AKA cobalamin
There are multiple forms of B12. Check your supplements and throw out anything with the form cyanocobalamin and replace with methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin, or hydroxycobalamin.
Humans must get their Vitamin B12 from animal products, making B12 a crucial addition to a vegan/vegetarian's healthcare routine.
B12 is essential in the health of our blood cells, nerves and brain, DNA/RNA repair, and liver metabolism!
B12 is notorious for being difficult to absorb. Stressed? Digestive issues? Drink alcohol? Taking an acid blocking medication, oral birth control, or Metformin? You’re dealing with an even greater compromised ability to attain proper level of this superstar vitamin.
Want your B12 levels tested? A ‘serum B12’ won’t provide you adequate insight into your B12 levels. Ask your doctor to also test “homocysteine” and “methylmalonic acid.”
AKA Vitamin B9
Are you MTHFR positive? MTHFR is a gene that codes for an enzyme that controls our folate metabolism. Many of us carry an inefficiency of this MTHFR gene and therefore have an impaired ability to convert the folate we eat in food, to it’s activated and useable form in the body.
There are a few forms of folate. Check your supplements and throw out anything with the form folic acid and replace with folate or folinic acid.
Have you been eating your foliage (aka leafy greens)? Folate can be found in dark, leafy greens, hence the name of this vitamin.
Although absolutely essential in pregnancy, we ALL need folate throughout our lives for healthy, functioning cells.
Necessary in the metabolism of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, folate has been studied in the context of mental health disorders. Folate deficiency was found to occur in 1/3 of patients with severe depression. Paired with B12, studies show treatment outcomes for depression are greatly improved.
The popularized “skinny shot” got its name from the additions of L-carnitine + MIC!
L-carnitine helps turn fat into fuel! Although great for fatigue and brain fog, its also is a mega performance enhancer! L-carnitine improves work capacity and perceived level of exertion during exercise. It can also be helpful recovery post exercise.
MIC stands to Methionine, Inositol, and Choline, which is a group of amino acid/cofactors that supports efficient and healthy fat metabolism!
AKA pantothenic acid, AKA The Anti-Stress Vitamin
B5 helps down regulate the secretion of our stress hormone, cortisol, therefore halting the biological damage that long term stress can have on our bodies. B5 has also been shown beneficial in the treatment of acne.
Go-to addition when in need of some extra stress support!
AKA The Maestro, The Mother, The Master of all antioxidants!
Think anti-aging, cell protecting, immune boosting, liver support detoxifier! Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that has been linked to many chronic conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver, and neurodegenerative diseases. Glutathione is so strongly implicated in our overall health that our levels of it provides a correlation to our life expectancy!
Fun fact: known as the “Beyonce Shot” in some countries, the glutathione glow is a real thing!
Tylenol use depletes glutathione - the reason why Tylenol is one of the leading causes of accidental death due to improper use of over-the-counter medications.
The great news is that you produce glutathione yourself. The bad news is that production decreases significantly with age AND our levels are easily depleted by living in today’s toxic world. Unfortunately supplements don’t raise our serum levels as good as injection or IV form of administration.