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Jonathan Fields
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Raj Panjabi Johnson
this is Raj from HuffPost's Am I Doing It Wrong? Podcast. Noah and I have discovered so much from hosting this podcast, and we really believe that learning is a lifelong journey. That's why I'm so excited to share that this episode is sponsored by Study.com Study.com offers over 220 online college courses that help students make progress toward finishing a college degree in a flexible and more affordable way. This includes education courses such as English, math and history. Study.com is fully online and self paced, and courses transfer to over 2000 colleges and universities. The best part? Study.com is accessible from your phone or computer and it costs just $95 a month. Study.com helps students of any age or any phase in life finish their college degree faster and save money by earning college credit on their own schedule. Go to study.com podcast to browse courses and get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's study.com. podcast. Hi, I'm Raj Panjabi Johnson, Head of
Noah Michelson
identity content at HuffPost.
Emily Rutter
And I'm Noah Michelson, head of HuffPost Personal.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Welcome to Am I Doing It Wrong?
Noah Michelson
The show that explores the all too
Raj Panjabi Johnson
human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right.
Emily Rutter
Raj, I'm so excited about this episode. You know this already. I can't contain myself because we've been trying to do this episode, I think, since season one, actually, since we were babies.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Emily Rutter
And we haven't been able to find the exact right person. But we have him today.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yes, we do.
Emily Rutter
But first, let me know Are you doing vitamins and supplements wrong?
Noah Michelson
Oh, God. I think I'm doing them right because I'm basically not doing them. I'm so skeptical of anything that's not a drug that claims to make me better.
Emily Rutter
Right.
Noah Michelson
So I barely take anything. When I see things in the store, I'm like, this isn't gonna work. I'm sure I'm being a little ridiculous, and I hope to find out what about you.
Emily Rutter
That's why we, I think, had a hard time doing this episode, is because a lot of doctors we were reaching out to were just saying, you don't ever need them. And we're like, that's gonna be a really short, boring episode.
Noah Michelson
Am I secretly a doctor?
Emily Rutter
No, you're not. But two, we also. We didn't wanna go the route of, like, there's so many influencers now who, like, I'm pedaling you something, and it's actually just snake oil. So we finally found the right person. But I think I do take some. I'm a vegetarian. We've talked about that on the show. So I'm like, oh, am I getting enough iron? Am I getting enough calcium? But I don't know if I'm actually taking what I should be if I actually need it. I never know what's going on inside of my body in any given context, especially this one. So I would love to hear if all of this is just totally nonsense or if there are things that I might wanna actually incorporate.
Noah Michelson
Well, today we're gonna get the truth from Dr. Wesley McWhorter.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
He's a food as medicine expert and a chef, dietitian, behavioral scientist, and cookbook author.
Emily Rutter
There is nothing this man can't do, and he is gonna do it for us.
Noah Michelson
Let's go, Wesley. Thank you so much for being here. We're so excited to have you.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Thanks for having me on.
Noah Michelson
So let's start at the very beginning, where we love to start. Can you please just give us a definition for a vitamin and a supplement?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah. Want to include minerals as well. So vitamin is a nutrient. A mineral is also a nutrient. A supplement is a product category, and that includes, you know, either or. Vitamins are essential. Organic micronutrients versus minerals are inorganic micronutrients. So you need both of them and your body doesn't produce them. The one caveat is the D vitamin, which your body can make in certain amounts, but some people have a harder time making enough. So there's the. You know, as far as vitamins, we have a C, D, E, K, and then Eight B vitamins. And that is what's recognized as, you know, the vitamins out there. As far as minerals, there's a lot of our macro minerals, like calcium and magnesium and sodium, and there's trace minerals which are iron, zinc, copper, etc. So those are found in Earth, not in our actual organic foods, et cetera. Us as humans, we need those to survive. And then you have. We talk about what are supplements. These are things in addition to that you can put in a bottle or in a pill form that you can take. And sometimes they contain vitamins and minerals, and sometimes they contain other things. Like it could be mushroom powder, it could be fish oil, it could be enzymes or protein powders is another thing that you would see often and in the supplement industry. So kind of a mixture of what a vitamin, mineral and supplements are.
Emily Rutter
I feel like I'm back in chemistry class, and I don't hate it this time. I know it's a nice change of pace. Wesley, when did this whole crazy vitamin supplement industry really take off? I mean, I guess I'm thinking Even like the 19th century, people were starting to do tonics and potions and things. But Was it like mid 20th century? What do you know, just linking the
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
term vitamin going back to like, the early 1900s, like 1920, somewhere around there, there was a Polish chemist that came up with the term vitamin. That's really one of the first times we understood, hey, this is a nutrient that we need. If you go back to, like, way back in the day where you have the, you know, what we all learned in, like, I don't know, grade school, you know, sailors had scurvy and they ate citrus fruits, and now they don't have scurvy anymore. But we didn't know what a vitamin was. We just knew, well, if you eat citrus, it fixes the problem. Or if you add that thing. We didn't understand the vitamin piece. Fast forward, you know, a little, little later to the. Around the 1940s, and that's where it really, you know, I would say, really starts to take hold. There's a lot of reasons why, right. You know, World War II, the advances in a lot of, you know, us trying to make more food and get people healthier, et cetera, et cetera. There was a lot of pieces that lined up. But around that time period, we learned more about multiple vitamins. And that's where, you know, the multivitamin came out. One interesting time point and time reflection is like, in the 70s is really where you see kind of that mega dosing craze hit. And we'll talk a little bit about that I think later. But Linus Pauling, who is somebody I think that you may or may not have heard, is this profound, brilliant person, chemist, Nobel Prize winner, but he comes up with the idea of megadosing which again, coming into the space of is this something that we should be doing or not doing? I don't want to give that away for now. But that really expanded the what we know as the vitamin industry during that time period. And then fast forwarding to when we were kids, I say this lovingly for myself. In the 90s Congress passes the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. I think this is the time period that's really what we're seeing now. How do we get to where we are? That time period really defines it. So that changed it from having these supplements, these vitamins, et cetera, that were more regulated to now we're going to remove the FDA from this process and make it after the fact. So they used to be regulated on the front side, now it's after, so they're treated more like a food product versus an actual medication. That changes a lot for us. And that makes that industry at the time in the 90s from about a $4 billion industry up to about 60 billion as of today. So you can see the rapid expansion there just from that change in policy and legislation. Not all of it is, you know, a bad, you know, it's not saying it's a horrible thing that it changed, but it did create some opportunities for, you know, a lot of new products in the market and a lot of, you know, ways to sell things that we didn't have previously.
Noah Michelson
I mean, speaking of selling things, I am seeing so many supplements and things of that nature on TikTok with like wellness influencers. And it bothers me because I know that there's a long spectrum of what we think of as supplements. And there, there used to be people in the community who served as know, apothecaries who knew about this stuff. And now we have influencers who are like, take Ashwagandha. This is how you take it. And then without the like background knowledge of what you might want to take with it, what, when you should take it. I don't think people understand that these are powerful substances at times. They're not, they're not just totally harmless all the time. What do you, what are you seeing on online and does anything bother you like it bothers me?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
I mean you bring it up, it comes up like tumeric comes up to me, right, like readily found in food eaten for generations, has, you know, powerful, you know, cucarimen in it. It's really good for us, reducing inflammation. But then, you know, we have companies that take it, put, you know, a mega dose in a pill, and it's supposed to be the same thing. It's not the same thing. Right. So it's not under a controlled environment with like a lot of the traditional medicines where we're, we're focusing on, hey, this is how you should take it under a controlled environment or with food in a norma amount, you're now getting 40 times what you would be consuming, which is a huge problem. And it can create some massive side effects and medications and other things. And then to your point, there are a lot of people whose sole interest is in selling products, right. They don't know what they're talking about. And not only does it create confusion for the consumer, it actually creates some danger. And as a professional, it's a big problem. We have clients and patients coming to us. And the reality with social media, as y' all know, is you trust that person. That is what social media does it. And that's why, you know, a lot of companies want to have that influence. They're selling it. It's the old adage of like, oh, my friend took this, or my mother took this, or my aunt took it, or my, you know, all these people that we know, you feel like, you know, that social media influencer and it creates this idea of, well, they're doing it and they look this way. Right. Which if I take this one thing, my skin will be this way, I'll be fit like this, I'll be that. So it is a big problem. You know, I completely agree that, you know, we need to work on, you know, controlling that a little more and addressing how we can narrow that down.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Emily Rutter
Is there any regulation going on in terms of supplements and vitamins? I mean, is there something that people should be looking for if they are gonna take something? Just from a regulation standpoint?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah. And I don't mean to misspeak that there is zero regulation. Right. The thing is, is that let's say we put a supplement on the, on the market, right? There has to be a reported problem with said supplement for the FDA to come in and do something about it instead of the converse of that. So a lot of people have to have bad reactions for there to be something to happen. The way around that is really third party testing. And let me back up, there's a lot of really Great brands out there that put really great products in the market. It's similar to like if you're, and I'm going to go on a little tangent here. If you're a school teacher and you have all your students grade their own work good, majority of them are going to be honest, they're going to produce the right things, they're going to tell you where they messed up. But there's going to be a few bad actors that are not going to do the work and say they got good grades. And that's how it is in the supplement industry is where you're having products that are adulterated. What's on the label is not necessarily what's in the product or it has some fillers that aren't put on there. So that's where people get these reactions, I'm allergic to this. Well, it's actually a filler that you didn't know was in the product. When there's been third party testing and research studies showing like, well, you know, we took these vitamins, these minerals, these supplements off the shelf. We, we tested them. That's where they see some adulterated products. They have other things in them. Right. So with third party testing, you have like usp, nsf, Informed choice. These are independent bodies that go and test the product. They're not saying they work. They're not saying, hey, this supplement has been proven to work. They're, they test it to say that what's in the product, what's on the label is what's actually in the product. And that's really important because if I'm wanting to take, you know, a vitamin C or vitamin D, I actually want to take vitamin D. Not, not, you know, some type of talk or whatever else that might be cheaper or less expensive to put in that product.
Noah Michelson
We're going to get to vitamin D because I have a lot of questions about that. But first things first. Me and Noah were just talking about how we as kids love to take our little Flintstone vitamin. Okay. Tasted like candy.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
So much megadosing on those.
Noah Michelson
I know, I know. I did take two or three at a time. Should we be speaking of that? Should we be taking as adults a multivitamin?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Oh, wouldn't it be nice if we could just take a pill and it would solve all of our problems.
Noah Michelson
It really would. Instead, we have to eat celery. Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
The reality of the data shows us is that it's not really helpful for the average person. That's within the bell curve. Right. If you're pregnant if you're an aging adult, if you have, have a malabsorption absorption issue, something on that line, yes, it can be very beneficial. But for the majority of, you know, folks out there, you don't need it. If you're taking, you know, a third party tested one and you want to use it as a, you know, a cheap insurance, there's no harm in it. What the research has shown is there's not a harm. Like if you're, if you're taking 10 of them way above what the recommended dose is, that could be a problem. But in general, it's, it's not harmful. But also, there's not enough literature saying that it's very beneficial outside of those specialized groups. But if you're aging, you know, aging parent, it can be, it can be a beneficial add on. It's a little harder for sometimes for us as we get older, for our bodies to absorb nutrients out of our food. So that can be an extra way to get some additional nutrients.
Noah Michelson
Well, I've never aged a day in my life, so I can't relate to that.
Emily Rutter
And I am older than dirt, so. But you know what? You know what I just saw, Wesley? This just came into my inbox today. It's a new study from Mass General Brigham, and it says that a daily multivitamin may help slow biological aging, according to researchers studying older adults in a large clinical trial. It said after two years, participants taking multivitamins showed slower aging in several DNA based epigenic clocks with the effect equal to about four months less biological aging.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Oh my God.
Emily Rutter
So you could maybe get four months on top of what you had.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
So worth it on the, on the older side. Right. And that's, that's really the thing, right. And I think kind of dialing it back to like, why are we even taking vitamins in the first place? How do we get here? You know, like you asked that question earlier, like, why do we have these on the market? Like, if you back up, what were the problems with us nutritionally? You know, the diseases we were fighting, they were, they were diseases of deficiency. We didn't have enough food out there to actually make our bodies healthy. We were dying from, you know, developmental disorders, just literally from not having enough nutrients. That's what I mentioned. Around, like the World War II time period, we start getting really good at mass producing food. And now we're in the space where we're not dying of deficiency, we're dying of overdose. Right. So the diseases we're seeing now are diabetes and heart disease all Things that are related to more overconsumption. So when we're talking about deficiency, most folks are not necessarily deficient in our vitamins and minerals. They really are deficient in quality nutrition. Right. The foods that we should be eating. So it's kind of some mixture there of like, you know, we. We had this big problem. We fixed it with some. Some changes, and now, oh, we might have done too much where we've made calories way too easy to consume and we've removed ourselves from actually consuming real food.
Noah Michelson
I have a question from Alexandra. She wants to know, should you always talk to your doctor before starting to take supplements and vitamins?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
It seems like an overkill. Right. Like plant honey and toxicity. It's just a supplement. Right. But I think the way to think about it, if that supplement, you're trusting to be strong enough to make a change, then it's strong enough to have a effect with a medication or something else you're taking. So, yes, you absolutely should, because again, it can have an interaction. There's been stories where people are megadosing on a biotin for their hair. It covers up the fact that they're having a heart attack. It's really important, again, that we understand what it is you're taking. And that's why those questions are always asked when you go to your doctor. Like, what type of supplements are you taking? You should list them all because there could be an interaction. And it's not that you. You can't take them, but it helps adjust medications as well.
Noah Michelson
I love that you've said the biotin thing because I just learned that there's these popular sugar bears that people take to make their hair thicker. And it can, I learned, can skew some metrics in your. Your labs that don't show when there's, like, a heart issue. Wow. And that. Yeah, I don't think a lot of people know that. They look very harmless.
Emily Rutter
Yeah.
Noah Michelson
Like candy.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
And their gummies, which you brought that up earlier. The vitamins that, you know, I, as a kid that, like, it's like, this is candy. I'm just going to eat these. That is a problem. Like, they taste. It tastes great. Like, kudos on making these taste really good. But they're not a candy. Right? They aren't. We have to be very cautious of that because it still is a supplement, Right?
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Emily Rutter
I have these B12 raspberry gummies, and I take one a day and they are so delicious. I have to stop myself from eating more than one. And I just want to. We went To I was just on my honeymoon, we went to a very fancy restaurant and they gave us a raspberry jelly like candy at the end, it was not as good as my B12. I was like, this is shocking. But to that point was like, are vitamins or supplements, do we know anything about how they're being delivered? Is one way better than another? Is a gummy better than a pill versus a liquid? Or is it all pretty much the same?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, I mean, why are you taking out? You know, for kids, sometimes the gummies the easier, right? Like they're going to chew it, they'll enjoy it. It makes it easier if that kid needs the vitamin in the first place. Right. As far as, like which one is the best? As far as dosage, the pill form is going to be the easiest because it's, it's more controllable. Gummies with making in the, you know, the sugar process put it in that form. Oftentimes, especially with the heat sensitivity of some of our water soluble vitamins, it can affect the dosage. So they might actually put more than they think that, that they need just to, just to cover that. So there's a baseline. Not that the having a little extra water soluble vitamins is not necessarily bad for you, but if you're taking a lot more than you should have, which a lot of kids do, a lot of adults do, that's where it can become a bigger problem. So the pill is the better version. Liquid can also be really readily absorbed, but that's one of those where the taste is oftentimes a big detractor for a lot of people.
Emily Rutter
Right.
Noah Michelson
It's not your raspberry gummy.
Emily Rutter
No.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, yeah.
Noah Michelson
We were just talking about before we started recording supplements that I actually believe in and we were joking about it as if it was like spirituality. But vitamin D, I think so many people go to the doctor and they come back, especially people of color who are like a huge percentage deficient in vitamin D. What can those supplements do for us?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, there's good literature on vitamin D, especially again with pigmentation of your skin and where you live, right. So if you live like basically above LA for y', all, y' all are up in New York, wintertime, you're out of luck on making vitamin D. Even, even if you're, you know, as white as me, you're gonna have a difficult time on, on really making that. So it does make sense to supplement with vitamin D. The caution that I, that I would say and that we, we recommend is more is not better. You don't need 50,000 IUs. Right. You only need one to 2,000 international units a day. That's really where we're looking at. And if you're going to be doing more than that, it really does need to be under supervision of your physician. So it is a fat soluble vitamin. It does stay within your body for a longer period of time. It doesn't just flush out in your urine. So it's one of those things where when you take a lot of time or you take a lot of these, it could be a bigger problem.
Emily Rutter
I guess that's something we should just sort of note in general is that at least I've read so often the reason you're taking a supplement, Right. It's called a supplement, is because you do have a deficiency. Right. And so in those cases it makes sense. But a lot of people don't have deficiencies. And so then either you're just wasting money because you're spending money on these things that actually aren't doing anything, or you could be taking too much. And so I think that that seems like at the root of all of this, that's where we should be looking at. And that's why you should also go to your doctor.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Emily Rutter
Because you can get tested for deficiencies. We just did an episode on going to see your physician for an annual visit and like that's something that would be good to look into as well.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Absolutely. I mean, and many of us are not doing preventative care. Right. It's a really good thing. Go in, get tested, get checked up, you know, check and see if you are deficient in anything. Sometimes it may happen, right? Not always. Some of us can be outliers. And that's something addressed. And your point of like as far as vitamins, you have your, your fat soluble vitamins which are A, D, E and K and those are ones that again, they stay in your system a little longer. D is a little interesting because it's not, it's something that we can make ourselves. It's not something that, like the other ones that you have to have that you cannot make. So that is one that, that is a little different. But again, we stood still. Do some supplementation on that side. Now on the water soluble vitamins, as far as your, your C and your B, those you'll see really massive amounts like in your, in your supplements or in your, your vitamins, like 10,000, you know, of your daily, daily need. And that's because it's water soluble. You know, the theory is is more is better. Sometimes. Which again, not saying that's the direction you should go, but that's what a lot of the companies do is just putting a lot out there. Because in our minds, and we're like, oh, I need vitamin C. It would be great to have 100,000% of what I actually need. That's not actually good for us, just expensive urine.
Noah Michelson
I have a quick follow up. When you said we can make our own vitamin D, do you mean when I go outside or go on vacation to Puerto Rico and I'm sitting in the sun and feel better, am I making vitamin D?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Wow, that's what you're doing. Yep. It's a hormone in your body. So similar to hormone to explain it that way. And that's why, again, it wasn't necessarily neat. We didn't think, oh, you don't need a supplement as much. And it's not as big of a deal. But it is. Especially for those that live at a higher latitude and that have darker skin too. Okay, so interesting.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
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Raj Panjabi Johnson
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Noah Michelson
They run the gamut between, you know, five and six years old to 13, 14 years old.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
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Noah Michelson
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Raj Panjabi Johnson
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Emily Rutter
what do you think about magnesium or melatonin supplements? A lot of people are taking those now for sleep.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Oh my God.
Noah Michelson
People swear by melatonin.
Emily Rutter
Yeah. What are your thoughts on that and is it safe or are there things people should be thinking about before they just start chugging that?
Noah Michelson
Does it work?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Also, melatonin is one of those that's really good if you're jet lagged, it helps reset your circadian rhythm. So if you're like working a night shift or something like that, it's really great for that. As far as inducing sleep, it's not good. It's not good on that side. So for people that are, you know, you're taking a long trip, you got to catch up, you got to wake up early in the morning. It helps you like turn your mind into, okay, it's nighttime, I'm going to go to sleep. Magnesium, on the other hand, is actually very good at helping induce sleep and calmness. So that's one that you do want to take. Now the type of magnesium you take is important because some of them can be more diuretic. So that can also be the opposite effect where it's waking up in the middle of the night because you're having some GI distress and it's not usually terrible on that side, but it can create some problems. So the magnesium glycinate or theonate, the two that are really the better ones to take.
Noah Michelson
Okay, shout out to one of my friends, I won't name her, just told me that she had the most monstrous constipation ever and she took magnesium and it helped
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
dual effect there, you know, so it could be one of those things if, you know, taking it, I wouldn't recommend that you take it for that. But again, it can have some, some side effects. And that's where, you know, like as you're taking these, talking to a clinician, understanding what are you actually taking instead of just, well, let me just try 10 or 15.
Noah Michelson
Yeah, her doctor recommended it. So like these are conversations like you got to have a physician weigh in. You can't just be like, hey, this looks good.
Emily Rutter
We have one from Karen. She's saying, I keep seeing people talking about taking collagen for their skin. Does this really do anything when it comes to keeping your skin healthy and looking young?
Noah Michelson
And if you have anything to say about your joints, because I feel like, you know, my meathead friends take it for their joints as well.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
It is. When you say it's just a question from Karen, it's probably from tons of people. Karen, you're not alone. This is one of those that's like in the news a lot right now. There actually is some interesting data on collagen. You know, there is some, I would say modest effects on skin. How well and why it's doing that is not really well understood. So is it that the, you know, the collagen you're eating is like going straight to your skin and, you know, replenishing the collagen? Probably not. It's probably more the having additional proteins. Is collagen the best form of protein to take? Maybe, maybe not. And again, so it's, it can be beneficial in the, I would say about the two and a half to ten gram a day if you wanted to supplement. But most of the trials that are out there right now are still industry funded. There isn't a lot of data and research outside of that. I mean, to say that it's going to, you know, build your bone a lot more than anything else. Again, not scientifically proven on that side. What is really beneficial if you're trying to build bone strength is weight buried exercise. That is really where you get a lot of benefit from. And if you take, you know, vitamin D and calcium, you still need to exercise. You need to, you know, Bear some weight on that. That really is what's been shown to. To really develop strong bones and keep them.
Noah Michelson
You know, I think thematically we understand, like, you wouldn't be tempted to take the vitamins and supplements if you were getting all of this in your diet and stuff. When we're not talking about deficiencies, like, the end of the day, you got to put in some work sometimes that you might not want to. And sometimes supplement supplements can feel like a shortcut and they are not.
Emily Rutter
Absolutely.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
It's one of those things where, you know, it's like I said earlier, you wish there was a magic pill out there, but it will not replace none of these things. Even the one. Even the supplements that have good literature around them that, hey, we see some great results. If you don't have a good foundation, it's not going to work. That is the reality.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
And we talk about lifestyle medicine, you know, like, how well you're sleeping if you're not sleeping and you're taking collagen. Yeah, it's probably still going to be really bad if you don't wear sunscreen, you're out in the sun all the time, you're probably not going to have the greatest, even if you take loads and loads of collagen. So it's really important you do those. You know, the things, the exercise, good nutrition, sleep, reducing stress, all these things really add to a good foundation that sets you up for success.
Noah Michelson
Do you have anything to say about creatine? Because I've heard a lot. People have sent me some literature and I'm like, I don't know if I believe this yet.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
This is one that we can say is a yes, right? Yeah. Creatine. It's funny, it's one of the most widely studied supplements out there, I think, actually more than any other. And it was all about muscle building. In the early, late 90s, early 2000s, it was like, how do you get that top 5% of just, you know, pump and getting, you know, you know, the, the extra energy to really lift heavier and build that extra muscle. What's really interesting is, like, you know, you have your muscles that, you know, creatine can help with, and the literature is strong there. But your brain is also a really big muscle.
Noah Michelson
Right.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
And it uses energy. So what, the literature, what. What research has been seeing a lot lately is the cognitive benefits, which people didn't think of looking at before. It was all about, you know, the muscle gains, et cetera, et cetera. And now there's, again, some great literature on the benefits of if you have a poor night's sleep, well, a little extra creatine can really help recover that. You can't use it. Like, I'm going to sleep every night for three hours. I'm just going to max this out and then just take 50 grams of creatine. That's not the reality, but it can be very beneficial in helping support. And then for people that are aging, the cognitive benefits on that side, as there's decline, are also super beneficial. And then maintaining muscle mass, it also helps on that side too. So, yeah, I would say a yes one. Good. Good literature there.
Noah Michelson
I love that.
Emily Rutter
I do, too.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Emily Rutter
This is a great question. I think a lot of people wonder about this one, too. Brian is asking. Well, he's saying, I hate vegetables, but I know I need more of them in my diet. Can I just chug a glass of powdered greens every day instead of eating actual vegetables?
Noah Michelson
Shout out to AG1.
Emily Rutter
Yeah, exactly. I mean, we see those ads everywhere. Well, we can shout them out. Yeah, but it's the same thing. Grooms. There's so many now. Do those actually do anything?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
You know, Brian, you're not alone, man. I'll just say that 90% of adults in the US do not eat enough vegetables on a daily basis. So that is a massive problem. However, do these actually cover your problem? I'm sorry to say, no, they do not. Can they be a helpful addition or solution? Maybe, but it's a lot less expensive just to buy the vegetable and eat them yourself. The problem it is. And again, I'm coming at this as a trained chef. Vegetables taste really bad in the US we do a really bad job of preparing them. They're not attractive, they're expensive, they're hard to cook, all of those things. Right? We haven't done a good job. The thing is, you can make them taste delicious. If y' all have had the boiled Brussels sprouts, you know, they're terrible. But you've had roasted Brussels sprouts. They're absolutely delicious, right? And you can get all your nutrients, you know, from. From those veggies if you actually eat them. It's just training yourself to try do some different things. You can't, you know, I wish you could, you know, powder your way to health, but that's not really not how you can do it. You can cook your way there, though.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Here's the thing.
Noah Michelson
I know that the digestive process starts with chewing, and you're not chewing the stuff you're drinking. That's number one.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
So true.
Noah Michelson
Number two, do those powdered greens, not naming any names this time, do they have fiber? Like vegetables have fiber. That's like one of the biggest points.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, really, really good point. Right. So it's actually something we talked about. You know, what's the best thing you can do? Well, eating the whole vegetables can be the best thing you can do. And then you'll see some people, I want to do a, you know, a shake and you blend it. When you blend it up, it actually increases the surface area for digestion so you absorb that faster. So you actually break down the fiber even though you have the whole plant. Again, you took out the chewing, so now it's easier to absorb. Another piece of that is you drink a lot more than you would eat, right? So if you're like doing the smoothie, you're going to put like four or five apples in there, maybe a lot more things than you would actually eat yourself. So you get more, can be a good thing to get a lot of nutrition. But you tend to over consume on the calorie side. So for like a powder, it bypasses a lot of the steps of digestion, which I wish we understood. You know, any researcher that says we fully understand everything there is about digestion is lying to you. We don't. This field is still as new. I mean, it's still new. We still don't know everything and how every single phytochemical breaks down, absorbs, et cetera. What we do know is that that one single nutrient that ascorbic acid is vitamin C that you get in a pill is not the same as the vitamin C you have in a tomato,
Noah Michelson
just doesn't react the same.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
And as it absorbs, it's a little different. And I think the thing that's beautiful about food, right, thinking of the tomato, if you eat that raw, it has a lot of readily to eat vitamin C. And a lot of times we pair tomatoes with like for those that are meat eaters, with the meat. And that actually helps the absorption of that heme iron, which is really great right now. If you cook that tomato, vitamin C now is not readily available. It's degraded. But lycopene is now available. So when we talk about fruits and veggies, like when you cook them, you eat them in different styles of food, you actually get all the variety of nutrients you need. Those different colors are really great. So you can't take all of what nature gives us, put it into a bottle and sell it as the same thing. Sorry, it's just it's not the same thing.
Noah Michelson
I mean, I personally love when I am, like, get to be on vacation somewhere, I eat a new kind of food, and then I look up, like, 30 recipes on how to make it, and we make it in the house because it's like. It's just. I feel like you're right about American vegetables. You got to get out there, Google some stuff and find out new ways to get some good stuff. I mean, my culture, like Indian food, we do a lot of vegetarian stuff that tastes very different than boiled Brussels sprouts to me.
Emily Rutter
Absolutely.
Noah Michelson
Spices important.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
And spices have so many. Just so you're talking about traditional medicine. They have so many benefits to them, and that's why we have them in our food. So a lot of these, like, the, you know, a complete protein, the rice and beans together, a lot of these traditional things that we did not knowing it was good for us is like, oh, it actually is good for us. So eating real food in different colors, that is the best way. I do realize it's hard right? Like that. It's just like Brian's question, like, I don't like them. I don't have time or it's difficult.
Noah Michelson
It's expensive, too. Yeah.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
A lot of us weren't taught, like, they took out Wholemec in school. We weren't taught how to cook. Cook. We learn it later, or we just don't really know what to do. And there is a big movement right now in the nutrition world, in the medical world, what we call culinary medicine, where we're retraining people on how do you prepare food, how do you do it in a healthy way, where we're using real food, we're not using just medications or just supplements. We're really going back and saying, you don't just have diabetes and go eat healthy. It's okay. Well, there's this condition. Now let's talk about how we can cook and make the foods that's really beneficial for you in a way that tastes good for you and your culture. So it's a. You're seeing this coming up a lot more around the US as well.
Noah Michelson
And this is like full circle. This is what I love about TikTok. I tell Noah this all the time. I get a lot of recipes from these cute little culinary people, and it's fun, for sure.
Emily Rutter
Better to get the recipes than the snake oil.
Noah Michelson
Physician advice.
Emily Rutter
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Noah Michelson
So I talked earlier about ashwagandha, which is an example of ayurvedic medicine. There's a lot of advice that we get from everyone on traditional Chinese medicine and, you know, herbs and things like that. What's your take on that? Because some of them are great, I suppose, but, like, who should we be asking about this stuff?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
There. There. I mean, again, it's hard to say, like, who's talking about what. There are some. Some great traditional medicines out there, functional medicine in the US Board of Medicine. Like, there are some great functional medicine doctors that still use traditional medicines and pathways. Go see one of those docs, talk to them about what you're. If that's what you're like. There's a lot of people that, hey, I want to go this route. I want to look at that. And there's nothing wrong with that. And looking into a traditional way, especially if that's your culture, something you come from, and there are a lot of treatments that make a lot of sense on that side, but do it in a. In a way that you're not just finding somebody on social media that said something using their advice, and it's not controlled, especially if you're already on current medications or something else, because there can be an interaction. That's where it really becomes a problem. That's the concern. Many of these, they're natural remedies. Right? I'm going to say natural. That can be taken a lot of directions. Right. But it's like I'm taking turmeric, and as long as it's not in a pill, in a concentrated form, you're eating it. It can be very beneficial for you as long as there isn't a medication interaction. So checking with your clinician is really important.
Emily Rutter
I mean, I think that's what we saw so much during COVID Right. Is that there were all these people who are saying, this will protect you or this might cure you. And we just know that there aren't really, like you were saying earlier, Wesley, like, these shortcuts, this idea of just taking a shortcut and having instant health or having every, you know, vitamin that you need, it just doesn't work that way or we'd all be doing it.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
That's what keeps this industry making money and coming up with new products is that promise. We want that promise. And it's, you know, for us as, you know, the average American out there, it's not out of reach cost wise. It's just a little extra than I want to spend. Right. But I can do it. And if it protects me, I might as well spend it. Right. And that. That also is part of the draw is my friend told me about it. I'm going to buy this. And then before you know it, you're on 14, 15 different supplements. You're spending hundreds of dollars a month on things you have no idea. If they work, they actually might be making the problem worse. So instead of, you know, jumping straight to I need all these supplements, what is your base? Right? Are you getting, like I said, are you getting sleep? Are you reducing your stress? You have a social interactions, which is a huge piece, you know, connection. Are you overtaking some substances, drinking too much alcohol, et cetera. Are you eating well, sleeping well? If you're not doing those foundational lifestyle pieces, it doesn't matter what supplements you take. Not gonna be effective.
Emily Rutter
Yeah, yeah.
Noah Michelson
And then there's also that, like, sometimes people need something strong, like a particular drug if they want to get something quote, unquote fix. Like let's come back to the thinning hair thing. Like, I know there's a lot of vitamins, a lot of, you know, biotin is often used. Can you tell me a little bit about what, you know, whether biotin works? I know some people who have taken it and grown hair like all over their body. And I'm like, okay, this is crazy. Like, it's clearly working. But then there's like some people, it doesn't work for some people and they have to use, and they want to use minoxidil, which is like a proven drug. So can you talk to. That's a little bit about thinning hair.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
I mean, my recommendation on the hair side is like, go to a dermatologist, get your labs tested. See, that's right. Why? Right? Because there, there can be, you know, if it's male pattern baldness, like it's, you know, it's, it's your genetics, there are some medications you can take for that to solve that. Right. It could be other things too. It could be related to, you know, a lot of other deficiencies or, you know, it could be a disease that you have that you don't know about and you're taking something to mask it. Right. So my thing is, if you're all of a sudden having hair loss, don't just ignore it and try to get something to fix it. Actually go to a provider and really see why and then you can look at some, some answers. You know, biotin has some connection to, you know, growing strong nails and hair. So it's not like it doesn't exist and have something there. But the vet, unless you're deficient in it, the literature doesn't say that. It's going to regrow a bunch of hair. So there may be again, those outliers where they have this great result, but again, within that bell curve and when we look at the, you know, the studies, it's not generally one that's going to be really, really good. There are those medications that are, you know, actual medications like you mentioned that can regrow some hair, though. So if you have male partner pattern baldness, there is some things you can do about it.
Emily Rutter
Now, to your point, Wesley, a lot of people are asking us, you know, how do we know if we're deficient in something? Can we go to our provider and just say, do an entire panel and they can look at everything or what's the best way to know?
Noah Michelson
Such a good question.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, I would caution people from ordering the tests that come at home. Mostly a waste of your money, right? Do go to a provider. There are a few additional labs you can add on. If you talk, don't just go in and say, I want all these labs done. Talk about why you want them done, because you may order labs that aren't covered by your insurance. And now you're out several hundred dollars when you could have your provider talk through. Well, this actually is one that we can look at first. It's kind of like, I'll tell this story. I went back to college. You know, first day in class, I get this terrible headache and I'm like, you know, what's wrong with me? I mean, did I have a brain tumor? Am I dying? What's happening? And I go to my doctor and when's the last time you had your eyes checked? And, well, never, you know, I need glasses. That's my problem. I jump straight to the worst problem could have. You know, instead of just, hey, dial it back. And, you know, let's just, what are the first things we can do and check instead of, you know, spending a ton of money on a lot of tests that you might not need. So go talk to your provider, see what they recommend and get those tests so you can see if you're artificial. It's a good starting point.
Noah Michelson
I love jumping to conclusions. That's like, I made a career so good at that. Being like, this is it for me.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
This is the end.
Emily Rutter
Yeah, exactly.
Noah Michelson
Is there anything that's a red flag as far as, like, packaging on a supplement and a vitamin things? You should be like, oh, this is some bullshit right now.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Proprietary blends. If you're going to put an expensive ingredient in there, it's going to be on the label. All right, so you put proprietary blends, that's just code word for, you know, put a bunch of junk in here that I don't want to disclose and levels I don't want to disclose. So that's one I would definitely look out for. I think organic is one because organic only applies to the source ingredient. So let's say you're sourcing, talk about vitamin C a lot here, vitamin C from an orange as an example. It only matters about the actual organic orange. Doesn't matter about the process of which you're sourcing it from. So all the other processes they're doing doesn't necessarily mean anything. I think if it says clinically proven, that obviously not necessarily accurate. If you can't find any proven studies. If you look at the, we have this study, but then you look, well who did the study and it was funded by them, probably not accurate. You know, it's not independent. Which again creates some confusion for consumers because they see scientific literature and they're like, all this is right. If it has disease claims. So they have the structure function claims, which is something like. And have one in front of me just to read. It builds lean muscle, improves recovery, increases energy, boost cognition. That's something like a structure function. You can't say it cures this disease or it does X, Y or Z. That is again the piece because it has not been proven by the fda. So therefore you have to say more of a structure function. So if it's saying something that is like this is how it actually is, back away from it. Anything with mega doses in it, you don't need that much. It's pointless. More is not better. We've seen that in a lot of areas in the world. More is not always better. It's not, it's not great to have super high amounts of things without some specific medical reason. One big caveat for me is I always tell people why that supplement's being offered to you. And it's usually someone selling you something, right? So look at the why behind it. If it's a friend, okay, well if they really are getting great results or are they in a multi level marketing where they get paid when you do it, or if it's in social media, that professional, do they have like a connection where they're making money? Those are the big red flags for me of making sure that you're watching out for. The last one I'll mention, because this is a pet peeve of mine is the detox idea. That's what your liver's for.
Noah Michelson
I hate that word.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Talking about wasting a lot of money. I mean, these juice cleanses and things that cost, you know, again, your liver, your kidneys, do that. Save yourself money, focus on real food. Don't buy all that stuff. It's not, you know, if the science changes, I'll be the first one to say, okay, this is the direction we're going, this is what's been proven. But as of now, a science is not strong that detoxes or cleanses work for us.
Noah Michelson
I hate that word because it indicates that like what you're putting in your body is dirty and like, it's very elitist. Like we're, we're all doing the best we can and we don't need to flush everything out of body.
Emily Rutter
Also the idea too that you can put really terrible things in your body and then just do a quote unquote detox and then you're fine. Like, it's also a crazy way to think about your health.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Which again, that gets into that mindset of like, I'll just fix it with a special thing. Yeah, it does. People go on diets and this is kind of the same thing, right? People go on diets. Anyone? You know that diets, they diet frequently and they're always on a different diet versus a lifestyle where, yeah, you know, you generally eat these things, you generally live this way. And yeah, you have the sweet and you have the thing every once in a while. But it's not like, you know, it's not some crazy thing where you're always switching off and on. Those people that are always switching off and on, they're the ones that, yo, yo. And they're always going up in, you know, weight or negative outcomes, et cetera, versus those that just, you know, it's not a sexy word, but it's the moderation piece. That's what humans are. We, we can't stay awake for 24 hours straight every day. We have to sleep, we have to rest, we have to recover. And the same thing with our food. We have to eat good quality foods. One thing I want to touch on is third party testing. That is what I would. It doesn't mean the product's expensive. A lot of the big box stores sell USP certified stuff, even like store brands. So it doesn't mean the product is overly over high price or anything like that. It's still within reach. But if you're going to take a supplement or a vitamin, please take one that's been third party tested. So you know what you're taking is Actually in the bottle.
Emily Rutter
That's such a good advice.
Noah Michelson
I have to add that with the quote unquote cognitive enhancers. They used to, there was like a big marketing push about 12, 13 years ago and I remember looking at the back of the bottle and it was like a bunch of caffeine and I'm like, of course I'm gonna be smarter and more alert if I've taken a
Emily Rutter
shit ton and just bouncing off the walls. Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
And then you crash and just, you know, just spill out. Yeah, yeah.
Noah Michelson
It's just very funny. Just like read, read the packaging. Like I love that. Like read the, the ingredients.
Emily Rutter
So smart.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, yeah. I mean good, good quality fats are good for your. You know, I think that the, the reality is like the, the things we talk about eating all the time, like fiber rich foods, you know, good nuts and seeds, you know, high quality fats, your olive oils, your fish, all those things, it's good for your body, it's also good for your brain. And it's all the same stuff, right? Like if you're, if you do that across the board, you will have those benefits, you know. Touching on exercise is one that we don't talk about enough. And in hand, one of the best things you can do for like lowering your, your blood sugar is taking a 10 minute walk after you eat. Like it's, doesn't have to be a brisk walk, it's just a, just a stroll. Right. Which again cities where you end up walking more, that's why you see people are so much more healthy because it's just these short bouts of exercise that you get throughout the, throughout the day, throughout the year. Instead of, you know, two hours at the gym or whatever else it is just the short, short time periods.
Emily Rutter
Yeah, I was reading about like micro exercising. They were saying like 30 seconds at a time. Even you do 30 seconds of squats at your desk a couple times a day. Like that's great for you, which is, it seems insane, but I love that.
Noah Michelson
I totally believe it.
Emily Rutter
Yeah.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
All right, I want to tuck one
Noah Michelson
more in for our friend Kate. I know you talked about aging populations and the potential benefits of supplements. What about kids? And bring you back to the Flintstone vitamins because a lot of kids are picky eaters. They're not going to be eating the tomatoes on the plate, et cetera. So what do you think?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
I mean, there isn't harm in it right now, right? So that, that's, that's the place I start if you, you know, you ask the question, why do People want to take it, they want to do best for their kid. Do they have to have it? No, they don't. Can it be a, you know, a good supplement for them to have and feel some security? Maybe a placebo effect a little bit? Yeah, sure. Making sure that you. The ones you take are the ones that you're giving your child. They are, you know, third party tested. They have been tested to know what's in them and then you give them the recommended amount. Don't leave the gummy vitamins out because they might eat them by the handful if they're like me. Right. So being very cautious there. And then if, you know, talk about that bell curve. Right. Like most of the population, you don't really need it. But there are a few, maybe some kids that are eating more strict diets or they have a malabsorption issue. And it really does make sense. And we hear some people talk about, well, vegetarians or vegans and not usually where you would need vitamins, but if it is a very strict vegan. Yeah, it could be very beneficial for them to have some additional vitamins as well.
Emily Rutter
I guess what I've heard from you is like, you think creatine is pretty impressive. You think detox supplements are really unimpressive, but what is the one thing that you would say people listening should take away from this conversation if they're thinking about vitamins and supplements in their own life, what do you really want to hammer home?
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, I would say food first. I think y' all know that, you know, maybe a little bias on my side, then you can fill in the gaps with intention. Right. So you really need to look at, like, what is the specific reason why I want to take a vitamin, mineral supplement, et cetera. Why do I need that? What's the, what's the rationale? What's the duration? And then what is the specific product I'm going to take? So be very specific about those. So you're not just throwing money out the window every day. Our biggest problems are not deficiency, you know, across the board right now, they are problems of excess. So making sure that you, you know, address that with a very balanced lifestyle, which includes nutrition, you know, exercise, reducing stress, spending time together. Remember, you're not alone too. I would say that's another big thing. Just, I think it was Brian that said the question about vegetables, 90% of people don't want to eat them, right?
Emily Rutter
Yeah.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
You know, work with a dietitian, learn how to, you know, cook them, learn how to prepare them a little bit in ways that you would like them. And you know, from, from that side, I think that's really the best approach to take.
Emily Rutter
Amazing.
Noah Michelson
I love that.
Emily Rutter
We did it. We got our supplement episode. So exciting.
Noah Michelson
So good.
Emily Rutter
Thank you for being our expert, Wesley.
Dr. Wesley McWhorter
Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks, Joe.
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Emily Rutter
Okay, it's time for better in five. These are our top five takeaways from this episode.
Noah Michelson
Number one, most people actually don't need to take a supplement or a multivitamin
Raj Panjabi Johnson
unless you're deficient in something.
Emily Rutter
Number two, when it comes to vitamin D supplements, actually all supplements. You don't need that crazy mega dose. It's just too much.
Noah Michelson
More is not always better.
Emily Rutter
No.
Noah Michelson
Number three, it's a good, great idea to see your doctor before you start taking any supplement.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Because even if it's natural, it could
Noah Michelson
be interacting with something else you're taking.
Emily Rutter
Number four, the literature shows that creatine is actually a supplement superstar. It's great for muscle growth and for cognitive development.
Noah Michelson
Love that.
Emily Rutter
Yeah.
Noah Michelson
And number five, when it comes to vitamin and supplement packaging, beware of lofty promises, especially when they come from someone who's trying to make money off of selling you something. Okay, Noah, so have you been doing vitamins and supplements wrong?
Emily Rutter
I. You know what, it's funny actually. I don't know because I, it sounds like I need to go to my doctor and actually get my iron tested and get my calcium tested because I'm just sort of winging it. But that aside, I learned a lot today and I love that he actually was like, no, there are a couple of definitive things where it is a good idea. Like the creatine thing. I was taking that when I was like 24, when I was in the gym and like really trying to do it. I had no idea what I was doing. So I love that he was like, no, there's actually some scientific proof that it's doing good things.
Noah Michelson
And that's what it was for me. Yeah, I love peer reviewed studies. So when he said that there's new literature on creatine, I was like, okay, cool. It kind of like pride opened my cold dead heart to the idea that there are some natural things out there that could be helpful to me. Yeah, that made me happy.
Emily Rutter
Me too. And also on the other end, I love that he was like, you know, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And we've heard that time and time again on the show. You know, we heard it from the snacking expert last a couple episodes ago. It's like if you're getting promises of something and in general, we don't know if we don't hear that from doctors or from other experts, they probably know better.
Noah Michelson
Yeah.
Emily Rutter
So I thought it was a great right down the middle pathway. I learned a ton.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I love balance.
Emily Rutter
I loved it. Anyway, until next time, as long as there are things to get wrong, we're gonna be right here to help you do em better.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Love you guys. Am I Doing it Wrong? Is a co production between HuffPost and Acast.
Emily Rutter
Our producers are Eve Bishop, Carmen Borca Carrillo and Malia Agadello.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Our executive producers are Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rutter.
Emily Rutter
Special thanks to HuffPost's head of audience, Abby Williams.
Noah Michelson
Head of Video Will Took as well
Emily Rutter
as Kate Palmer, Marta Rodriguez and Terry d'. Angelo.
Raj Panjabi Johnson
And we're your hosts Raj Panjat, Bobby
Emily Rutter
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Podcast: Am I Doing It Wrong? – HuffPost
Hosts: Raj Panjabi-Johnson & Noah Michelson
Guest Expert: Dr. Wesley McWhorter (food-as-medicine expert, chef, registered dietitian, behavioral scientist, cookbook author)
Date: June 11, 2026
This episode tackles the confusing world of vitamins and dietary supplements. Hosts Raj and Noah, aiming to empower listeners to “do it better” and worry less, are joined by Dr. Wesley McWhorter, who helps demystify what’s worth taking, what’s not, potential dangers, and how marketing hype distorts our relationship with supplements. The conversation covers the history, regulation, scientific evidence (or lack thereof), social media influence, and how to make informed, safe decisions about supplements.
Quote:
“The supplement industry went from $4 billion in the ‘90s to about $60 billion as of today. All because they moved regulation to after-the-fact—treating supplements more like a food than a medication.” – Dr. McWhorter [08:25]
Quote:
“Social media does this thing where you trust that person... It’s the old adage: my friend took this, my aunt took it, so if I take it, my skin will look like this! But many are just selling products with no real expertise, and it creates danger as well as confusion.” – Dr. McWhorter [10:46]
Quote:
“For the majority of folks, you don’t need [a multivitamin]. If you want to use one as cheap insurance, that’s fine. But most people don’t benefit—except maybe if you’re old, pregnant, or have absorption issues.” – Dr. McWhorter [13:51]
Quote:
“Creatine… it's one of the most widely studied supplements out there... now there’s good literature on cognitive benefits as well as muscle mass.” – Dr. McWhorter [31:05]
Quote:
"Proprietary blends is just code for 'I put a bunch of junk in here I don't want to disclose.'” – Dr. McWhorter [44:16]
"Detox? That's what your liver is for. Don't waste your money." – Dr. McWhorter [46:45]
If you haven’t listened:
This episode is an empowering, no-nonsense resource that debunks hype, clarifies confusing messages, and leaves you with actionable, balanced advice from both science and lived experience.