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We had a great "top five paleo grocery staples" question a few months back. Recently, I've had to add a few supplements into my regiment to offset a possible copper toxicity. It got me wondering about what else I could be lacking (or overdoing...).

What are y'alls most essential supplements and why?

For me, I am most keen on always including:

  1. Vitamin D - I have yet to see a negative study about the D.
  2. A decent multi - though they have been downplayed, I see no problem in taking one. Worst come to worst, I pee out what isn't absorbed :)
  3. Zinc - shown to improve immune system and helps to offset copper toxicities
  4. Biotin - back when I was a vegetarian and lacking a lot of protein (superb for lucious hair), I added biotin and saw great results... after three months. Required a lot of patience!
  5. B Complex - again, helpful for the copper

The paleolithic diet is fantastic at covering the essentials, but it is frustrating to think you couldn't be at optimal health because of an itty-bitty supplement you forgot to take occasionally!

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a good multi (not that it is needed) should contain 3-5. – CD Jul 19 at 18:19
Julia please note that I corrected the typo on my dosage of Molybdenum. I know you are interested (and Im glad you are give the copper IUD) and I want to make sure you know the dose. Since your copper is not high to start with, you probably don't need the 2000mcg a day I take (in 3 divided dosages) but I would take a minimum of 500mcg and perhaps even 500 twice a day. It will be good to get a copper blood level asap so you can monitor if it is going up. Good luck. – Crowlover Jul 19 at 19:36

14 Answers

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A lot of supplements are useful, but provided one follows a paleo diet rich in a bevy of meats, eggs (choline), and colorful veggies, it really just comes down to:

  • Vitamin D - contrary to popular belief, it isn't simply about sunlight exposure. Pollutants, skin covered, sunscreen, etc renders most of it moot. 5000 UI is a nice dosage
  • Fish Oil - while paleo diet (grass-fed beef) helps with the n3:n6 ratio, pollutants have done a great job skewing it in ugly ways.

On top of that, fun ones that can be useful are:

  • A nootropic - eggs are rich in choline (200mg), but you need to be eating 5+ eggs a day to really feel it.
  • Creatine - it works. Considering saturation, it's near impossible to eat enough meat every single day to keep yourself saturated
  • Sleep - it's a cop out. But sleep helps with so many things it's a shame people do not get more of it (see how important sleep is)
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 I like the sleep reference! – RaiseFitness Jul 19 at 19:57
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 It's unbelievably important - if I had to choose between working out and getting enough sleep, sleep wins hands down. – SoloX Jul 19 at 20:10
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 Agreed on sleep. I am in college and have never pulled an all-nighter to study. Getting a solid 8 hours in is more important to me the night before an exam. – Julia Jul 19 at 22:06
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Thank you for bringing up this important issue of too high copper!!

I too had copper toxicity (years of copper IUD and multi-vitamin with copper) and have been working on lowering it. My blood level is now, after almost two years, within the reference range (at the very high end).

For the copper issue, besides a clean diet of course, I have taken 120 mg a day of Zinc and 2000mcg of Molybdenum. Zinc always gets the attention but molybdenum is also really helpful for balancing/lowering copper levels.

Now to answer you question :) I take a bunch of antioxidants as I have Hashimoto's and have been on a protocol to get my Tpo Antibodies down. It has worked.
Ubiquinol

R-la

Astaxanthin

Clove, cinnamon, turmeric, egcg

D3 of course but I only take it together with K vitamins and Vita A (cod liver oil)

EDITED: correct dosage

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Thank you so much! I got the copper IUD on Monday and am already learning about the toxicity it may lead to. Hence, precautionary measurements. I had no idea about the molybdenum! – Julia Jul 19 at 18:47
Glad to help. It doesn't happen to everyone (although who knows maybe it does and most just don't check for it) still, it makes sense to take the zinc and moly. "preventatively"... can't hurt and will most likely help. IUDs are sure convenient and while copper can be an issue I think its better than a hormone IUD. Good luck with this and get your copper level checked every 6 months for a while if you can. – Crowlover Jul 19 at 19:05
Also, this is an excellent whole foods, organic Zinc (by Innate Response) innateresponse.com/product-p/40028.htm I take 5 per day again bc Im working to lower copper. – Crowlover Jul 19 at 19:09
Julia please not that I fixed the dosage of Molybdenum. I take 2000mcg per day (not 200). The zinc dose has remained the same, at "max" of 120 per day. My nutritionist started by on 1000mcg of molyb. at first but my copper wasn't coming down enough so we upped it to 2000mcg and that has helped. Its a several month process though. – Crowlover Jul 19 at 19:32
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I experienced copper toxicity a couple months ago.

I'm not a doctor but I would advise against it.

Sorry, this is about supplements.

  1. Vitamin A/D
  2. Vitamin K2
  3. Zinc
  4. Multi-mineral
  5. Whey
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 I always advise against toxicity, I'm not a doctor either though. – CD Jul 19 at 18:39
What were your symptoms, if you don't mind my asking? I need to know what I should be watching out for! – Julia Jul 19 at 18:39
Here is a really good website about it! naturalinsight.hubpages.com/hub/… I had what I thought was adrenal fatigue, dry scalp/hair loss, anxiety attacks, trouble sleeping, etc. It was pretty bad, thankfully my hair fully recovered. And everything else, too... – Chris Jul 19 at 18:55
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 Came with my Vitamin D – Chris Jul 19 at 20:03
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 The doctor wouldn't let me test it unfortunately. He said I was fine. But I'm positive that is what happened to me... I'm really better now, Zinc and K2 seem to be really helping finish off my last symptoms. I'll check out Molybdenum by itself out too, I've heard it works well with Zinc and Manganese too. Might be beneficial. Thanks! – Chris Jul 20 at 11:42
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  1. Lots of meat and veggies
  2. Lots of sunshine
  3. Exercise
  4. D3
  5. Omega-3 DHA
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Are both 2 and 4 necessary? – CD Jul 19 at 18:38
NO, and that is why sunshine is #2, and D3 #4. But many people in northern latitudes experience a vitamin D winter, where they won't get enough sunshine no matter what they do. Thats why #4 is there. – RaiseFitness Jul 19 at 19:56
Im curious why yo say this "Most people get substantially more than enough A." I have never heard that at all and in fact was told by both my ND and nutritionist of the importance of taking Vit A with D3. – Crowlover Jul 20 at 2:08
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1.Vitamin C as a precursor for glutathione(1-3grs day in day out); 2.Folate(200-400mg), 3.Vitamin K2 as mk-4(200-400mcrg daily) 4.Magnesium Citrate(400-600mg daily), 5.Egg-shell Calcium carbonate(400-800mg day in day out)

This on top of a moderate array of foods such as: grass fed liver, heart, tongue, pastured yolks as main protein sources; mackerel/sardines/mussels/shrimp/clams; sweet potatoes, vegetable soups(zuchinni,cauliflower,carrots,pumpkin) and bone broths(with kelp slices); coconut oil, flour or coconut meat, grass fed ghee, red palm oil; iodized marine salt, white rice, some skinned new potatoes(not so often); seasonal fruit(this time of the year is peaches, oranges, some melon or banana), and moderate intake of vegetables: boiled broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, asparagus, or similar.

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good answer, mostly, imo. Still +1. Do not agree with the need for calcium though. – Crowlover Jul 19 at 19:29
Crowlover, would you like to explain further your no-go for calcium? – Flip Jul 19 at 19:38
there is some increased cardiovascular risk with supplmenting with Calcium, plus most people don't need extra. At one point my blood calcium was low and so I took it for a while but not alone. My ND only prescribes it as part of a bone synergy complex (D3, mag, K vitamins and Calcium). Im curious why you take it? Just curious as its seems like its mostly women who are told to take it by their MDs. – Crowlover Jul 19 at 21:11
I'm aware of such analysis, but i get pretty low calcium on my diet.( between 200-600mg, average 300mg. And it seems to me that the majority of the studies pointing to calcification of blood vessels or arteries by taking extra calcium where not administrating Vitamin K2 or D(which i get from the sun pretty much 5 months out of the year, and supplemenmt a bit through the winter) nor Magnesium, which as you said are very importante cofactors in the calcium absoprtion pathway. – Flip Jul 20 at 8:01
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 yeah... I think your are right Flip and that the danger is that MDs were telling pretty much all women to take it for "bone health". What a joke.... they seem to miss the forest for the trees most of the time with these blanket recommendations. Bones require a hell of a lot more than calcium! – Crowlover Jul 20 at 19:44
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My one and only supplement is a whole-food iron tab. I have a blood draw tomorrow and may be able to drop it.

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That's exciting! I hope you can drop it. It took me a long time to get my ferritin up but I finally did. Which one do you use? Iron Extra by Vitanica? – Crowlover Jul 19 at 17:23
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 I use Blood Builder by Mega Food. I've battled anemia since puberty and always accepted my massive amount of blood loss each month as "normal." Treating the blood loss will hopefully contribute to better levels. – MathGirl72 Jul 19 at 17:29
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I have pyroluria so need to take a lot of B6 (400mg), zinc (50mg), and a bit more GLA (~100mg). Top general supplements for me are vitamin D3 (5000IU), and magnesium (1/2tsp mg chloride in water).

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  1. Liquid Vitamin D
  2. Fermented Butter Oil / Cod Liver Oil
  3. Whey Protein
  4. Branch Chain Amino Acids
  5. Creatine

I'm a very active CrossFit / Olympic Lifting Coach, and a bartender as well. The one thing that I WISH I could supplement more is sleep!

I also take ZMA at night, and sometimes take some melatonin to help me get to sleep quicker when I bartend late and have to get up early the next morning to coach.

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You take ZMA every night? How is your insulin sensitivity? I've read bad things about consistent ZMA use. – foreveryoung Aug 8 at 13:06
Haven't noticed any negative effects. Only been on it for a few months though. How does the zinc and magnesium affect insulin? DO you know the possible mechanism? – CoachCanadan Aug 8 at 21:55
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Cod Liver Oil/Butter Oil has really dramatically helped my skin. I don't now if it is one of the particular nutrients or the synergy of all of them, but I don't want to mess with a good thing for the sake of finding out.

My nails have also been much stronger than ever before. That could be all the pastured eggs I've been eating.

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Regarding the copper toxicity issue that has come up a few times on this thread, keep in mind that since zinc and copper compete with one another for absorption, supplementing with either alone will eventually cause problems. Because of this, I use Jarrow brand zinc, which is 1/15 copper, so I'll never become copper deficient.

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Same zinc that I take, but even then, I don't use daily. – foreveryoung Aug 8 at 13:12
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I take Omega 3, Vit-D and a multi vit

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The standard paleo Trifecta! – RaiseFitness Jul 19 at 19:59
I really do not get why a multi is needed by everyone. What is it that you aren't getting in food? – Crowlover Jul 19 at 22:31
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Thank you so much for this post about copper. As I had the symptoms, after reading the link posted I went to made my lab tests. The problem is that my doc didnt accept external labs (I am in spain, where medicine is public) and don´t know anything about copper issue. Foer her, If I´m not very ill, I´m OK. I have hashimoto and I have no doctor to work on it. I didn´t know any one in Spain, and I dont have money at all, to be with Haskell that is the only one I know about. If someone that have been with copper toxicity know anything about lab test numbers, I would be very gratefull if he or she can tell me if I have or not copper toxicity. My numbers are:

Ceruloplasmin: 24,70 mg/dL ("normal" values of reference are 20-60) Copper: 146 ug/dL ("normal" values of reference are 70-155,03) Zinc: 60,07ug/dL ("normal" values of reference are 70-120)

I have also all the numbers in mg/L, if someone prefers this scale. Thank you so much!

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Top 5 supplements:

  1. Vitamin D
  2. Magnesium (as Natural Calm)
  3. Methylcobalamin, folate, P-5-P, betaine (can be gotten together with Methyl Guard Plus)
  4. S-adenosyl methionine (SAM-e)
  5. Probiotic: I alternate between Prescript Assist and Ultimate Flora Critical Care
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  1. Vitamin D (I tend to take a large dose once a week, maybe 50,000 iu)
  2. Cod Liver Oil or transdermal Omega 3 (AgeForce)
  3. L-Glutamine (pre-workout, especially longer MetCon or endurance)
  4. Magnesium (each night before bed)
  5. Betane HCL (with very heavy protein meals)
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