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My question is about the use of whole herbs versus active constituents. As an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist, I’ve been trained to favor whole herb administration over active constituents. The thinking in Chinese medicine is that the whole plant contains a mixture of biologically active compounds, which would presumably be more favorable in terms of efficacy and safety. I know we’ve had a lot of discussion in this program about which curcumin supplements people favor most and why, but I’m wondering if you can comment on why we wouldn’t use the whole turmeric rhizome instead. Is it just that the research doesn’t exist on the whole plant, or does using the whole plant make dosing complicated or both? I read an interesting paper in the International Journal of Pharmacology stating that an ethanol extract of whole turmeric rhizome exhibited greater anti-inflammatory effects than curcumin. This makes me wonder further about other substances such as berberine. Is it more or less advantageous to use berberine in isolation or in whole herbs such as coptis and phellodendron?

Chris Kresser: Yeah, that’s a great point and great topic of discussion. Of course, it’s controversial. As an acupuncturist and...

I know magnesium glycinate and malate are the preferred forms, and they’re more bioavailable and more gentle on the gut, but if someone seems to handle magnesium citrate absolutely fine, how important is it? For instance, NOW does a magnesium citrate capsule of 500 mg, 180 in the bottle for £15 in the U.K. Pure Encapsulations magnesium is 120 mg for 180 capsules goes for £28, so almost double the price but only a quarter of the magnesium. Many of these supplements are just not affordable for some people, especially those with young families with one partner not working. Is the citrate example fine if tolerated, and somebody really needs to be taking a good dose of magnesium every day?

Dr. Amy Nett:  So, as you mentioned, there are some slight differences. As you mentioned, citrate is probably going to...

What is the recommended dose of curcumin and phosphatidylserine?

Dr. Amy Nett:  Curcumin, remember, there are several different forms. So, the dose of curcumin, I think, is going to...

Regarding the supplements for glycemic dysregulation, are they for both high blood sugar and low blood sugar (reactive hypoglycemia-type symptoms)?

Dr. Amy Nett:  So, the symptoms we talked about for glycemic dysregulation, primarily GlucoSupreme, I think you’re mentioning, GlucoSupreme and...

When using the higher doses of vitamin K for cardiovascular disease or osteoporosis, do you need to match that with higher D and A?

Dr. Amy Nett:  Ooh, I wouldn’t. I don’t think so. I always have a little bit of reluctance because you...
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