Which vitamins should all American adults be taking? Dr. Andrew Rubman, naturopathic physician and author of Bottom Line’s “Nature Doc’s Patient Diary” blog, gives an overview of the vitamins and minerals that everyone needs to supplement the insufficiencies in today’s food supply. In addition to a broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement, people should also take multi-B vitamins, calcium and magnesium supplements to bolster cognitive abilities. Dr. Rubman also suggests that people should get a common blood test to check their vitamin D levels—the optimum level is between 40 and 55. Most people can benefit from 3,000 to 5,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D each day.

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Below is the video transcript:

Sarah Hiner: What’s the basic vitamin supplement regimen that all American adults should be on, given the challenges of healthy eating, our lifestyle, etc.?

Dr. Rubman: We make the assumption that people know that they should be eating well. They know that they should be behaving better than they do, but oftentimes they don’t.

Sarah Hiner: And you and I have discussed that the nutrients in our food sources are not as rich as they once were.

Dr. Rubman: Right. Problems with soil adequacy…problems with farming methods…etc.…etc. Sometimes what you get is not what you think you’re getting, so a good broad-spectrum multivitamin multimineral is a good thing to lay in as a baseline material.

In addition to that people say, “OK, fine. I want something extra. I want better cognitive ability. I want better physical ability. What should I take?” Take a good multi-B vitamin. It needs to be taken twice a day. That’s why there’s really no such thing as a one-a-day, because it lasts for only about 15 to 18 hours. You also want to have a good calcium and magnesium supplement. It’s important to have something that’s going to be digested and absorbed, and so in the common marketplace amino acid chelates are good rather than calcium carbonates and other forms that might not be digested and absorbed so well.

Sarah Hiner: So translate that—what form of calcium am I looking for on the bottle?

Dr. Rubman: Well, usually the most commonly available will be a gluconate.

Sarah Hiner: OK, so it’ll say calcium…

Dr. Rubman: Calcium gluconate. And take calcium along with magnesium—it is always good to put the two together. The other one that I think is very important for most people is vitamin D. Get your blood levels tested, but be aware of the fact that most of us don’t get enough in our daily lives to suffice.

Sarah Hiner: Right. So on average, the general 3,000 to 5,000 international units (IUs)?

Dr. Rubman: 3,000 to 5,000 IUs a day is usually good, but the blood test will help you to refine that.

Sarah Hiner: If you liked what you saw today, we have more videos with Dr. Rubman on our website—BottomLineInc.com. He also writes the blog “Nature Doc’s Patient Diary,” so come visit BottomLineInc.com and share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter…whatever is your preference.

Andrew Rubman, ND, is a teacher as well as a physician, helping his patients make better-informed choices about their health care and become better consumers of both traditional and conventional medical options.  He is also a member of the Bottom Line Personal Panel of Experts. For more great tips from Dr. Rubman, check out his other videos and Bottom Line blog “Nature Doc’s Patient Diary” or visit his website, https://southburyclinic.com.