Fahad Matin is joined by Dr Sophia Azhar to uncover the critical link between vitamin deficiency and your well-being.
Find out how you can revitalise your health and stay active.
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Assalam alikum to all our listeners and viewers I welcome you all to another exciting and educating edition of the health and fitness show I’m Fahad Matten your host for today and I hope and pray that all of us are fit and healthy by the grace of Almighty Allah I do pray
That we all had nice and positive week so far and looking forward for a nice and relaxing weekend now this program is a recorded show um from the studios of inspire FM uh and we are definitely casting positive wives to all our lovely people in luttin and all the surrounding
Areas of luten like d harit and bford our positive area is reaching all our listeners who are listening us uh from our inspir FM website app or radio or you can view us on our Facebook and YouTube live channels of inspire FM as we all know that we cover different
Health related topics and some topics are more interesting than others however today’s topic is slightly different in a sense that we are talking about something which we all uh get affected one way or another and that is vitamin deficiencies yes uh today we are talking about vitamin deficiency and we
Definitely like to know what a vitamin deficiency can do to us as a body now as we all knows uh as everybody know I am not the one who will be talking about today’s show I have a very lovely uh uh Co guest with me today and she is none other than
Dr sopia asalam Dr asalam alikum how are you today I’m fine thank you um as as our tradition goes uh I really like to uh like you to introduce yourself and give us a quick intro about yourself um I’m Dr Sophia AA I’m a GP in luten and I
Also uh do private GP Clinic with optimized body and mind um and I’m also doing um Aesthetics with them as well as my own Clinic called Wellness by Dr Sophia and Today’s Show is being sponsored by none other than optimize Body Mind exactly yes so how’s your experience
Over there sopia it’s good it’s good um it’s a learning curve we are um getting there but um yeah it’s it’s getting on yeah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah so uh without further Ado let’s dive into our topic today now in terms of vitamin deficiency I know uh it is uh very
Unique in in many different ways shap perform because uh vitamin deficiency is something uh we all uh get affected one way or another so how do you think a vitamin deficiency affect us so it depends everybody is different uh because we have a lot of vitamins that a
Body needs and most of them require um we require for our normal daily functioning M so um every vitamin has its own role so yeah it it differs but I think the most um common symptoms patients or um people can present with is tiredness fatigue um you know not feeling
Energetic lethargy stuff like that so if I ask you in a nutshell what is vitamin deficiency what you will say uh I would say it is when you don’t have the vitamins the body needs to function uh that’s called a deficient just for our listeners so people if you do not
Understand me in English I can always jump on to as well vitamin D vitamin A vitamin Cici mhm so in terms of I know in the beginning you mentioned about certain common uh common symptoms and sign of vitamin deficiencies so in when we when we talk about vitamin deficiency itself
Now which signs relate to which vitamin deficiency can you explain that normally it’s uh a gen generic thing like tiredness fatigue uh lethargy we we think that this is vitamin deficiency may be most likely and it can be any of them but if we go by um by like by just
Naming few of them uh B12 deficiency can cause um symptoms of tingling numbness um and um uh weakness sometimes in your legs in your hands when people come and say that uh our feet feel too hot or they say that we feel numbness or tingling in both feet most of the time
It is B12 deficiency or folic acid deficiency wow okay and and in term terms of um I know um I remember a while back one of the things which I been told is that oh uh cuz I I was feeling really really tired really tired my body aches
I was not able to sleep properly either um I’ve been asked to drink water and I was drinking water like Fisher in fact I really want water but what do you reckon a person who’s going through these kind of things are these the only thing which which
Cause it as a GP what do you if if I’m coming to you as a GP what do you no no that would I wouldn’t say that’s just vitamin deficiency I would probably want to do a full checkup to make sure you’re not diabetic um and you know other stuff going on
So normally people can you know they can just eat healthy and they won’t have vitamin deficiency but uh these are if you are feeling tired lethargic or you know not uh well you should of course discuss it with with your GP because you may have may be suffering from something
Else other than just deficiencies mhm so Tak that can be cause of other things as well it can be diabetes it can be blood pressure sometimes you know people have headaches feeling tired think brain yes you should always discuss it with your GP blood test blood pressure check you should take it seriously
Definitely and and definitely that’s a gp’s concern that if if if something like this happens please go and seek a clinical advice from your GP yes so in terms of uh vitamin itself I know whenever whenever we ask GP can we take vitamins they always concern about it uh
Now what are the concerns which they normally have because uh it depends on which vitamin you’re going to take especially um if you’re going to take vitamin A that shouldn’t be taken in more quantity because it can cause hyper vitaminosis that means especially if you’re pregnant
Or a child it can cause um problems with your eyes your heart your kidneys so it needs to be taken in a specific amount so that’s why you should just not go and get something um from overthe counter especially vitamin just like that and start taking them you should always
Follow the instructions if you are taking them buying them from a from a pharmacy or something there are always instructions on it how to take it um the same goes for um thiamine nasin riboflavin these all vitamins they are very little vitamins that you need minute quantities to function your body
And you can easily get them by a good balanced diet because almost whatever we eat every day has these um have these vitamins in them mhm so in terms of uh when we talk about uh safety concerns and the correct dose so how do you know what are the safe safe
And correct dose of vitamin to take um they are on the NHS website if you uh search for um vitamins NHS uh you can see the correct does on it they’re very nicely listed also when you go to a pharmacy uh and buy them over the
Counter they will have when you see the instructions from the back it says clearly how much to take and it will tell you clearly do not take more than one tablet or do not take more than two tablets in a day because it can cause um
Other stuff um so I think you should always follow the instructions um that are on the package um again some vitamins you can take as much as you want to and they will just come in come out in your way so it really doesn’t you can’t actually store some vitamins
Cannot be stored so they are just expensive urine then exactly multivitamin now one of the things which majority of the doctors say um instead of taking multivitamins have fruits and vegetables and and take your multivitamins from fruits concern do we do multivitamins have any safety concerns no not really I think it’s just
To encourage people to eat healthy Sometimes some people are on the go all the time and they can’t eat healthy you know people who are traveling people who are probably you know running around probably clinicians themselves you know in hospital I mean we hardly get time to
Eat properly so I think sometimes it’s okay to take them because at least you’re giving your body that nutrition that is required because you’re not eating what you should be eating um they’re not harmful if you just take what is said on the instruction leaflet it’s your body can only absorb
Some of it in one time so so this is why you have to take a specific dose every day um if you put too much in it either it will cause a hyper um problem or it will just come out in UV so there’s no
Point all right okay so uh but in terms in a in a correct dose or a safety dose multivitamins how do you reckon we should take or do we do you still say is have B I would I would say take them I mean uh they’re not harmful uh take them
Properly don’t take them like I said overdose don’t overdose on them but um eat eat healthier yes you need to eat healthy placebo effect depend I guess because um some people say and some people we feel so much better so yeah that’s what I was asking yeah thoughts yeah but like
Vitamin D for example some people uh who have really low vitamin D once they vitamin D comes at a sufficient level then you they will feel it different the myalgias the aches and pains the joint problems it will get better so it depends again on the on the patient if
They did actually have a deficiency of course somebody who’s healthy who has everything in range probably they have something this is why I’m saying maybe they have something else going on so they need to go and investigate that but some people like if they have vitamin D deficiency
Or um you know vitamin B12 deficiency see the minute the body comes to that level they will see a difference so again I don’t think it’s a placebo effect if you really need it unforunately so um the so in terms of which vitamin deficiency cor hellos or prematur of grain as you can
See so I um that question is um I’m sure every on everybody’s mind but it’s aging come on not everybody’s M you have a nice set of black hairs come on it is um you can say it is how the body ages but yes um what you can do is
Or what you can help yourself with is by taking biotin biotin injections and or biotin supplements they do help um again eating healthy making sure that you are your diet is good uh folic acid uh that also helps maintain the hair growth hair strength and then there are other
Treatments that you can do that are like aesthetic based PRP and stuff like that but um V I mean it’s it’s going to happen with age you’re going to have hair loss you’re going to get have gray hairs but it’s not because of a specific vitamin deficiency sometimes because of iron
Deficiency um or folic acid deficiency in young people they can have hair loss and brittle hair yes that then you can you do a blood test you can see it and then you can uh also thyroid deficiency can also cause that problem so then sure yeah if you have a thyroid problem so
You need this is why you need blood test so if you’re having that issue you should probably see the GP or get a private blood test so then you know what’s um what is it that you’re um inde deficient in so luckily you being sitting on both sides you see things
From both sides so when we when I come to you as as a GP G I’m coming as a patient to my GP and I ask you to get a blood test done and I’m coming to you as a private patient and coming to you and says uh
Can I have a blood test done what’s the different between those two blood test and and where can I have the blood test then so the blood test are done with the optimized body and mind uh on the site uh and they also send out kits so you
Can always buy them uh online um K can I draw my own blood no it’s it’s not like that it’s a different type of Kit I think it’s um prick you prick and um point of C yeah something like that um and um I mean if you go to your GP of
Course we are as NHS GP we are we are limited on the blood test we can offer to uh the population but as a private GP the blood test would include your hormone uh levels it would have your thyroid function vitamin D levels folic acid B12 levels um we do a full health
Check with lots of um blood uh tests that can help us identify if you are deficient of something or if you suffering with any medical problem um so I think it’s a good it’s a good way of first doing a full checkup and then realizing what’s wrong in the body and
Then trying to treat that oh okay so in term you said that in in the GP land we are limited to test uh is it because um if you at a GP think okay these tests are not important guys don’t go for it is that correct yes if you is not needed
Then we won’t do them mhm yeah whereas with optimized full uh you get a full NHS check not NH check sorry full mot you can say blood check yeah blood check and and what does those blood test contain uh means uh what markers they give you so like I said uh full blood
Count it’ll give you all the B12 folic acid vitamin D levels because normally we cannot do them in NHS um the vitamin D level is only done if uh the lab thinks that yes they will be a deficiency um and what else uh uh hormone levels um FSH LH testosterone in
Men thyroid function test diabetes levels we check everything is checked in one go mhm and is that uh uh a fasting blood test or is it it’s not normally fasting no no by the way what’s the difference between fasting and non- fasting just to check your fasting glucose levels and your lipid fasting
That’s all okay but then it it does not give you any vitamin deficiencies no no not the fasting no okay yeah okay and let’s let’s come to back to the hair loss again now um so as you mentioned that the hair loss normally happens with the Aging as well
So which age levels you think that people are starting to lose hairs or starting to have gray hairs so above the age of 30 of course you’re going to start aging 35 more aging and then when you reach 40 the level speeds up kind of so some people are lucky they have good
Genes again it all depends on your jeans you’re eating your sunlight you know the the UV ray yeah so how much you get um uh also how much you dye your hair how much heat using on your hair all these things people don’t think of it because
It’s not a medical thing but it’s a the Cosmetic thing if you are going to bleach your hair and dye your hair and you know blow dry it every day it’s eventually going to break become brittle become dry um so that will also lead to damage to the follicles that will lead
To hair loss um so again it depends how well you look after yourself and I’m going slightly off top and I know it’s nothing to do with vitamins but can a person get the hair grown back up the ones who are losing hairs so it depends if you uh have a
Hair transplant then yes basically if there’s no rejection and with PRP that’s another uh treatment that we use um in Aesthetics it’s called um uh it’s um plasma that we take from your own blood and we inject it back into your uh scalp so if you still have hair follicles
There then yes the hair can grow back and um the hair may be thicker and more um strong uh it also helps the other hair around you to become thicker and strong so that’s what PRP does basically um but if you don’t have any hair follicles in that area then it’s very
Hard for you to um it’s very hard to grow hair back yeah mhm okay um so you said what are the best supplement to take for hair loss I would say biotin um folic acid so biotin can be taken as an injection as well as we do injections in
Optimize and uh it can also be taken as um tablet form mhm in terms of uh you mentioned about B12 earlier as well so is is it common uh to need B12 injections I mean yes uh in I think in um in luten I have noticed that lots of
People are low in folic acid and b12 so yes it is it is quite common to get B12 injections here so what what is person deficient of which requires a B12 injection oh what what the B12 is um is a vitamin like every other vitamin um and normally they are deficient of um
It’s like um uh they don’t eat fish meat uh dairy products wheat sometimes in these things um they don’t eat properly and then the body becomes deficient of it and there’s another way that it o deficient that’s called uh perish pernicious anemia where the body doesn’t absorb properly so if
Somebody is suffering with B12 deficiency persistently even and we give them injection and they come back and it’s again B12 deficient then we give them injection they come back is still the same after 6 months that means the body is not absorbing it and there’s something going on with the tummy so we
Do a test that diagnoses them with pernicious anemia so those people need to have a B12 injection after after every 3 to 6 months oh it’s a long it’s a it’s a lifelong thing oh oh so is that available on NH or is it yeah that’s of course that’s a
Medical problem okay that’s because your body is not letting you absorb it so that’s something you can’t treat otherwise yeah you can’t control yeah and is is there no cure for that no because it’s a it’s what we say autoimmune problem body itself is just
Doing it mhm okay okay I did not know that’s a that’s really good information so uh in terms of um because one of the common things which I heard people need B12 injection and I said okay why do people need so yeah that’s one of the reasons yes if they have a medical
Problem yes they need it but sometimes people need it because they’re just not eating properly right okay uh now coming back to you mentioned about vitamin D deficiencies why why are we as people from subcontinent are very deficient in vitamin D and this is something which I
Heard from pretty much any and every single GPR remember some GPS are really vocal about it that we should take vitamin taets it’s because of a skin color we don’t absorb the sunlight as well as um the um other skin color people and also because um of our you
Can say because of our religion um we cover ourselves from head to toe umec woman so they they get less they have less body exposure to absorb the sunlight um it is advised that everybody who um is in UK should be taking vitamin D every day especially in the winter
Period when the sun is not there um but I normally advise everybody just to take it once a day every day um it’s just um one small tablet th000 units that’s for adults and for children it’s uh about 200 to 400 units but again you should
Always check the dose before you give it to Children um but yes it’s everybody’s deficient of vitamin D apparently as far as I know so when when we talk about vitamin D itself does vitamin have vitamin D have classes cuz I heard about vitamin D2 D3 that’s not for um that’s just something
For medical purposes because the body converts it into the other vitamin that’s all so what’s the difference between these two it’s just how the body convers conver hurts it it’s it’s just um it’s in the inside the body so it doesn’t really matter we take the form
That a body can absorb body makes the form that the body can absorb so if you’re taking from out if you’re taking um from diet M it needs to be converted into the vitamin D that needs to be absorbed by the body but the one that we
Take from um over the counter or Outsource that is just absorbable that that doesn’t need any changing all right okay yeah so in terms of vitamin D itself I know you said um vitamin D tablets need to be taken in so do we is there vitamin injections for vitamin D
As well yes they are injections um that optimize body mind and health gift yeah they are injections as well so what’s the difference between injections and and tablets itself it’s a highd dose injection it’s like um it’s giving you a loading so you loaded with the vitamin D
Because you’re deficient and then you have to maintain it by taking it um let’s say again after 6 to 10 weeks you start taking one tablet every day oh so one tablet after six six so once you’ve had the injection depends again how uh what injection you’re having but
Normally that’s a loading dose so that’s we’ve given we’ve loaded the body with it but like I said we don’t we can’t store it so the body is not going to store it somewhere it’s just going to get used so to maintain the storage or to maintain the uh correct level in your
Body yes so you need to take one tablet every day or sometimes people take um like bigger dose like 5,000 units after once a week so it depends how how people want to take it but again you should talk to your GP or to a clinician
Before you decide how you want to take it if you’re not too sure okay yeah cuz sometimes we we just literally take it and then you forget about it exactly cuz uh even with the tablets every single day it’s a it’s a pain that you have to
Yeah I know people forget people think that just they’ve had a loading dose now they’re going to be fine for the rest of their life no that’s not it that’s what I thought the B12 as well B12 yes I have the body has to use it he’s going to
Finish again isn’t it so so how often do we need to take these injections so like I said the B12 I you need to have a blood test to know if you need to take it or not vitamin D I think everyone should take it um one tablet a day
Thousand units or like I said you can talk to your clinician or a pharmacist they can tell you how to take it um or you can come to optimize body and mind I can tell you how to take it but yes so that’s um I I mean it’s
It’s I can’t give just a generic advice everybody is different M but in order to do that go and have a word with your GP yeah or come for a private consultation um so by the way how much injection cost over there uh I’m really not sure about the prices because I
Don’t deal with the prices but uh but there’s a discount available for everyone isn’t it it depends come on if you use P’s name yes you can have a discount you will use ins spire’s name yeah Inspire name exactly come and say you have heard about uh uh
The injections injections at Inspire FM uh and you will get before we do any injections we do blood test so yes that is a requirement good yeah because sometimes we do not know how much deficient we are and to be honest when I got my blood has done I was completely
Surprised the amount of deficiencies so uh so with the vitamin D deficiency what does a vitamin D deficiency do if if a person have vitamin D deficiency what does it so um like I said in the beginning you can have muscle pain aches uh fatigue tiredness joint aches and pains um your
Bones can feel Brit till you can end up having fractures um there’s another thing people are not aware of is that young children who have uh recurrent chest infections or who have athema get recurrent astha uh attacks um it normally happens if they have vitamin D
Deficiency so you need to this is why vitamin D is very important in children so that you can prevent them from getting uh so unwell so if your child is getting these infections you should talk to your GP again and get a blood test done indeed and on that note um let’s
Take a quick short break so when we come back from the break we will we will talk bit more about the vitamin deficiency and we will say we will ask the safety ways of taking injections and definitely uh how much it costs and and definitely what does other uh what are the other
Severe symptoms of vitamin deficiency stay tuned with us and we will be back after these very short messages asalam alaikum and good evening to all listeners and viewers welcome back to the health and fitness show I’m fad ban your host for today’s evening and we are talking about vitamin deficiencies yes
You have heard me correctly you we are talking about vitamin deficiencies with our very own doctor Dr uh sopia Sophia AA I completely forgot the name I was about to say something else but um and and and uh this is a recording BR uh this is a recorded program and and uh we
Are recording it from the studios of inspire FM for our lovely people in Luton and all the surrounding areas of luten like denable harit and bford our positive AAS reaching to all our listeners and and who are listening us through Inspire FM radio app or website or viewers who are seeing us through
Inspire FM uh Facebook and YouTube links uh channels so good good evening and welcome back before we went on break uh we were talking about vitamin deficiency especially about vitamin D deficiencies and how much problems it can cause us like Dr s vitamin D deficiency cause different things like pain
Um pain pain something like this or in in slugish so you can always uh definitely uh consult with your GP okay or private consultation so you can go to yes optimize Body Mind exactly and it clearly states that this show is been um sponsored by optimized body and mind thank you so much
Sophia so um and to be honest instead of me welcoming you I just literally go on to the questions directly so uh Sophia in terms of uh vitamin deficiencies injections that’s called loaded loading injections vitamin DEA vitamin DEA yes but there are other um Ivy drips so agal
Um they’re very um in because of the way you can just get an IV trip and your body is replenished with all the vitamins that you need um I before getting any injection I would always recommend mhm definitely and and uh and optimize of a complete blood test as
Well yes we complete consultation with a blood test and as you whatever you need mhm so how long a blood test normally takes to to get all the all the necessary information uh I think the blood test uh comes in 2 days mhm yeah so have a blood test first have a
Consultation on the blood test and and definitely wherever you are deficient please do come and say that yes I’m deficient of this please give me something inje for that so uh in terms of IV drips injections how much it cost you you said it cost it it varies isn’t
It it does vary yes um like I said I don’t know what the price is um because uh the other part does deal with um the costs but they can be a bit expensive yes um definitely definitely definitely uh in terms of um uh when when we talk about
Uh the the regular injections as well so um is it is it a different injection for kids as well as adults in terms of we we do not inject kids no right okay um so the injections are just for adults adults yeah not for kids in terms of
Vitamin deficiencies I know uh vitamin deficiencies varies between adults and kids as well and sometimes kids also have vitamin deficiencies and they have their own problems as well so um what kind of a problems because sometimes kids normally come and say oh I’m having pain or they they end up waking up in
The middle of a night you have kids I have kids they’re waking up end up in the middle of night saying oh my my legs are hurting my my my sections are hurting uh my hands are hurtings is it because of vitamin deficiency or it could be
Something else as well it can be because of vitamin deficiency like vitamin D iron deficiency folic acid deficiency B12 deficiency but it can also be something else so if if a child is waking up at night saying their legs are hurting or their head is hurting or um that’s not normal children don’t
Normally normally wake up saying my body is hurting if once they’ve gone to bed they don’t wake up so I would take that seriously and um discuss it with the GP so that the weight height uh can be measured also we can do a blood test to
Um see if there’s any deficiency okay now being a GP now I’m I’m bringing you back to the GP land um if a patient comes to you uh with these things will you prescribe them vitamin just like that no why not because I would like to make
Sure there’s nothing else going on I don’t want to mask the problem it’s better for me to find out what the actual problem is is okay so um in terms of uh once it’s been proven that yes person is vitamin deficient in certain ways but it can it’s not major major
It’s minor negligible what advice is you will give so over the counter you can get folic acid you can get uh B12 you can get um vitamin D so just I would advise them to get it over the counter if it’s a child then yes we can
Prescribe but if it’s an adult they can um they can just buy it over the counter mhm so in terms of child what kind of prescriptions normally go for depends if it’s iron deficiency or if it’s vitamin D deficiency or folic acid deficiency okay so what’s the difference what are
The symptoms for either all of them um again all the symptoms kind of you can say they get they get all mixed up so I wouldn’t be able to say that oh this is only B12 deficiency but yes like I said in the beginning adults normally have hot feet and they say that
Um that’s that is most likely to be a B12 deficiency but the rest of them are so mixed up um you can’t actually say can I will do this blood test or I will know this is I mean that just this is just folic acid you can’t it’s hard to
Do it that way this is why we do the whole um check which includes iron B12 and folic acid MH um so I know um folic acids and iron deficiencies are normally quite common in pregnant women’s yes can be so what is the main reason for that is
It because uh their diet or no because I think it’s because the body is trying to um give all the nourishment they have to the child they growing inside them though because of that the child is taking all the nourishment but the mom is left with less so if she’s not giving
Her body that uh extra um um uh nutrition then that can cause her to be deficient so the child will be fine unless it’s really like a a folic acid is really really low then that can be a problem or iron is really low that can be a problem because eventually on once
The baby has taken everything from Mom and Mom has nothing left to give to the child then they will start having defects because they need that nourishment to grow um so that’s why most pregnant women are deficient of these things um the it’s a very basic advice that anybody who’s trying to get
Pregnant from the time they’re trying to get pregnant they should be taking folic acid and it’s just a normal dose 400 micrograms they can get over the counter one tablet every day and same for vitamin D uh they should be taking a, units once a day from the time they’ve
Decided Ed that they going to get pregnant so it’s preconception and you can stop the folic acid after the first trimester but the vitamin D needs to be continue till the end of the pregnancy and probably when the breastfeed and everything mhm okay so in terms of those
Uh females do they get injections of no we do not inject uh pregnant people pregnant woman no pregnant woman yes we do not inject them uhhuh so now we mentioned about vitamin D def deficiency and we mentioned about vitamin B12 deficiencies now what are the symptoms for severe
Deficiencies for these people do they have like a very harsh symptoms or sometimes they mask with something like big diseases as well so um for example people who drink alcohol and when they drink too much alcohol the body stops absorbing the vitamins so this is why
They need to be put in a high dose of vitamin B’s um so same thing can happen What will what can happen is you can notice that you’re you’re not walking properly your legs are not functioning properly um there’s so much weakness in the legs like I said um your memory is
Going um you feel like you can’t remember things brain fog uh some people even have brain damage you don’t drink alcohol do you f so um this these are things that can happen because because of these deficiencies yes uh they’re severe severe cases then they need to be on
High dose you know U sometimes even be monitored in the hospital so it’s it hardly happens to people who don’t drink so but it can happen to malnutrition people in third world countries where people are not fed properly who don’t have Fe proper food um people who are
Starving yes it can happen those people and and all these symptoms are are varies on different people now these symptoms which Dr Sophia just explaining is a general case and it as I said uh as Dr saf said that they are specifically for people who are heavy drinkers or
Heavy drinkers or really malnourished or really malnourished however uh people who might be facing like manik I’m I’m I have I sometimes have been frog uh and sometimes I feel like oh I lost the track of time or oh I’m losing my my mind and and half by say perform these
Things may not be related directly to it please go and see your GP if you have any concerns regarding anything yes please yes we have a GP on so if you guys have any questions or queries U you can send your questions and queries into our Facebook Chat comments or YouTube
Comments as well we will come back Dr Sophia can answer it as well yeah I can answer on Facebook yes yes um now in in terms of uh you mentioned about absorption of vitamins in our body how can we make sure the vitamins and minerals and irons being absorbed in a
Body firstly how can we take them naturally what are the best things to do and how can we make sure that those things are absorbed in our body so um I mean how to take them is the best way is of course a balanced diet so you should
Always have some fruit some wheat uh milk dairy products um uh you know uh what else um green vegetables they have lots of good vitamins in them um again for vitamin D some you can’t take enough so and calcium you can’t take enough because you wouldn’t be able to eat that
Much dairy in a day so that’s why I would advise you to take it as a supplement but the rest of them you can take them if you’re eating uh meat fish um wheat um you know uh broccoli Brussels all all the good leafy spinach um oily fish um so all these
Things do have um the right vitamins in them uh how to absorb them would be by just eating the appropriate amount I guess uh like I said before if you take too much it’s just going to come out in your Wii or it can sometimes cause
Damage um if you take too much of it in a maybe in a supplement form but in a food form it is normally only that amount will be absorbed that amount is required the rest will just be weeded out mhm so when you said taking too much or uh taking extra
Amount of of uh supplements what do you mean by extra amount so how how do we know that we are taking the right amount and not too much and what are the what are the side effects of those extra um I mean follow this follow the instructions
That are on the on the box that you take they will always have the right instruction um for example vitamin A do not eat too much liver because that’s not good for you vitamin A is very rich in um liver um so if you eat too much
Liver every day you eating liver because I want lots of vitamin A that can cause you hyper vitaminosis and that can cause damage to your eyes to your brain and to your kidneys and your heart so you don’t want that because it’ll go and start accumulating around the organs and um uh
Will alter the function so that’s why that’s what I mean by not taking too much um vitamin D again if you take too much can cause you to have um either high calcium or low calcium which again will cause a problem because your bones can become brittle so we don’t want that
To happen either so you need to take the required amount um this is why a blood test is important to make sure otherwise just take thousand units every day that wouldn’t be too much for your body um again folic acid also there’s no point taking too much because it’s going
To come out in your Wii uh I don’t know about any harmful effects of taking too much folic acid so I won’t be able to advise on that um vitamin C is an antioxidant it it’s okay to take that but again not you can take Vitamin C so
Much easily by just eating fruit oranges you know so you don’t have to actually um take supplements on that um what else uh I think uh I think we’ve covered all the vitamins what about uh calcium and potassium and magnesium you don’t need to worry about those those are very specialist vitamins
That probably uh only uh people who are really do not eat properly like you know elderly people who are not eating because of uh low appetite or because they can’t swallow properly or they are they need to have be on specific diets to get that potassium magnesium and
Phosphorus in the body you don’t need to worry about that so people on like when you mentioned about diets and there are people who want to lose weight they normally go on a crash diet they end up taking X Y and Z things and they go on fasting
Means they literally do not eat anything or they they give up Cs and so forth do that affect the balance of these things in the body course yes that that’s it’s starv starving yourself will cause you to use all the vitamins that you have in your body that will then make you
Deficient and then you won’t have that and your body will stop functioning properly and you start feeling tired fatigued not able to do what you want to do properly so that crash TI is never good for your um Health mhm it’s it’s not recommended obviously not everybody is blessed like my sisters
Healthwise somebody are like me I do work out and I do eat healthy so yes it’s not all natural in terms of healthy diet and now um people do sometimes think that they’re taking healthy diets but but they they cannot uh they’re thinking that they are having three times a meal
Having nice balanced diet but they’re still body doesn’t absorb the the the things so is it because they’re not taking it the right amount or do they have some serious health conditions they may have some serious health condition so they may need to again like I said speak to the
GP about it but um normally if you having the uh proper food I I mean I think I think I shared this last maybe last year two years ago the the food plate from the NHS website that shows what should be on your plate so that you
Have everything um so if you are eating that good all the good stuff but you are still feeling like I said tired fatigued uh you think you have some vitamin deficiency or you feel like you’re you know some some issue then blood test and seeing your GP is the I would recommend
The first thing yeah rather than putting more vitamins in your body I don’t think that would actually U help anybody help anybody no it just mask things basically mhm so when we talk about people like who have diabetes or respiratory conditions or autumun diseases and so forth so having
These injections will will they help them or by taking these supplements help them or sometimes become a counteractive so for B12 if you have autoimmune problem you can only take injections because like I said the body can’t absorb it so there’s no point taking tablets um I mean the rest it may help
Giving you back what you don’t have but then how you going to maintain it that’s important so yes you how many injections are you going to have for the same vitamin problem when you can actually take it um by yourself um this all depends I guess uh on one person to
Other person how how they manage their symptoms now in terms of diti do they able to help you regulate the vitamins or what sort of vitamin requirements your body yes for people who actually need them yeah unwell people like I said elderly people who not eating properly malnourished people um sometimes people
Uh now that we have we have lots of people from you know refugees Asylum Seekers they don’t get proper diet these people they do need diation referrals yes so uh do optimize off diation uh referral as well I don’t don’t think we offer Dici referrals no but as a GP you
Normally offer we will if you need it yes okay so is it a self referral or you guys normally refer so you have like I said you come to us we do a blood test we make we find out what is the cause and then if we need to yes we will and
And in terms of um the as I mentioned earlier about how can we find about that we have the right amount of calcium and potassium in our magnesium in our body uh we can get a private blood test yes yes you can and and you said that the so
What’s the difference between the finger prick test which you said people can have it that one or they can come to optimize and get a full blood test so I’m not 100% sure but I think the finger pick test also checks for almost everything I’m not 100% sure the blood
Test that we do in the uh optimize is proper like a proper blood test you have at the GP surgery but with everything in it so we check for calcium uh zinc magnesium all these things um and uh then of course we treat it um we also do
Test for uh if you have irritable bowel syndrome or any allergies we do have those tests as well um which checks what kind of food or what kind of products you may be allergic to that may be causing you to have those symptoms so that’s also one good test that we offer
There okay and and and and and there is there a different treatment for that so again if you treatment would be that you would know that what are you allergic to or in too so then you can avoid those things so it’s not like we have to start
Coming and drop one thing for a week and then that deci no no it’s not like that just we it’s a full check of the body weights tells you that you are allergic to this this or intolerant this this and this may be and your gut cannot absorb
This properly or um you know it’s uh causing the issue of your IBS so then when you start avoiding it you will start seeing difference and that would make you feel healthier and happier I guess goinging back to to the skin problems now people do have eczemas
People do have uh sensitive skins uh pigmented skins and so forth so what is it just be just vitamin D is the only solution for it or is it different things so um we do at optimize we inject something called as uh vitamin C and A glutathione drip it’s for uh
Pigmentation and brightening of the skin um that’s one one of the drips that is offered but again I wouldn’t do that without having a proper consultation and a blood test bus so for any uh basically for any uh vitamin intake the best thing to do is to go and get the proper blood
Test consultation blood test yes proper consultation and a blood test from a GP privately from uh optimize and then make necessary plan with the help of a consultant uh consultation with the GP yes so it will be just won’t be one off I’m going to give you one treatment and
That’s all bye-bye that’s not how it works we have to have specific um treatments there’s plan and follow up and make sure that you know it’s working for you MH indeed indeed and on that note I must say wow the time has passed really quickly we just have few minutes
In our hand so I will ask Dr Sophia to uh give a quick uh recap and and and a positive message for us okay uh I mean be healthy look after yourself um always get advice before you try to um you know try something new for your body for example don’t take too
Much uh don’t try to uh take too many vitamin just because you think it’s going to help you um first talk to somebody about it um what else I can advise um I always advise work out exercise eat healthy be happy um you know you will get there and and and
Definitely when we are we are when we are working towards our our own goals and our own help it it helps and if we do a proper workout it helps us to to absorb all those uh nutritions in our body and and and definitely it helps a
Lot okay yeah it helps your mental health as well yes exactly exactly well um thank you so much and Dr sopia for and thank you so much for sharing such a lovely knowledge and expertise with us these things sometimes it’s really hard and not easy to remember and as as we
Are approaching towards Ramadan what do you reckon what’s the best course of advice you will give to the people uh especially people who are bit kind of a health conscious I know you love health healthy diet I would say avoid fried food please so that means we we are we are
Coming to ifar at your place yeah so what’s your advice on that so um again for Ramadan it’s um it’s it’s a Time To Worship Allah and you know it’s also about your own uh inner self how you going to it’s kind of a detox you
Can say so I would say eat um have a good healthy breakfast and have a good healthy ifar avoid fried food avoid too many takeovers you know oily food um try to have simple meals uh healthier meals fruits um you know stuff like that um but uh don’t overeat of course that’s
Another and always remember us in your dasas yes always remember in dasas exactly on that note I must say thank you so much uh sopia for coming in today thank you for having me and thank you so much for all our listeners and viewers who have seen us today uh we will be
Back again uh next week with another broadcast and definitely we will be then starting Ramadan broadcasts as well so stay tuned with us keep us remembering us in your duas until next time I’m your host saying asalam
