This page lists our supplement recommendations with links to products at Amazon. By purchasing via links on this page, you support the blog at no cost to yourself. Thank you for supporting our work!
Supplemental Foods
We recommend eating these “supplemental foods” on a regular schedule:
- 3 egg yolks daily, 5 yolks daily for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant (for choline, folate, vitamin A)
- A bowl of soup made from bone, joint, tendon, foot, or hoof stock, 3 days per week (for calcium, phosphorus, and collagen)
- Fermented vegetables such as kimchi, sauerkraut, or fermented mixed vegetables (for nucleotides, probiotic bacteria, and vitamins K2 and B12), and other vegetables such as tomato, avocado, potato, sweet potato, banana, green leafy vegetables, and seaweeds such as dulse, daily (for potassium)
- ¼ lb beef or lamb liver, weekly (copper, vitamin A, folate, choline). If you like, substitute ¼ lb chicken, duck, or goose liver weekly plus 30 g 85% dark chocolate daily
- fish, shellfish, eggs, and kidneys, weekly (for selenium)
Daily Supplements
These are supplements we recommend be taken daily:
- Sunshine and vitamin D3 as needed to achieve serum 25OHD of 40 ng/ml.
- Vitamin K2 100 mcg or more
- Magnesium 200 mg
- Iodine 225 mcg
- Vitamin C 1 g
- Pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5) 500 mg
Vitamin D3
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Vitamin K2
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Magnesium
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Iodine
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Vitamin C
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Vitamin B-5 (pantothenic acid or pantethine)
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Weekly Supplements
These are supplements we recommend be taken once a week:
- B vitamins:
- 50 to 100 mg each of B1, B2, and B6
- 5 mg biotin
- 500 mcg B12
- Zinc 50 to 100 mg
- Boron 3 mg
B1 (thiamin)
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B2 (riboflavin)
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B6
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Biotin
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B12
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Zinc
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Boron
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Prenatal Supplements
The most important prenatal supplements are:
- Extra duck, goose, or pastured chicken liver.
- Extra egg yolks.
The following supplements may also be helpful during pregnancy or in the months leading up to conception. Note: We do not recommend prenatal multivitamins.
Choline
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Inositol plus Choline
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Iron (optional)
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Optional Supplements
These supplements may be helpful for a significant fraction of the population. Experiment to see if they help you:
- Probiotics
- Chromium, 200-400 mcg per week (not necessary if you cook in stainless steel pots) and (optional) vanadium, 25 mcg per week
- Lithium 5 to 10 mg per week
- Silicon 5 mg to 25 mg daily
- FOR PEOPLE WHO DO NOT EAT LIVER: Copper 2 mg per day
- FOR PEOPLE WHO DO NOT EAT LIVER: Vitamin A from cod liver oil, 50,000 IU/week
- FOR PEOPLE WHO DO NOT EAT MAKE BONE STOCK OR DRINK MINERAL WATER: Calcium up to 400 mg/day
- B-50 complex (as a substitute for individual B supplements if you prefer fewer pills
- Molybdenum 150 mcg per week
- Taurine 500 mg to 5000 mg per week (higher doses may be therapeutic for small intestinal or systemic infections)
- Selenium 0 or 200 mcg per week depending on selenium content of food (if food is produced in dry, flat areas = high selenium, no supplements; rainy, well-drained areas = 200 mcg/wk)
Probiotics
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More Probiotics
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More Probiotics
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Chromium
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Lithium
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Silicon
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Copper (Only If Liver Is Not Eaten)
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Vitamin A (Only If Liver Is Not Eaten)
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Calcium (If No Mineral Water or Bone Stock)
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B-50 complex
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Molybdenum
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Taurine
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Vitamin E
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Therapeutic Supplements
These supplements are unnecessary for healthy people but may be helpful in various disease conditions.
N-acetylcysteine
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Glycine
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Creatine
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Melatonin
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Detoxification Aids
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Miscellaneous
These items may be helpful in implementing Perfect Health Diet and Lifestyle advice.
Pill boxes
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Pill cutter
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Dear Paul,
My girlfriend just got diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease. Can you recommend a good book or a good strategy that addresses the topic?
Thank you,
Milton
Hi Milton, I looked through Paul’s posts as I too was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s in 2015. According to Paul, it is likely an infection caused by a virus. This was the case for me.
Vitamin C was instrumental in getting my thyroid working again. Check out Paul’s supplement guide and food list.
Hello Dr.Jaminet.
I’m brazilian, and amused by nutritional science, but I have a good idea of the principles that should guide a healthy alimentation, therefore I have not, yet, bought your book.
One point on I have more doubts than certainties is the one concerning supplementation, and its worthness.
I do use whey powder and creatine because of my athletic activities, but besides of them I have the doubt if I should, or not, use other vitamins, probiotics, minerals and nootropics for brain performance.
I present you 2 doubts:
a) is there a plan for a new edition of your book? the most recent one is from 2013, if I am not mistaken. Considering the costs of shipment, I don´t think its worthy to buy it now if there is going to be a new edition soon. By the way, I don´t like reading through Kindle. In such a new edition, would there be some athlete-oriented chapter?
b) This specific topic of supplements, in your website, will have an update soon? I saw you mentioned it would in some comments above, and before I go out and buy some supplements, I would like to be more sure on which of them are really essential, mainly for a good energy availability for daily activities.
Do you reccomend, besides of that, a specific test to measure mineral or vitamine deficiencies?
With sincere regards,
Micael Leão Michaelsen.
Hi Micael,
There won’t be a new edition soon. We are busy with our cancer therapy company, Angiex (www.angiex.com).
I’ve been very busy, I do want to update the web site generally and the supplements page specifically. The most important supplements are magnesium, vitamin D in the winter if you are far from the equator, and vitamin K2. There are other common deficiencies like vitamin A (if you don’t eat liver), iodine (if you don’t frequently eat seafood), vitamin C, etc.
Generally, we lack good tests for nutrient status. I think that is an area that needs further research.
Best, Paul
I believe there used to be a page with all recommended supplement brands, but I can’t find it.
Can anyone help?
This page lists supplement recommendations with links to products at Amazon. But, if you have ad blocking turned on in your internet browser, you won’t see the links.
Other than that, i don’t know about any such page on this blog.
Paul in 2013 said that he has no way of evaluating the quality of vitamin brands: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2013/03/ask-me-anything-at-reddit-tuesday-noon/#comment-135708
You are right, I can see the link to amazon now. thanks Nick
A while back my daughter was getting rashes and had some allergy tests. It came back that she is allergic to lanolin and fragrance. Is it safe to take vitamin d3 if you are allergic to lanolin? Also she did avoid fragrance for a while and uses it now and is fine. I realized that the target brand benzoyl peroxide that she was using for pimples was the cause of the rash.
Hi Angela,
Yes, vitamin D3 is the bioidentical human compound and will be safe regardless of her allergies.
Best, Paul
Hello Paul, Can you please recommend supplements, eating pattern and vital foods for healing chronic pancreatitis and gallbladder pain – started by a series of water fasts and healthy vegetarian/lower fat diet in the past.
Have had these problems for the last 4 years even though I follow PHD now. Scans show a couple of “benign injuries” on pancreas, occasionally high lipase and normal gallbladder with occasional sludge. I am so confused whether intermittent fasting 8/16 and 2 meals per day are helping or making it worse. Will this ever resolve and get better? Any advice please will be so appreciated. Just got CGM as my h1Bc is 5.4 which seems high considering my PHD diet Thank you
Hi Renata,
The most important supplements are vitamins A and D, which are key for antimicrobial peptide production and mucosal immunity. They should always be combined with vitamin K2 as MK-7.
Equally or more important are circadian rhythm entrainment and time-restricted feeding. Try to concentrate all calorie intake between 9 am and 3 pm as much as possible; do only social nibbling after 3 pm and no calories at all after 7 pm – ideally no calories after 3 pm, and none before 9 am. For circadian rhythms, have a personal 12 hour day and 12 hour night, I use 7:30 am to 7:30 pm as my day. In the day get morning exercise, bright white light or sunlight, and all food intake, as well as all stress. At night, red/orange lights, no calories, minimal physical activity and stress, it is a time for intimacy, rest, and relaxation.
Other things are less important but be sure to get plenty of dietary extracellular matrix for healing, and to support immune activity with zinc/copper, iodine/selenium, magnesium; and bile production with taurine, glycine, vitamin C, and choline / egg yolks.
Best, Paul
HbA1c of 5.4 is normal.
Best, Paul
Hi Paul,
I seem to react poorly to supplemental vitamins:
– A, D, or K2 supplements cause extremely low moods/energy. I’ve tried various forms for a few days now and again and always feel better after stopping.
– I consistently feel nauseous after eating chicken/beef/lamb liver or taking cod liver oil.
Any ideas what might be going on? How might you work around this?
Dear Paul,
When supplementing K2, is it important that the supplement contains a variety of Vitamin K forms (i.e. K1, MK-7, MK-4 etc.) or is it fine if it has only K-2 MK-7?
Thanks.
Hi Kendall,
No, I would avoid MK-4 which is synthesized chemically in a racemic mixture with an unnatural chirality that may be harmful. K1 is fine but that is best obtained from food (eg spinach). I supplement just MK-7.
Best, Paul
Dear Paul
Is there any way to reduce arterial calcification?
Thanks
José
Dear Paul
If I eat ONE egg a day my total cholesterol raise to 300 and more and LDL to more than 170.
Should I avoid eggs?
Thanks
José
Hi Dr. Jaminet, I have sleepiness during the afternoon after 3 pm, and even when I eat a very small snack after 7 pm when I get home, I feel very sleepy. Sometimes when I drive home at around 6 pm, I feel like dosing off. Most nights, I have the same sleepiness even when I don’t even eat at night. But when it comes time to sleep at around 11:30 to midnight, I am wide awake and alert like it is morning at wake-up time. I sleep well all night with good vivid dreaming. I have not heard you address this sleepiness issue in your talks and interviews. Perhaps you can help me understand what is happening to my body to cause this. Thank you.
Hi Paul, Vitamin A supplements appear to disturb my mood and I get nausea consistently after eating liver or taking cod liver oil. Any ideas why this might be the case and how to meet vitamin D/vitamin A needs otherwise?
Hi W,
Nausea is a known side effect of excess vitamin A. See https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-a/art-20365945. So one thing to consider is whether your diet already has enough.
If you do supplement A, be sure to mix the supplement into a meal / take it with a meal. You don’t want supplements by themselves.
There are also nutrient interactions. Deficiencies of vitamin E, selenium, zinc, copper can make nausea more likely. Excess intake of omega-3 fats can also generate negative effects from vitamin A, see my blog posts about this, eg https://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/04/omega-3-fats-angiogenesis-and-cancer-part-i/ and https://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/04/omega-3s-angiogenesis-and-cancer-part-ii/. Therefore, do not take cod liver oil, and try to minimize omega-3 fats to see if that helps.
You can also try to get vitamin A precursor carotenoids from various foods and let your body make vitamin A, rather than taking pre-formed A. See if that helps.
Best, Paul
Thanks very much Paul, I will experiment with your suggestions.
Hello Paul,
Do you think it’s necessary to supplement the 50,000iu vitamin A/retinol if you’re eating the 3 pasture raised egg yolks plus 1-2 tablespoons grassfed ghee/butter daily? I’m not eating liver because I don’t like it.
Also, what are your thoughts on a low oxalate diet like in Sally K. Norton’s book Toxic Superfoods, & or Paul Saladino’s Carnivore Code?
I’ve been eliminating high oxalate foods like spinach, chocolate, nuts/seeds & sweet potatoes over the last year & my aches & pains that I thought I would have to live with at my age of 46 are disappearing. I believe there’s something to it. My diet is mostly grassfed beef, egg yolks & butter, lemons, limes, & a little low oxalate veggies cooked, & honey, white rice & occasionally gluten free organic oats. Occasionally when it’s fresh & looks good, wild king salmon.
I learn so much reading your responses to people on here & appreciate it!
Thank you,
Holly
One question about selenium:
You mentioned there are more or less safe
forms of selenium – inorganic forms worst, selenmethionine better and selenocysteine best. now I found methylselenocysteine as a
supplement – this is not exactly selenocysteine – what do you think about its safety? Is it useful?
Best, Johannes
And another one about Iodine: There is kaliumiodine and I2.
Can the body change one in the other or is it better to take both?
Hi Johannes,
Generally I would recommend potassium iodide, since both potassium and iodine are nutrients, and this is a more stable form for storage. Once in your digestive tract, the iodine will behave the same.
Best, Paul
My idea: You need oxygen to survive as a human being. But you also need water to survive. It is not sufficient
to take oxygen only as O2, you also need H2O.
Could it be like that with I2 and KI?
Just my idea.
Best,
Johannes
It’s not a good analogy. Once dissolved in water, both KI and II dissociate into the individual atoms. That’s not the case for O2 or H2O which are stable.
Didn‘t knew that.
Ok, fine!
This is exactly what I wanted to know.
Thanks and Best,
Johannes
https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/iodine-and-cancer
https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/63/16/5065/510332/Nonradioactive-Iodide-Effectively-Induces
According to the first study, there is a
difference to tumors as I2 helps but not KI?
In the second, KI is used and we can see shrinking size of lung tumor in mices – as in the photos.
Best,
Johannes
Hi Johannes,
These studies indicate that I2 is more toxic to cells than KI, which is expected given its much greater reactivity. In the first one it is more potent in cells in culture. But what you care about in treatment is not potency, but therapeutic margin. You want it to kill cancer cells better than it kills normal cells. Note that in the second study they mention that I2 is very effective at killing thyroid cells (which have native NIS transporters) but they had to overexpress NIS in (genetically modify) the tumor cells in order to make I2 potent. Then KI works in vivo, in keeping with the iodine being beneficial as a nutrient, not just as a highly reactive toxic molecule.
I didn’t see any evidence there to favor taking I2 over KI – on the contrary.
Best, Paul
I agree.
Personally, I smoked tobacco for a longer time in my past – so I have a higher risk of developing lung
cancer.
In this study
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6795405/
it seems to be a bad idea taking NAC in this case. But in the upper one, it seems to be
beneficial in combination with KI.
What is your
suggestion?
Hi Paul,
What do you think about silicon dioxide in supplements?
Do you think it’s problematic?
Hi Amisu,
No, I don’t think it’s problematic.
Best, Paul
Hi Paul
I am wondering if you might have some suggestions for someone who cannot eat fermented foods due to histamine reactions?
Best, Peggy
Hi Peggy,
Be sure to eat freshly fermented foods made with fresh ingredients, and consider fermenting them yourself, so that you can minimize amine formation. Amine clearance relies on monoamine oxidase and diamine oxidase, and these are dependent on choline, copper, and molybdenum, so you can increase your egg yolks and chocolate or consider supplementation. Severity of symptoms can be aggravated by antioxidant deficiencies, mainly zinc and copper, secondarily glutathione precursors like glycine and taurine.
Best, Paul
Hi Paul,
My brother, who is 26 and fairly tall but not overweight, has been facing ongoing joint issues. Despite having surgery, his shoulder frequently dislocates, and now he is dealing with bone spurs in his knee.
Until now, he hasn’t led the healthiest lifestyle, but he is eager to turn things around. Could you suggest some strategies or recommendations to help him improve his joint health?
Thanks a lot.
Hi Carlson,
For joint issues, he should eat lots of extracellular matrix (soups and stews made with bone and joint material, skin, shellfish), optimize vitamins A/D/K2, get extra vitamin C, and tend to circadian rhythm entrainment. Eat a natural whole foods diet with balanced nutrition like PHD.
The same tactics will help heal the bone spurs. Often a lack of vitamins A and K2 and poor circadian rhythm entrainment are key causes. He should be sure to eat 3 eggs per day, supplement A and K2, and exercise and get sunlight and bright white light during the day, and avoid white/blue/green light at night, or wear blue blocking glasses.
Best, Paul