Vitamins have long been recognized as being essential to one’s health and vitality. 

The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University has done exhaustive research on the necessity for vitamins and minerals. They have published scientifically prepared data on what each nutrient is and why the body needs it. 

Human bodies do not create all of the needed vitamins and minerals so they must be introduced into the body from an external source. 

One external source is wholesome food, some of which has been fortified with nutrients. While it is certainly true that a nutrient-rich diet is indispensable to good health, diet alone may not be enough. Some aspects of many people’s lives such as high stress levels, exposure to pollution and other toxins, a less than optimum quality or duration of hours of sleep each night, strenuous workouts, stressful environments can put additional demands on the body. You may need to supplement your nutrient intake to meet those demands. 

How Much is Enough?

Health Canada publishes tables of recommended daily intake for vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients referred to as RDA, or Recommended Dietary Allowance. The RDA is presented as “the goal for usual intake by an individual”. 

The RDA is calculated on the basis of the EAR, Estimated Average Requirement, defined as 

“the median daily intake value that is estimated to meet the requirement of half the healthy individuals in a life-stage and gender group. At this level of intake, the other half of the individuals in the specified group would not have their needs met.”

The Health Canada tables are useful as guides, but vitamin requirements are not necessarily universal. Vitamin intake requirements can vary widely from person to person. In fact, the same person’s minimum requirement can change, depending upon their circumstances and the demands placed upon them. Vitamin requirements can be influenced by many factors that may demand vitamin intake in excess of the RDA guidelines:

• Ingestion of toxins from pollution and other sources
• Certain drugs
• Illness and infection
• Smoking
• Drinking
• High stress levels
• Sleep
• Quality of diet
• Weight

These circumstances can all put a strain on the body’s resources.

Even for people who do not have extraordinary demands being imposed on them from stress, long work hours, pollution, illness, and other factors that can affect vitamin and mineral requirements, something to consider is that the Health Canada RDA guidelines are “the average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirement of nearly all (97 to 98 percent) healthy individuals in a particular life-stage and gender group”. Is “sufficient” enough to provide the means of enjoying vibrant health and energy? Perhaps not. 

Whether or not you should take supplements could depend on whether you’re content to live with less-than-optimum health and vitality.

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Off-the-shelf oral supplements are available in pill, capsule, powder and liquid form. While there can be some benefit to be derived from oral supplementation, that benefit can be limited by factors that impede digestion and absorption. 

It is also the case that oral supplements can vary in quality from brand to brand. Some brands contain binders, fillers, preservatives, waxy coatings, and (believe it or not) sugar and corn syrup, all of which can make the actual nutrients even less bioavailable.

IV Nutrients

Vitamins and minerals administered intravenously present two immediately obvious advantages: better absorption into the cells and higher doses.

Absorption

Digestive issues that impede the absorption of nutrients into the cells can include an overabundance of yeast in the bowel, an insufficiency of digestive enzymes, and an insufficiency of stomach acids. People suffering from bowel-compromised conditions may also be unable to digest and absorb nutrient supplements through the digestive tract.

An insufficiency of dietary fiber and the consumption of excess sugars could also impede the absorption of vitamins and minerals, from both dietary sources and oral supplements. 

Refined sugar in the digestive tract is particularly nasty. Not only will sugar inhibit the absorption of nutrients but the resulting deficiencies can cause sugar cravings. 

IV vitamins and minerals bypass the digestive system. The nutrients are injected directly into the bloodstream for distribution to the parts of the body and absorption into the cells, which is where they are needed.

The Vital Importance of Getting Nutrients into the Cells

Your cells depend on nutrients to function.  There is not one single vitamin or essential mineral that your cells can do without. 

Dosages

Many people have a relatively low tolerance for oral supplements travelling through the digestive tract so the doses must be limited. For instance, high doses of Vitamin C taken orally can have an osmotic effect which means to say that the high oral dose pulls water into the intestines and over-softens the stool. This can result in diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps. High oral doses of other vitamins and minerals can likewise have a negative effect.

IV administration of vitamins bypasses the digestive system and its limitations.  

Is IV Vitamin Therapy Right for You?

Should you be getting IV vitamins and minerals? Which vitamin and mineral supplements should you have? What dosages should you be taking? How often should you receive IV vitamin therapy? Like so many other things, it depends. There really is no such thing as a “one size fits all” vitamin regimen. 

Different conditions require different combinations and concentrations of some vitamins and minerals over others. Many different vitamins and minerals can be blended according to the patient’s needs and the desired therapeutic effect. 

Green Apple Health Care practices Cause Based Medicine™ which is the systematic process of finding and treating the core cause of health concerns by using a classic naturopathic approach combined with scientific research to optimize patient outcomes.

Our focus is cause-based.  We are relentless in identifying the root cause, the “why” behind the symptoms, and we address our treatment programs to the cause of the health condition, not the symptoms.

Call us at (780) 485-9468 to book a consultation.  If you prefer, online booking is available for both new patients and repeat patients.