Combining supplements?

[Irish Sammie]

Hey guys...

I wanted to start taking..Evening Primrose Oil, fermented Cod Liver Oil and Holy Basil. From the research that has been done, they seem to have a lot of beneficial qualities for alleviating stress and anxiety.

If I took one of those a day each, I wouldn't be putting too much into my body, would I? They're all harmless, but I wouldn't want one supplement over shadowing another, you know? Or perhaps making one not work because the other one was introduced.

It might sound like a silly question, but I was curious!

Thank you :)

[mummyanxious]

I'm not sure of the answer but this is something I have wondered myself as u take a couple of supplements a day and all more or less at the same time and don't know if that's the best idea....
I take b complex, omega 3, evening primrose and magnesium. The lady three are massive tablets too :/

[Lilharry]

I see a herbalist/naturopath for that very reason! It's helpful to get an expert's advice for these things I think and they can listen to your symptoms and prescribe the things that are right for you rather than having to experiment with different things.

[Rennie1989]

I would not imagine that they would but it is probably advised to speak to somebody before taking a combination of natural remedies, as one component may counterbalance another, and some combinations may not work together.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's a good question.

I think what you need to look at is how they are digested and where they go to in your body. This is where you may need some specialist advice as Lilharry suggested but you may find it looking outside of this forum if you can find a forum that deals exclusively with natural living.

It's the same with anything to do with sports supplements. If you go onto sites like Bodybuilding.com, you find loads of people in that line who understand the science or who have tried things out.

Whilst I doubt they interact, you are right to question whether they can cancel each other out. It's not so much cancelling each other out as fighting for a limited space with some things. I don't know about the ones you mention but in some cases where there are receptor sites, substance required A takes precedent over substance required B, regardless of quantity which causes anything not uptaken to be neutralised and excreted. So, it always worth checking before you forl out incase the body will disgard one or more of them.

When it comes to fish oils for anxiety & depression, you need to investigate it because the majority of the supplements on the market don't include the required levels of EPA & DHA to make an impact.

Some useful articles on this:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201111/fish-oil-and-anxiety

http://www.depressionanxietydiet.com/omega-3-depression-anxiety/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/237508.php

http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/fish-oil-to-treat-depression

http://www.cbn.com/health/naturalhealth/drsears_depression.aspx

I recall seeing a minimum requirement based on research of one of the Omega 3's so have a scout around about it. I think it was 1000mg of one of them and I know when I was looking at fish oil supplements, most were far below this, even the high strength ones.

Lilharry - what do you make of all this? I've read that Omega 6's are part of this as there is a ratio required to balance them out with Omega 3's.