What’s in your cupboard? Some of us have multitudes of supplements sitting in there. I’ve seen it with so many clients.
We’re in an era of proactive health, and I totally love that. It’s also a time when you can walk through a pharmacy or health food shop and find aisles of vitamins. So many people have said to me, “It’s natural, so it must be good for me.”
Well, I say natural is better, yet deadly nightshade can be a poison, and so can water hemlock. This isn’t to say we should be fearful. Nature needs to be respected and used with a degree of knowledge, rather than taken blindly because a friend or a Google search says it’s what you need.
Have a look at your cupboard or medicine cabinet. Maybe there’s the magnesium for sleep and the B complex for stress. There’s a formula for your hormones and a multi for insurance. Somewhere at the back is the immune blend you started one winter and never got around to stopping. Each one made sense on the day you bought it.
So why do you still feel flat? Maybe even a little worse?
Some of my clients come to me with shopping bags of supplements. They’re intelligent women doing everything they’ve been told to do, and they’re worn out by it. The first useful question is often a simple one: what is each of these doing for you?
As a naturopath and biochemist, I prescribe supplements, and I value them. I also use as few as I can. Food is how nature intended us to be nourished. Supplements and herbs fill the gaps and treat specific foundational issues so the body can heal. When taken constantly or carelessly, they can bring the same problems we worry about with medications, including the side effects.
The B6 you didn’t know you were taking
Vitamin B6 shows how quickly this adds up. It’s in more than 1000 listed medicines in Australia, plus foods and drinks such as energy drinks, breakfast cereals and weight-loss shakes. You’ll also find it in multivitamins and magnesium formulas.
How much B6 you need is individual. Genetics, health conditions, medications and diet all change the picture, and some people do well on a therapeutic dose for a time. That same individuality means some people run into trouble at doses others tolerate well, so you need to know your total.
Each product can look reasonable on its own label, yet the amount across your morning handful may be far higher than anyone intended. Look for pyridoxine, pyridoxal or pyridoxamine on the ingredient list. They’re all forms of B6.
Too much B6 over time has been linked to peripheral neuropathy, which can feel like tingling, burning or numbness, usually in the hands or feet.
Vitamin B6 can build up through products picked off the shelf, and through practitioner prescribing when nobody adds up the whole list.
Testing can help, but only when it’s done properly. A recent supplement or skipped fast can push your result up, and the sample must be protected from light and handled carefully.
When minerals compete in your gut
Many of my clients have never been told this one. Minerals taken together can get in each other’s way.
Calcium can reduce how much iron you absorb. Iron and zinc can compete for shared transport into the gut wall. High-dose zinc taken over time can also lower copper, because it increases metallothionein, a protein in your gut cells that binds copper and holds it back from your bloodstream.
So you might take iron for your fatigue, swallow it with calcium and zinc in the same handful, then wonder why your ferritin is slow to move. You’ve done everything right on paper. The combination is working against you.
Andrographis and what it teaches us
If you’ve reached for an immune formula at the first scratchy throat, you may well have taken Andrographis. You may also have seen it in the news.
In September 2026, the TGA removed it from the ingredients allowed in new listed medicines because of rare but serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Most people who’ve taken it have had no serious problems, and it has a long history in traditional medicine.
My science head keeps asking one question. Why did reports climb so sharply from 2019? Nobody has a proven answer yet. Practitioners and researchers are looking at the different forms and doses now on the market, individual susceptibility, and how many more people take it. I also wonder about long, unbroken use, because many people took it for years during and after COVID. That’s my own clinical question, and it hasn’t been tested. Some people react the first time they take it, so a break isn’t a safety guarantee.
For me, this comes back to respecting nature. Many herbs work best for a specific situation, or are best cycled on and off. So it’s worth asking of every herb you take: why am I taking this, and for how long?
Here are three things you can do today:
- Check your labels. Look for Andrographis paniculata, especially in immune and cold and flu formulas.
- Swap it out if you find it. Stop taking it and check the TGA’s recall list. There are other ways to support your immune system, and I can help you find what suits you.
- Know the signs. Seek medical advice for any sign of an allergic reaction, and call 000 if symptoms are severe.
Let’s go through your supplement bag together
You’ve already shown you’re willing to invest in your health. Let’s make sure that investment is working for you. Nature needs to be respected, and with supplements, education and experience will always serve you better than guesswork.
Book a Supplement Review consultation and gather up every bottle, powder and tincture you’re taking. I’ll review what’s useful, what’s doubling up and what may be competing. Then we’ll fine-tune the products you keep, so you know exactly why each one is there.
Teressa,
Naturopath | Clinical Nutritionist | Biochemist
