How to Cover Common Micronutrient Gaps
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In this clip from Dr. Rhonda Patrick's appearance on The Dr. Hyman Show, Dr. Patrick organizes supplementation around common nutrient gaps rather than a long list of isolated products. She starts with vitamin D testing and marine omega-3 intake, then uses a high-quality multivitamin and magnesium to cover nutrients that can be difficult to obtain consistently from a typical diet.
Omega-3 dosing depends on the actual EPA and DHA content shown on the label. In a pooled analysis of 14 trials, supplementation averaging about two grams per day raised the mean Omega-3 Index from 4.9% to 8.1%, although individual responses varied with baseline status, dose, and formulation. Dr. Patrick and Dr. Mark Hyman use that measured response to explain why the total weight of fish oil can be misleading. [1]
A multivitamin can provide broad nutritional insurance, while magnesium needs depend on diet, physical activity, and gastrointestinal tolerance. Dr. Patrick also includes sulforaphane as a phytochemical that activates NRF2-regulated cellular defenses. Her practical message is to use food, testing, and targeted supplementation together, with doses and formulations chosen for the person rather than copied as a universal stack.
Magnesium form changes absorption and gastrointestinal effects. In a small human comparison, magnesium citrate produced higher urinary magnesium after a single dose and after 60 days than magnesium oxide, supporting better bioavailability for citrate under the tested conditions. [2] Dr. Patrick and Dr. Hyman also describe glycinate and malate as routine options and citrate when a laxative effect is useful. They describe threonate as a brain-focused option but caution that it should not be assumed to cover whole-body needs. Dose still depends on diet, kidney function, the clinical goal, and tolerance.
This clip is excerpted, with permission, from Dr. Rhonda Patrick's appearance on The Dr. Hyman Show. Thank you to Dr. Mark Hyman for allowing us to share it.
- ^ Walker RE; Jackson KH; Tintle NL; Shearer GC; Bernasconi A; Masson S, et al. (2019). Predicting the effects of supplemental EPA and DHA on the omega-3 index. Am J Clin Nutr 110, 4.
- ^ Lindberg JS; Zobitz MM; Poindexter JR; Pak CY (1990). Magnesium bioavailability from magnesium citrate and magnesium oxide. J Am Coll Nutr 9, 1.
Dr. Mark Hyman: What do you recommend? And does it have to be difficult and onerous and expensive? Or how do you sort of stack the deck so you're like getting the basic things you need and not running into this trouble?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yeah, I do have some of the basic things that I think, well, that I take, but also that I think that would help a majority of people that are insufficient in a lot of these micronutrients. And first and foremost, vitamin D supplement. And again, I think generally speaking, vitamin D, 4,000 IUs a day, pretty, pretty, for the most part, gets people to a sufficient-ish level. You have to do a blood test to really know for certain. You may have to take a little more, you know, but starting at 4,000 IUs a day, which is the upper tolerable intake, is safe.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And this is actually by the National Academy of Sciences saying this is a safe level.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Exactly. Number 2, omega-3 fatty acids. And this is something where Bill Harris has published studies looking at how do you get someone who is low Omega-3 Index, so 4% Omega-3 Index, up to an 8%. Turns out it takes close to about 2 grams a day.
Dr. Mark Hyman: 2 grams of—
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Of EPA and DHA.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So when you get, just for clarification purposes, if you get a pill and it says a gram of fish oil, it might not have a gram of EPA and DHA. It might be like 300 or 200 milligrams. So, you have to look at the concentration of EPA and DHA in the milligram amounts on the label. Otherwise, you know, it might take 1 pill or it could take 5 pills.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Exactly.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So, that I think is a pretty simple solution. So, 1 to 2 grams?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: 1.5 to 2 grams.
You get most people that are in a 4% low range to an 8% high range.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And, the balance of EPA and DHA, does it matter?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Not really.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Is it 50/50?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Usually, it's like a 2 to 1 ratio,
Dr. Mark Hyman: EPA to DHA. EPA to DHA.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yeah, for the most part, something close to that. Okay.
Dr. Mark Hyman: But I wouldn't sweat the small stuff.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Like, number 3 and number 4 kind of tie, but I think, I think a multivitamin is a really good insurance because, you know, there's selenium, boron. Yeah, there's, you know, the B vitamins, you know, you're getting— there's vitamin A, there's so many different micronutrients, and that really covers a lot of the bases. So I think a pretty high-quality multivitamin is good, along with magnesium.
So magnesium, because such a large percentage of people are not getting enough magnesium, magnesium is so important for a variety of processes, DNA damage, brain function, muscle function. People that are physically active, they sweat out magnesium, so you might need anywhere between 10 to 20% more than the RDA.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And stress and coffee also contribute, and alcohol.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Stress depletes it, exactly.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So you're like, what is the American life? Stress, coffee, and alcohol.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: That's exactly right.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's why we're all deficient.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: We literally pee it out.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yes.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: And so, you want to make sure you're getting an organic salt. So, that would be something like magnesium citrate, magnesium malate, magnesium glycinate, and citrate if you're constipated. Right.
So, those are the organic salts, which are more bioavailable.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I'll tell a funny story. I was in the hospital recently for a back surgery, and I wanted to get magnesium, and I talked to the hospitalist and he gave me magnesium oxide. And I'm like, that's not bioavailable. And I sort of went through this with him and like you did. Yeah. It wasn't as confrontational as that, but, you know, he's like, oh, you're right. I looked it up and actually, no, true. I'm like, yep.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: So, but that's the main nutrient form of magnesium that you get in a lot of the supplements that you buy over the counter because it's the cheapest form. So magnesium oxide, if you see that on the label, just skip over it.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Right.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: So, that would be another one. And then, I add to my essentials the sulforaphane.
I used to sprout, and I no longer do that because—
Dr. Mark Hyman: Life is busy.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: My excuses. Yeah, I'm, you know, so—
Dr. Mark Hyman: You're busy telling the world how to eat better and be healthy. It's like the worst thing you can do for your health.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: But, I trust the science that I've read looking at the supplement that I take, which, again, it's a really good supplement, Avmacol, and they have about, the advanced formula is what I take. I take about 2 to 4 a day, depending on—
Dr. Mark Hyman: And we'll put the link in the show notes for that.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: They're great, and there are published studies on them improving autism spectrum disorder symptoms. So, it's affecting the brain, so it improved autism spectrum disorder symptoms in children and adolescents with autism, but it's a very strong activator of glutathione, so NRF2 pathway. So, that's my phytochemical.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I actually wrote a blog about glutathione years ago. If anybody wants to find out more about glutathione, go to Hyman and glutathione, and you'll find it. It's kind of the master detoxifier, the master antioxidant, the master immune regulator. It's like, it's so critical. And you get it through some of these plant foods. You get it by sulfur-containing amino acids, which are found often in animal foods or in whey protein. It's a great source.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: It is, yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it's a major, major antioxidant in the body.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: So I think those are really some of the— Vitamin D, fish oil,
Dr. Mark Hyman: Vitamin D 4,000, fish oil, 1 or 2 grams of the actual EPA/DHA, a multivitamin.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: High quality.
Dr. Mark Hyman: High quality, meaning it shouldn't be blue or purple or green or yellow and have titanium and dyes and should be just, you know, the right— and the bioavailability, the form of the nutrient matters. I mean, I think you and I both done a lot of work on this and people can dig around, but it's not just like go to get your, you know, Walgreens or CVS multivitamin.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Right.
Dr. Mark Hyman: A little more judicious.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: And then, magnesium.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And how much magnesium?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: You know, it depends. So some people get a laxative effect and they want that. That's with citrate. Even with higher doses of other forms, they can. But yeah, so I mean, I think it depends on your diet. Like, if you are not eating a lot of plants, shame on you, you need to increase that. But, you know, about 250 to 300 milligrams, you know, is a good range.
Now, if you're trying to treat migraines and stuff, you might have to go higher. Some studies show 600 milligrams. And then, there's the form of magnesium, magnesium threonate, that's thought to cross the blood-brain barrier more effectively for brain health because magnesium doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier very well. But magnesium threonate isn't essentially— it's not necessarily going to do the DNA damage repair aspect of magnesium. So, make sure you're getting both. If you're doing that. Um, yeah. So like for me, I take like about 250 milligrams, maybe 300 milligrams.
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