Vitamins and Supplements

Andy,

I have recently noticed that Dr. Oz has been encouraging people to take many of the supplements that you have been talking to thal patients about for years! 

Dr. Vichinsky also told us that Little A was very lucky to be on supplements like IP6 during the brief time that he had a higher iron load and that the supplements are likely the reason that he did not incur any negative effects from the iron. 

I hope that people will keep reading about supplements and taking them to protect themselves and to prevent deficiencies.

Calcium, magnesium, zinc, green tea, IP6, L-carnitine, vitamine e, omega oils - and others are very important for thal majors, minors and intermedias - as well as the non thalassemia population.

There is a story in the news this week that mentions that a higher death rate was found among women who took high doses of calcium. I feel the study was somewhat vague and the conclusions being drawn by the article author are not based on the study's findings, but I still would like to take the opportunity to remind people that if you take calcium, take magnesium and vitamin D with it. Calcium and magnesium regulate the heartbeat and should be taken together always, because too much calcium can cause heart palpitations. Although the long term advice has been a 2:1 ratio of cal to mag, more recent research concludes that a 1:1 ratio is a more realistic dose, as magnesium is poorly absorbed. Of course, sufficient vitamin D is required to aid mineral absorption, and the recommended daily doses of D need major adjustments, so I suggest taking much higher doses than the 100-400 IU we normally see in combination with minerals. 2000-5000 IU daily seem more in line with the actual needs of the body. Those getting a lot of sun in warm climates can ignore this.

Hi everybody..My name is Nur and Im Hbe Beta Thalassaemia with every two month transfusion. Now i am using L1 and desferal. Just want to know ur opinion. Is that true pure marine collagen has high level of iron? What supplement of collagen that we can take without iron? and one more thing, can thalassaemic wear corset for health and beauty purposes?

Thanks.

This has already been answered in reply to your first post.

I don't think that collagen is high in iron. Iron is not listed as a nutrient in the various collagen products I have seen for sale. I doubt iron is a concern.
As far as corsets, it is OK to wear as long as they don't endanger the rib bones. If your bones are particularly weak, caution should be taken.

But I wonder if thin people like me (underweight) should wear corset or not. Is the corset can improve  my weight to normal? I see some corset have the infra-red technology. Thanks a lot Andy.