into the active form, folate. And if you have a problem with that gene, you're not going to do that. So what happens is you start building up this folic acid in the blood. And then we get a risk for cancer. Then we get a suppressed immune system and all sorts of symptoms that they might not connect the dots to this right here, unless they had a DNA test and they're aware that they have this gene issue. And then also, they're not even realizing they're consuming that in their foods quite often. You want to read the label and make sure you take folate or just consume foods high in folate. Dark leafy green vegetables have a good amount of folate.
All right, the next one is number four, synthetic B12. The name for that is cyanocobalamin. Now, notice cyano. That's cyanide. It has just a tiny bit of cyanide. This form of B12 is definitely not as bioavailable as the natural form, which is called methylcobalamin. And the natural version stays in the body a lot longer compared to this synthetic version. In order for this version to convert to the active version, it requires glutathione. So if you're consuming a lot of this, like a lot of people are because it's in a lot of things, it's in energy drinks, it's in a lot of food products, and it's in a lot of supplements, it's going to then deplete you of glutathione, which is a major antioxidant. And so let's say, for example, someone's a smoker and they're taking this. And just so you know, there's a lot of chemicals that you get from smoking. One is a little bit of cyanide, and that can build up with the extra cyanide from B12, and that can create some toxicity, especially if you have genetics that have poor detox pathways, uh, like I do. So, if you had a DNA test, it will actually show you how well you're able to detoxify. And if you have a problem with those detoxification pathways, you want to avoid synthetic toxins as much as possible. It's really easy to get the natural version of B12 from red meat or liver. So that's really where I recommend you get that from.
Number five, calcium carbonate. If you take a look at the first ingredient in a lot of the common popular ones, the first ingredient of all of them is calcium carbonate. That's why the bottle is so heavy. It literally has rocks in it as the first ingredient, which means it's probably the majority of that product, which is just mind-blowing. It can actually build up into the body where it dumps into the arteries or the kidneys. Okay, but that's not even the biggest problem with this. The biggest problem is it can increase the risk of heart attacks. And in nature, with our food supply, you never just eat calcium like this. And so, you should really try to get your calcium from dairy, cheese, okay, is a good one, yogurt, kefir, but you can also get calcium from certain leafy greens as well. Calcium is one mineral that we have to be careful of because we don't get rid of it very easily. Calcium also needs to work with magnesium. So, the more calcium you take, you better increase your magnesium to a 1:1 ratio. And if anyone tells you you need like 10 times more calcium than magnesium, don't believe them. You need a 1:1 ratio. And a lot of these one-a-days, you, it's not even close to a one-to-one ratio. So we're creating more of a magnesium deficiency problem when we're loading up with all this calcium.
Then we get to iron. Iron is actually very corrosive and very dangerous to our bodies because we really have no mechanism to get rid of it other than, you know, giving blood or a woman menstruating. It's especially dangerous to men and postmenopausal women. But the type of iron that you'll see in a lot of supplements is ferrous sulfate. Oh my gosh, this is like it's like literally it's like rust. I think one out of two or 300 people have a condition called hemochromatosis where this is even more of a problem. Even if you take normal amounts of iron, it's going to be even more deadly because the body will just hold on to it very, very tightly. So, if you're cooking from iron skillets or if you're taking supplements with iron, but also they enrich a lot of foods with iron, like a lot of wheat products and grains. Of course, if you're following my channel, you're probably not eating that. But if you're not following my channel, you might be consuming those things. Typically, if you have too much iron, you're going to be more at risk for type 2 diabetes, liver issues, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's. Other than that, you'd be totally fine. So, I highly recommend that you just really avoid any supplements with iron or any fortified food with iron. Get your iron from foods. Even if you're anemic, I would recommend consuming liver, red meat, or something like that. But I wouldn't recommend a supplement, especially ferrous sulfate.
Let's go to number seven, magnesium oxide. You probably know how important magnesium is, but the form of it is super important. Oxide is like a really cheap form. This form only absorbs like 3%. So if that pill was 500 milligrams, they would only be getting 20 milligrams from one pill. That's insignificant. And so as soon as they start increasing it, now they're going to get diarrhea because it pulls a lot of water into the colon. And then when they have diarrhea, and then guess what happens? They flush out the electrolytes. So this is not a good form. You're not going to get enough because the absorption and then as soon as you start increasing it, you get diarrhea. The best form of magnesium is magnesium glycinate. You're going to absorb like 80 to 85%. You're not going to get diarrhea. You're going to get the benefits of magnesium, which is better sleep, lower cortisol, uh, less muscle spasm, and more energy.
Let's go to number eight, synthetic vitamin D. The name for this is ergocalciferol. Okay. And the way that they make this is they radiate, uh, fungus or yeast with UV radiation. It's not as potent. And so these conversions of synthetic D2 to the active form of vitamin D are not nearly as efficient as the, uh, D3. Also, the way that it's transported, there's a protein that delivers this vitamin D to the kidney and liver, and it's called a vitamin D binding protein. Well, with vitamin D2, it's not really connected or bound very, very strongly compared to D3. So, you don't end up getting the same effect as you do the D3. And of course, the most common doctor prescription for vitamin D is D2, not D3. I think because you can't patent D3 because it's natural. It's the most important vitamin of anything. And, and a lot of people are deficient. They don't get enough sun. When you're lacking vitamin D, your immune system suffers. You get bone pain, you get depressed, and many other issues as well.
Number nine, if you see a supplement that is adding omega-6 fats and maybe in the form of linoleic acid, don't take it. And I recently did a video on dog food. They were adding this ingredient and I'm like, I wonder if people know we don't need more omega-6. We have way too much. We need a ratio, a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. Well, guess what? An average person in the US has a ratio of 25 times more omega-6 than omega-3. Omega-6 is very pro-inflammatory. Omega-3 is anti-inflammatory. The average person consumes 25 to 30% of all of their calories being the seed oils. It's highly inflammatory. You want to get your omegas from fish, cod liver oil, grass-fed meat, things like that.
And then number 10 is copper. Now, listen, we need copper, okay? We need zinc, we need all these trace minerals, but if you're taking the cheap version in higher amounts, it can be very toxic. It's very important with a copper-zinc ratio. We need 10 times as much zinc to copper and we need to kind of keep it in that ratio for everything to work because if you're taking a lot of zinc, that can create a copper deficiency. If you're taking a lot of copper without zinc, that can mess up your zinc as well. But too much copper can flip things from being an antioxidant and create oxidation. Amyloid plaquing in Alzheimer's, inflammation in your brain, and in relationship to Alzheimer's, they're calling it the new aluminum because aluminum is also toxic to the brain with Alzheimer's, but so is copper. So, too much copper in the wrong form ends up accumulating in your brain and in your liver. Get your trace minerals, especially copper, from shellfish or liver or dark chocolate. And if you do take copper, make sure you take it with the other trace minerals in the right combination.
Now, I briefly touched on magnesium oxide and magnesium glycinate. There are many other forms with different purposes, different absorptions. I created a video on that that's super interesting. I think you'd really enjoy it and I put it up right here. Check it out.