Are supplements beneficial?

As a traditional allopathic physician, Dr. Backs was trained to be skeptical of supplements. That has changed. He is now a more “open minded allopath.” There is evidence to support the use of supplements for specific purposes.

Click here to provide a list of your current supplements.

How do I know what supplements I should take?

The supplement industry is largely unregulated, which means you should be careful about the source of supplements you take. Here are some tips to avoid supplements that can damage your health and budget:

• Choose products from companies that validate the content of their products by submitting to FDA monitoring for content. 

• Look for evidence from clinical trials when they are available. 

• Don’t rely solely on the recommendation of a friend who sells you a product and then engages you as a promoter of the product. These multilevel marketing schemes generally benefit only the founders at the expense of later entrants.

• Don’t hide the use of supplements from your physicians. They can interact with other drugs and influence your treatment.

• We use Fullscript to provide easy online access to plans and recommend specific supplements that are high value at a fair price.

Here is a list of some of the common supplements we recommend at the CureCenter and their benefits:

• Bergamot BPF: Extracted from the Bergamot lime/orange through a special process, this food extract has been shown to have many of the beneficial effects of statins (reduce LDL and inflammation) while also improving insulin sensitivity, the underlying cause of Type 2 Diabetes. We have also found it to be correlated with reduced lipoprotein(a) in some cases. We recommend it commonly for those who don’t tolerate statins, who need its help for insulin resistance or prefer non pharmacologic treatments for arterial disease and hyperlipidemia. We often recommend it to synergize with statins for even more improvement in lipids and insulin resistance.
  
  Click here for further reading about Bergamot
  

• Niacin (Vitamin B3): At the CureCenter, we recommend Niacin for those with elevated Lipoprotein(a) and small dense LDL dyslipidemia. For those who can’t or won’t take statins, it has favorable effects on lipids and inflammation. There are benefits to taking Niacin that make it worthwhile despite dealing with some annoying effects, including flushing.  Taking it at bedtime makes it more tolerable by sleeping through the flush. Diphenhydramine can help minimize the flushing experience.
  

• Vitamin D3: This supplement addresses our all-too-common deficiency of vitamin D. “Normal” levels of vitamin D3 (>30) are not optimal. Our target is a level of 60-90. Toxicity is not a problem until well above a level of 100. 

  At the CureCenter, we recommend vitamin D3 with vitamin K2. K2 serves as a transport/binding agent for vitamin D that enhances its effectiveness. Vitamin K2 also has potential arterial elasticity promoting properties, and improves insulin sensitivity. Click here for more information about vitamin K2.
  

• Diaxinol: This supplement combines a number of agents that enhance insulin sensitivity (reduce insulin resistance). Cinnamon can be a lower-cost alternative, but with the concentrated cinnamon extract and other agents in Diaxinol, we see more consistent improvement in measures that reflect insulin resistance.
  

• Fish Oil (Omega 3 fatty acids): These supplements act to lower inflammation, reduce platelet adhesion, and have several favorable effects on lipids. Our goal is to get about 200mg of combined DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) daily.
  

• Turmeric (curcumin): This is a spice with anti-inflammatory benefits that can also be taken in supplement form. Since atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease, the potential benefits are worth considering.
  

• Vitamin E: This vitamin improves arterial event (heart attack, stroke, etc.) risk in patients with Haptoglobin genotype 2-2 while increasing the risk for those whose genotype is 1-1 or 1-2. We recommend natural alpha-tocopherol vitamin E (400 IU daily) but only after knowing your haptoglobin genotype.
  

• Ubiquinol or CoEnzyme Q 10: This supplement may mitigate statin muscle pain side effects and are recommended for anyone on a statin, especially those on higher doses.
  

• Probiotics and a Prebiotic diet improves the gut microbiome, which interacts with the human body in ways that are only in the beginning stages of study and understanding. The gut microbiome can be harmed by antibiotics and environmental agents that act to alter the microbiome. Probiotics can help maintain and restore the good bacteria that we depend upon for good health. A better alternative is a “prebiotic” diet with lots of vegetable fiber and fermented foods like unpasteurized sauerkraut and kimchi.

At the CureCenter, our recommendation of specific products is intended to assure that our patients get reliable benefits at a fair price. We want you to get what you pay for. We connect you with Fullscript to enable convenient home delivery while supporting our efforts to get the correct supplement and a good value.

Interested in learning more about supplements offered at the CureCenter? Start by requesting a complementary Discovery Zoom Call with Dr. Backs today.

How can I use CureCoach.App to measure my nutrition?

CureCoach.App is our digital platform that supports our coaching effort to Cure Chronic Disease. When completing the Lifestyle Diet module, your answers provide you with tokens that are either green, yellow or red when viewing the summary page. 

The answer options are “Rarely,” “Sometimes,” and “Frequently.” Never should be reported as “rarely.” For example, rare use of sugar and frequent consumption of vegetables gets you a green token. Frequent consumption of sugar and rare use of vegetables provoke red tokens. For those choices that are less clearly good or bad, you get a yellow token. Your goal over time is to increase the number of green tokens and decrease the number of red tokens by changing the choices and answers to these questions. 

CureCoach.App can be accessed on your computer, tablet, or smartphone by clicking here.

How do I optimize my diet for prevention of chronic disease?

The cause of most chronic diseases can be summed up using the Bad S’s: Sweets, Starches, Snacks, Seed oils, and Sitting, Smoking, Salt, Sleep Disturbance and Stress. 

Should I go on a diet?

There are so many diets out there: Paleo, Vegan, Ketogenic, Atkins, Zone, Mediterranean, Whole 30, Weight Watchers, and Nutrisystem to name a few. One of the main issues with dieting is that eventually you will go off, and then what happens? The whole plan falls to pieces and we typically regress to our original habits. The common promotion of eating three meals a day, “healthy” snacking, and counting calories create and perpetuate the problem. We are encouraged to graze like cows and eat to satisfy emotions. But we are not well adapted to that behavior.

We recommend watching this interview with Dr. Mark Hyman, one of the foremost leaders of health, from the Cleveland Clinic.

Our goal is to improve the way you view food and how it fits into your life and your health. 

How can I optimize my diet without “dieting”?

First, we recommend you start with a baseline body composition analysis. You improve what you measure, so don’t be discouraged by your initial reading if it is not ideal. This measurement helps you set an attainable goal and achieve it.

Weighing on a scale alone is not adequate. The body composition test allows you to know your muscle and fat mass, including your visceral fat. Visceral fat leads to diabetes and heart disease, so knowing this measurement is crucial to your overall health.

Come back regularly for additional body composition analyses. Seeing “The Judge” for detailed, measurable improvement over time will help you stay motivated.

Drink more water. Your urine should be copious and clear in appearance.

Avoid sweets (both natural and artificial). There is added, hidden sugar in every processed food. Avoid them all!

A rare sweet treat can be handled by most, but sugar is a toxin that should be avoided like tobacco.  Processed food companies became the new employers for the scientists who increased the addictive nature of tobacco.

Artificial sweeteners raise insulin levels without also raising glucose. Elevated insulin is THE MOST COMMON inflammatory stimulus, promoting prediabetes and arterial disease, among other chronic inflammatory conditions. These conditions dramatically flare when acute triggers, such as a virus, cause additional inflammatory sickness. Covid-19 is an extreme illustration of this effect. Artificial sweeteners are a “gateway drug” that strengthens your sweet tooth. They are a slippery slope to more sugar and carb cravings.  

Avoid starches including bread, pasta, white potatoes, and rice. Eat real food with no limits on vegetables, including sweet potatoes. 

Limited amounts of fruit provide micronutrients and fiber, but come with sugar. Do not juice. It removes  fiber that makes the sugar in fruits absorb more slowly with less rise in insulin. Avoid dried fruit, as it is almost pure sugar.

Stop snacking. Snacks are typically full of sugar and undermine our need to have periods of fasting to allow our insulin levels to drop. Fasting for 12-16 hours daily is a great “house cleaning” strategy.

Include good fats in your diet such as olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados. Include lean protein such as salmon, sardines, and poultry, in your diet. Eat red meat on a limited basis. When purchasing red meat, look for grass fed and organic options if you can afford them.

Intermittent fasting (only drinking water, black coffee, and unsweetened tea) for 12-16 hours per day allows your insulin sensitivity to be regained by allowing your insulin levels to fall. I call it “window feeding” because you eat within a window or 6 hours as a goal.

Learn about the influence of your Microbiome. While probiotic supplements may help, eating a probiotic diet is even better. This includes fermented foods such as unpasteurized sauerkraut and KimChi. High fiber vegetables feed your good bacteria and can fix a great deal of health issues.

Get connected, motivated, and informed to support your changes.

Need help getting started? Request a complementary Discovery Zoom Call with Dr. Backs and begin your journey to better health.