Expert: Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman - 6/8/2006

Question
Hey doc,
I am seeing  a chiropractor for my low back pain and he has recommended that I take some nutritional products in his office for inflammation.  Should I buy his products, or can I get saomething good at the health food store?

He recommended omega fats, and vitamin c.  Thnks

Answer
Dear Jeff,

I agree with your chiropractors advise about improving your nutritional status, which will help you recovery from injury.  

When you say omega fats, I assume that you are talking about Omega III fatty acids.  There are actually omega III, omega VI, and omega IX fats.  Omega VI fatty acids are pro-inflammatory in nature...they are essential for the body, but the american diet is composed of entirely too many, therefore supplementing with omega III and omega IX fats will lower body wide inflammation and reduce pain transmission as well.

Of the above omegas, the Omega III fats are the most important to supplement.  A product with EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (docosahexanoic acid) is a must.  You need to make sure that the product has atleast 50% of its composition from EPA and DHA.  Most of these supplements are produced from cold water fish oil...therefore the product has to be MOLLECULARLY DISTILLED and pharmaceutical grade.  The reason why is that it must be purified to eliminate heavy metals and toxins.  Do n ot take a product that does not say mollecularly distilled.  By the way the best source of omega IX fats is cold pressed virgin olive oil.

As far as vitamin c is concerned, it is the most important vitamin for collagen synthesis.  Collagen is what makes tissues in the body, and that is how your body heals. Vitamin c is also a powerful antioxidant.  Before taking vitamin C, check the product and make sure that it is not synthetic (ascorbic acid).  You need to take a product that is in a whole food base for the best absorption as well as utilization in the body.  Vitamin c is a complex with 8 factors.  It is important to get all the factors, so whole foods are how this is accomplished.

I agree with your chiropractor that the nutritional considerations are important.  I would actually recommend that you taka an antioxidant complex full of flavanoids, carotenoids, selenium, quercetin, tocopherols and tocotrienols.  This will be much more complete than the vitamin c alone.  Again make sure it is made from whole foods.

As far as the health food store is concerned, you will most likely be able to get a better product from the chiropractor than the health food store, and for a better price.  There are many quality nutritional companies out there that only sell to doctors and are not available at any store.  The products I use in my clinic are all only available from the doctor, and have manufacturer standards for purity and quality you can trust.  A few good examples:  Nutra-west, Standard Process, Anabolic Labs, Nutraceutics.

The bottom line is that you need to ask your chiropractor to explain why his products are superior in quality and if they are synthetic or made from whole foods.  If he can't explain it to you, then find a good health food store and ask the employees to explain it to you before you buy.  Remember you are the consumer, and it is your body...you want to make sure the products you take are the best for you and utilized by your system.

Respectfully,
Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman