00:00So I think with supplements, you know, that's the key word. It's a supplement. It's not there to replace your
00:04diet.
00:05And most people in the UK who have a healthy, balanced diet, who don't have an underlying health condition that
00:10affects absorption,
00:11who are not deficient in nutrients, which most people are not, they don't really need these supplements.
00:16And that's the key thing, because even simple vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin C in high levels,
00:23if you're taking too much, can be potentially harmful for you.
00:26So you've got a list now, haven't you, of supplements, which you say have got the strongest scientific evidence behind
00:31them
00:32and which you think are driven more by marketing rather than pure medicine.
00:38That's right. So my definites are the vitamin D in the right dosage between October and April.
00:43Some people need it all year round if you've got darker skin, if you're in a care home,
00:47if you cover up for most of the year that you don't get enough sunlight.
00:50Now, creatine is one I'm really recommending now as well.
00:53The evidence for that has really exploded over the last decade or so.
00:57So creatine helps with energy and muscles.
00:59If you combine it with strength training, it will help maintain your skeletal muscle, which is now, you know,
01:06we know now skeletal muscle as we get older declines, but skeletal muscle, lean muscle mass is medicine for our
01:12bodies.
01:13And then my other big one is iron.
01:15If you're deficient in iron, which lots of menstruating women are, pregnant ladies are.
01:19And those are things like celiac disease.
01:21So those are my three definites.
01:23The maybes I have.
01:25So omega-3 fatty acids, really good from your food.
01:28Essential.
01:28We get it from things like oily fish and salmon and things like walnuts and flaxseeds.
01:33Magnesium is the other one.
01:34Lots of people take it for sleep.
01:36There is some evidence for migraine as well, particularly if you've got migraines with aura.
01:41It might help with that.
01:42And it might help with leg cramps, particularly if you're pregnant with leg cramps.
01:45Magnesium is a maybe there, but not a lot of people are deficient in magnesium.
01:49So that's the key thing.
01:51There isn't a great deal of evidence.
01:52It helps if you're not deficient.
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