This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

While waiting for Jimmylegs to reply, I thought that I would mention that she has repeatedly stated that the ideal supplement levels in her opinion are 1200 mg calcium, 600 mg magnesium, and 50 mg zinc. I don't know how much selenium she recommends but I'm sure she'll let us know soon enough.

I don't take near those levels, yet I've still had noticeable improvements especially with respect to the Raynaud's syndrome I was experiencing. Since I started the Ca, Mg, Zn, and D3 combo it has yet to reoccur (and it's been 1.5 years since).

NHE

lol!
2-3 brazil nuts per day will do the trick.
search for my posts with keyword brazil and filter for posts rather than topics, to see all the latests.
i have been supplementing 200 - 400 mcg per day for weeks and my levels are now slightly elevated but not in the toxicity range.
2 nuts is supposed to give you around 100mcg, 3 closer to 200mcg.
i'd say 200mcg per day would be plenty. if using supplements, choose l-selenomethionine from yeast. if it doesn't say so on the bottle, they're probably hiding a synthetic.

Well Rats ass!
I just came from the store where I bought selenium. I'll BET it doesn't say l-selenomethionine from yeast! I'll find out when I go downstairs. lol.

uh oh! well don't keep us all in suspense terry!!! it's not the end of the world if it is synthetic, it's just not the best supplement available. there's always next time

oh and sorry indi, i meant to say, NHE is right i do like 50mg zn per day.
personally i did need more some days. it depends where your levels are at, but 25 to 50 is probably good for an MS-er.

Nope, Jimmy. Synthetic.
I'll get back out to the store this weekend.
If at first you don't succeed....

does it say anything about yeast? check out what i posted for you last week, on that EBV topic - http://www.thisisms.com/ftopicp-64132-s ... html#64132

Oh, Jimmylegs.
I remember reading that but I guess it didn't stick.
Last night I handed the bottle to my daughter to look at because I didn't have my glasses. She said no, but I'll go look for myself. Luckily it didn't cost much. (maybe that should have been a clue.)
I despise shopping these days, so getting the selenium in was a victory. I'll go to Whole Foods this weekend and...try try again.
Thanks much, JL.

In following up on Oprah's recent show with Dr. Oz, I came across the following information on vitamins and minerals and his ideas on RealAge: http://www.realage.com/NutritionCenter/ ... ients.aspx

Concerning zinc, the amount recommended for adults by Real Age was 12 mg per day, preferably through food. I found the following idea very interesting: "Too much zinc can interfere with your body's ability to absorb other vitamins and minerals...."

Concerning magnesium, I found this comment also interesting: "It may be tough to get all the magnesium you need from food, so top up your daily intake with a multivitamin that contains at least 100 mg of magnesium."

it's true, 12mg would likely be enough for healthy average joe/josephine - but you have to get more than the RDA to correct suboptimal levels as we see in ms patients... or outright deficiencies like i had

i would define 'too much' zinc as any amount that takes your serum level over 18.2umol/L.

100 mg sporadically over 3 months was too much in my case and i went up over 20. i can keep it in line with 50mg per day and it has really improved my uric acid status amazingly. also i process oral d3 like a bat out of hell now! not sure if that's because of the zinc, but d3 receptors do have zinc fingers...

Zn plays a clear role in the synthesis, storage and secretion of insulin as well as conformational integrity of insulin in the hexameric form, the decreased Zn, which affects the ability of the islet cell to produce and secrete insulin, might then compound the problem...

The behaviour of proinsulin and insulin in the presence of zinc suggests it plays an important role in insulin's production in the B-cell for the vast majority of animal species...

...it appears that zinc can induce an increase in glucose transport into cells and potentiate insulin-induced glucose transport, likely acting through the insulin-signaling pathway.

with magnesium it's best absorbed in the lower intestine and supplements get dealt with higher up. so really, it's best to try to get as much as you can from food, mmm chard spinach and pumpkin seeds... (ugh, i'll take the spinach thanks lol!)

Magnesium deficiency has been associated with insulin resistance (IR) and increased risk for type 2 diabetes in adults...

Magnesium (Mg) is one of the most abundant ions present in living cells and its plasma concentration is remarkably constant in healthy subjects. Plasma and intracellular Mg concentrations are tightly regulated by several factors. Among them, insulin seems to be one of the most important. In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that insulin may modulate the shift of Mg from extracellular to intracellular space...

What is the difference between zinc gluconate and zinc piconilate? How much of this should I be taking? If there is zinc in my multi, can I still safely add a zinc supplement? thanks all, getting desperate need to try something new!

i have no science backing this up at all, and only a few minutes of googling to back this up, but i'm going to say zinc picolinate. the tipping point was reading that genestra's zinc product is picolinate. and genestra is a pretty decent brand. tried to check what usana uses, but no luck so far. HTH! and, as for adding zinc on top of multi, it depends how much is in the multi. and as for how much you take and for how long, it depends on your diet and lifestyle to an extent, and also on whether you plan to include monitoring via bloodwork. you could probably take in 25mg per day on a long term basis. i have 50mg pills but some days i'm bad and skip the pills altogether.

Zinc gluconate is the cheapest, and all are as effective as each other.

i updated on zinc in my regimen thread but not here.. last zinc/UA test was 16.1 on the zinc, and the UA had come along for the ride and was at 278. these are both in umol/L.

found a neat article from a couple years ago on zinc and vascular health:

Galvanising forces in vascular health and disease: is dietary zinc protective?

some interesting tidbits

The World Health Organisation estimates that a third of the global human population, including in developed countries, is zinc deficient.

Arterial vascular tissue is composed largely of smooth muscle, which regulates constriction and dilation of the blood vessel, and a single layer of endothelial cells, which line the luminal surface and are in direct contact with the circulating blood

we have given these mice diets similar in composition to human western type, high fat foods with zinc levels across the range consumed by many adults in the UK. Our preliminary results show that within 13 weeks of eating the diet, marginal zinc deficiency encourages the development of atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta