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Supplements to boost immune system

carina62

Well-Known Member
Messages
349
Location
Leicestershire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
miserable weather, rude and bad mannered people
After my recent sepsis scare, I feel the need to take additional supplements. I do take quite a lot of medication and I ran this past my GP yesterday and she said it is fine for me to take the following:-

cranberry juice or cranberry capsules (in view of my recent UTI which proved to be quite dangerous)
Probiotic supplement (for good bacteria in the gut)
Vitamin D3 supplement (because I have heard that Vit D3 is classed as one of the essential vitamins to take for good health).

Can I have some feedback please? thanks
 

I am not an expert in suplements, but I think it looks almost okay, I understand why you want to drink cranberry juice, but isn´t it a rather sweet fruit-glucose heavy kind of drink..., are your numbers normal or above normal range for blood glucose now ?
If not I myself would prioritize to get those numbers down first of all even if I had to go down to 10 grams of carbs a day....

suplements can be very good, but not I believe compensate for having too high blood glucose which maybe was your reason for getting or being vulneralble to getting this servere sepsis in the first place... but then again I don´t know much of your specific case anyways
 
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I take Cranberry Juice tablets and I think they help. As long as your doctor has said they're ok (they can react with some meds) you should be fine. I also take good quality pro-biotics and Vit D3.

You could start off with those and see how you go maybe? Those and a healthy diet should help, along with good control of your diabetes.
 
Supplements, as their name suggests, are an addition to a primary means of maintaining good health. Supplements are also a HUGE industry - so many are overpriced for what they actually do... It's like over the counter medication; studies have shown that there is little to no difference between branded and unbranded medication, apart from the price... So steer clear of the expensive ones, as the cost is not relative to the health benefits.

I suppose something as simple as multivitamins could be of benefit, providing that they are an addition to a good diet, exercise and well controlled blood glucose levels.

As @Freema has already mentioned, I'd steer clear of the cranberry juice as it may have an adverse effect on your BG levels. The resultant effect would therefore be counterproductive in trying to improve your general wellbeing.
 
If you are going to take D3 make sure you get some with vit K or get separate K supplements
 
@andcol Good point about the Vit K. I know this is a confusing area for many. Do you have recommendations or further information about the type/amount to,take?
 
Ah yes sorry. You need Vit K2 and according to the NHS website taking less than 1mg per day in a supplement is unlikely to cause harm. Note that there has not been any studies (according to NHS website) to show the impact of having too much. Most supplements capsules contain about a tenth of this amount when I just had a look. Vitamin K2 helps strengthen the immune system.
 
azure said:
@andcol Good point about the Vit K. I know this is a confusing area for many. Do you have recommendations or further information about the type/amount to,take?
Click to expand...
From the back of my Boot's A-Z Complete Vitamins and Minerals:

Vit K - 75ug - 100% of Nutrient Reference Value
 
The vitamin D3 I am taking is Vitabiotics brand called ultra vitamin D D3 1000 in optimum level. Looking at the ingredients, it doesn't seem to mention vit K, can this be bought separately?
 
I have just done a little more reading for you. There are two forms of K2 MK-4 and MK-7. MK-4 is good at helping calcium deposit into the bones and prevent fractures. MK-7 is good at removing calcium from the arteries. High vitamin-D can cause calcium levels to rise in the arteries. I read that 100ug is fine for D3 up to 10000iu. Hope that helps.
 
you can get K2 in holland and barrett and also amazon (I get mine here from UK based company)
 
GrantGam1337 said:
I didn't even know there were two types
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azure said:
Hopefully, someone will be able to explain more
Click to expand...

Actually there are 5 types K1, to K5. K3 to K5 are synthetically made and should be avoided. You body should be able to transform the K1 to K2 MK-4 in the pancreas. Vit K is fat soluble so should be eaten with fats to get the best chance of absorption. K1 uptake through the gut is affected by gut bacteria and you get lots from green leafy vegetables (esp cooked spinach). Interesting fact is that cooked spinach provides 3 times more K1 than raw; shame I hate it when it is cooked.
 
Thanks @andcol Is there any recommended proportion of Vit K to Vit D when taking supplements then? I did do some reading, but found it hard to get precise information.
 
Did you miss post 13
I read that 100ug is fine for D3 up to 10000iu
Click to expand...
 
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