Vitamin tablets and heart meds

[Best2]

Hi everyone does anyone know if it’s safe to take vitamin tablets with statins and bp tablets I’ve been taking immune support vitamins for a year to try and boost my immune system now really anxious they may cause my heart

[SpiritoftheFloyd]

Hello and welcome to the forumI imagine that quite a lot of us take vitamin supplements alongside our heart medications without any issues.

Next time you go to your pharmacist, take the vitamin supplement with you and ask if there is any conflict between them and your medication.

[SpiritoftheFloyd]

Great, glad you've got it sorted. First rule of this forum- only Google on reliable sites, a vast amount of stuff on Google is either years out of date or just wrong

😀

[Best2 in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

Haha thankyou I will stop visiting Dr Google !

[RufusScamp]

As far as I can see, vitamin supplements are a waste of money apart from possibly vitamin D. A good variety of fruit and vegetables is far more beneficial.

[JennyRx in reply to RufusScamp]

As a pharmacist I agree. The huge vitamin and supplements market makes £s for the industry and plugs into people’s anxieties. There’s no substitute for good healthy food. Vit D is a must in the North of Europe. Boosting the immune system is wrong - an overactive immune system causes autoimmune disease. Think more in terms of supporting the immune system. Through diet, especially that which supports the gut biome - live yoghurt, kefir, kombucha and lots of veg and fibre. But also through exercise, weight management, stress control. Most of your expensive vitamin supplements end up in your urine.

[Horner88 in reply to JennyRx]

With respect, this is not right. There is a great deal of evidence now for the role of supplements in heart recovery, particularly as regards coQ10, magnesium, and vitamin C. You mentioned the requirement for vitamin D - why would one work and not others? Supplements should be included in the excellent diet you recommend. Read 'Statin Nation' by Justin Smith for an up-to-date review of the evidence.

[JennyRx in reply to Horner88]

Professor Tim Spector of Kings College London takes a very different view. He has addressed this in several books but particularly in Spoon-Fed We can’t manufacture Vit D ourselves without sunshine unlike the other vitamins and supplements which we can obtain in food. If you need these supplements then take under advisement from your cardiologist. I do take CoQ10 myself under the supervision of a lipidologist as a support to statins and ezetimibe. I have very high lipoprotein (a). But I don’t take it to ‘boost’ or support my immune system.

[Horner88 in reply to JennyRx]

Thanks, Jenny. We also can't manufacture our own vitamin c.

[JennyRx in reply to Horner88]

No but it’s in a lot of food. Especially those healthy fresh vegetables and fruit.

[Horner88 in reply to JennyRx]

Of course, but not enough.

[Kovin in reply to Horner88]

also, as we age (when we start to see more other 'mechanical issues' anyway, our bodies are less able to produce, convert from food or utilise all the vitamins, minerals, co0enzypmes etc that we need... so supplementation is making up for those shorfalls and inadequacies... we know the science on this, why not use it to our advantage... As for getting it all from food - modern food, no matter how fresh or organic, is lacking in everything we need... so supplementation is also indicated t make up for that... consider the very small amounts of copper, boron, iodine etc we actually need, and they are missing, then it will have a dramatic effect on some bodily systems and functions, or limit other processes that rely on them being in the body and available all the time...I hate the costs, but feel that our modern world has degraded, along with our food, and when I see reliable science that indicates an intervention, I will listen...

[Horner88 in reply to Kovin]

Well said, Kovin.

[MountainGoat52]

I have to take Vitamin B as part of my medication in order to contol a high homocysteine level. Since the start of the pandemic I've added Vitamin D without any issues - useful as I normally get lots naturally when out on the hills, but lockdown has limited that activity over the past year. Other requirements are met by diet.

[Raft]

There is a lot of uncertainty over Vitamins for a variety of reasons.Certainly Vit D is important and until recently I was very uncertain about the quantity of Vitamin D. BUT in addition to my heart failure problems a recent diagnosis of Prostrate Cancer, has made me focus on diet and vitamins and especially calcium as I begin hormone therapy. I have been prescribed a high combined dose of vitamin D and Calcium and my problem is the additional amounts that I will consume through food and drink.

Trying to get the intake balance is difficult and a lot of cancer diet advice is contradictory.

In discussion with my support team the thought is about balance and not to be to worried about monitoring every food and drink I consume.

At 82 perhaps it does not matter too much, but any advice welcome

[Kovin in reply to Raft]

Perhaps you should consider taking Vitamin K2 - to make sure the calcium goes where it should, instead of the arteries... Also, take a good oil with your D3 and K2 - they are both fat soluble and need the fat to be absorbed properly. Consider finding a good source of Sulphurophane - Broccoli sprouts are great - to help with the prostate issues... to balance the calcium make sure magnesium is maintained too... the calcium makes the heart contract, the magnesium helps it to relax...

[Raft in reply to Kovin]

Thanks Kovin, useful advice, will discuss with my support team.All the best

[Raft in reply to Kovin]

One more question what do you mean by "a good oil". I have increased fruit and veg in diet and regularly eat bananas. Also eat broccoli fairly frequently.Is there a natural source of magnesium?

[Kovin in reply to Raft]

Omega 3 should be the dominant oil in your diet - olive oil, clean fish oil - cold water fish, wild caught, or krill oil, healthy nuts like macadamia and also avocados, hemp and seeds like linseeds - also, quality ghee is great, as are MCT like coconut oils - omega 3 oils will thin the blood slightly, as will garlic, so beware if you are on blood thinners such as warfarin... Vit K2 is useful in that regard to help clotting.

Stay away from the omega 6 oils like rape seed, canola, peanut etc as much as possible... esp. when they are badly / cheaply processed (and often rancid before they even get to you in the shops). Fat is not the enemy, per se - but bad fats are deadly. Make sure your liver and bile capacity is able to properly deal with oils... A fatty liver or blocked bile / lymph system is not going to appreciate any oils, even the good ones... I follow a keto diet, so a lot of good oils to supply the ketones for energy, and very few carbs - this keeps my blood sugar stable and low, and thus minimises the endothelial inflammation that can be a cause of CV diseases and hypertension, plaques, fatty deposits etc.

CoQ10 is so important, as is Vitamin C - liposomal Vit C is much better absorbed than just any over the counter product or even food sources, as the fat carries it down into the small intestine. Hopefully your food is organic, as so many of the toxins that cause inflammation come from our environments and what we take into our bodies - air, water, food, chemicals from cleaning or personal grooming, plastic cookware, memory foam pillows, VOC in our cars and houses etc. The immune system only has so much ability to fight off toxins, and is often overstressed or failing - it can never get around to actually healing, which is the thing it wants to do... minimise the load on your immune system and it will be able to start to repair your body...

[Kovin in reply to Raft]

A banana is OK, but can be high in potassium that may affect other drugs you may be taking - magnesium is in most leafy greens - kale, spinach etc (lightly cooked to minimise the lectins and such), lentils also... the body can easily draw on stores of calcium if you miss out in your diet, but magnesium is needed each day, like Vit C (which has a short-half-life in the body, so two or three doses a day at least), Vit D and others - CoQ10, B vitamins etc. Eat well, every day...

[Raft in reply to Kovin]

Thanks Kovin, tremendous amount of advice and (excuse the pun) a lot to chew on👍😀

[Caitlyn6]

I take blood pressure and cholesterol for type 1 diabetes; also take vitamin D for Multiple Sclerosis , as advised by my consultant. Also take an iron supplements as it’s always low but make sure to take it after all the other meds have been absorbed