TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Have you taken your vitamins today?

If not, you could be missing out on not only the physical benefits but also the mental ones.

In this week’s Mental Health Minute, we discuss the link between vitamins and supplements and our mental wellness with an expert.

A Council for Responsible Nutrition study in 2023 found that 74% of Americans take dietary supplements, which include multivitamins. But did you know that taking these can also help boost your mental health as well?

“Every single one of the B vitamins from B1 to B12, they all play a role somewhere along the line in neurotransmitters, mental health or neurological association,” said Dr. Oscar Coetzee, a clinical nutritionist with over 25 years of experience.

Dr. Coetzee said that while B vitamins are the most common connection between vitamins and mental health, a few others play a key role as well.

“Vitamin C plays a really big role in that conversion that we just spoke about, also with dopamine to things called catecholamines or norepinephrine and epinephrine,” Dr. Coetzee said. “A deficiency in magnesium would be very, very relevant. Magnesium has 300 functions in the body and a lot of them have to do with mental health.”

The National Library of Medicine found that magnesium supplements improved mood, anxiety, and quality of life in stressed but otherwise healthy adults.

While taking vitamins and supplements is beneficial to both mental and physical health, finding the right one can be a little chaotic due to the nature of its marketing.

“The nutraceutical industry, unfortunately, is not regulated the way the pharmaceutical industry is. Both of us can make the claims. We can both say vitamin C is good for the immune system, but nobody knows that you only have 20 milligrams, and I have 500 milligrams.”

While this may be alarming to some, Dr. Coetzee said there is a way to avoid the Wild-West-like world of supplements.

“Work with a practitioner. So, the practitioners that prescribe these vitamins and minerals, and that’s the right word to use, we prescribe certified third-party tested quality control nutraceuticals that are only provided to clinicians and practitioners because of the doses being higher.”

If you think you may need a higher dose of vitamin or supplement or are curious about your current levels, contact your health care provider.

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