Revital
What Vitamins and Supplements Should I Take in my 30s?
A nutritious and balanced diet is the key to optimised health but a few well-chosen supplements can help you hone in on specific areas of your well-being. So, what exactly are the vitamins and supplements you should be taking in your 30s? After the growth spurts and hormonal turmoil of your teens and twenties, hormonal balance may still be out of reach - for men and women alike. This might be experienced as period pain or mood shifts, weight fluctuation or depleted energy. Fertility and starting a family may also be coming into mind. Some metabolic processes are reaching their peak - like collagen production. Now is the time to build and preserve your body’s inherent strength.
Table of contents
- How do I know I need a supplement?
- Nutritional focus for when you’re in your 30s
- Best vitamins and supplements to take in your 30s
- Summary
How do I know I need a supplement?
The dream is to eat a healthy balanced diet which is brimming with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, protein, fibre, healthy fats and more - all the nutrients that you need. But the reality is that you may be eating a diet that leaves you under-nourished. By your 30s, the eating patterns that you’re most familiar with, learned from childhood and early adulthood, are deeply ingrained. But consider that 6 out of 10 adults in the UK eat the same food every day. On top of that, the general intake of vegetables and fruit has slowly declined - down from 4.4 pieces to 4 in the average household, and from 3.5 down to 2.9 in lower income families. So, if your diet is unvaried or limited, you might be missing out on the nutrients you need. With time, this could have a significant impact on your health.
Nutritional focus for when you’re in your 30s
An appropriate response to stress
Stress and pressure – you can’t live without it but can you live with it? The goal isn’t to never experience any stress, rather it’s to be able to respond appropriately to the external and internal stressors you experience throughout your day. Interactions at work, with family and friends can all trigger emotions that activate your classic fight-and-flight stress response. If your body stays triggered, flooded with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, and never resets correctly, in the long-term this will take a toll.
Hormone balance
Hormonal shifts contribute to much of your health: your stress response, mood, weight and reproductive health are all governed by your hormones. If you’re prone to experiencing heightened states of anxiety, unexplained or prolonged fatigue, your mood is unpredictable, your weight swings like a pendulum or (ladies) your periods are irregular, then your hormone balance may be out of sync.
Head to toe health - muscle recovery, digestion, beauty and sleep
While you may not be burning the candle at both ends, work, social and life commitments can soon add up – leaving you a little slower to regain your energy after a long day, an intense work out or a night with a little less sleep. Optimising recovery and repair can help you ‘bounce back’. Also, in your mid-30s your collagen production starts to decline. Eventually the rate of breakdown outpaces the rate of synthesis which is why many people begin to take collagen in their later years. But it’s not just for skin. Did you know the strength and resilience of the tissues and cells in your hair, nails, teeth, bones, muscles, tendons, cartilage and intestines are affected by your levels of collagen?
Fertility
Although starting a family might not be on your radar, if it is something you would like to consider, there are key nutrients known to preserve and promote the health of both eggs and sperm.
Best vitamins and supplements to take in your 30s
The vitamins and supplements to take in your 30s will have focused effects on your health. These include magnesium, vitamin B6 and medicinal mushrooms for managing life’s pressure and hassle; agnus castus and ashwagandha for promoting better hormonal balance; collagen to improve muscle recovery and digestive health; coenzyme Q10 and omega-3 oils for fertility. Let’s take a look at them in a bit more detail.
Your focus: Vitamins and Supplements for stress
The go-to mineral for those with a heightened stress response, magnesium has a particularly calming effect on the mind and body. In fact, it’s so calming it’s been described as ‘nature’s Valium’. In addition, magnesium supplements can reduce muscle pain and tension, support energy levels, a healthy immune system and improve quality of sleep. Feeling rested and resilient will help you cope better with any hassle and pressure throughout your day.
- Vitamin B6
The B vitamins have a toning effect on the central nervous system, none more so than vitamin B6 which contributes to normal psychological function and normal functioning of the nervous system. It works as a catalyst in the pathway that converts the amino acid tryptophan to the brain chemical serotonin. Serotonin contributes to mood regulation. With an abundance you’ll feel sunny and bright, but with chronically low levels you’ll feel gloomy, worried and may have interrupted sleep. Another action of B6 is to regulate the amount of noradrenaline you make. Noradrenaline is similar to adrenaline, which you probably well know. When your levels of circulating noradrenaline increase you feel revved up and ready to take action - alert, laser-focused, dry-mouthed, heart racing, muscles tensed. So, vitamin B6 helps you produce more feel-good serotonin and prevents action-man noradrenaline from surging out of control.
Medicinal mushrooms for de-stressing may not be your first thought, but they deliver a big dose of therapeutic compounds which pack a punch. Reishi is well researched and has a long history of use in China. In a mouse model of anxiety, supplements of reishi (taken from the fruiting body and the spores) were as effective as diazepam in their anti-anxiolytic effect.[1]
Supplement suggestions:
Viridian Magnesium with B6; Nature’s Plus BioAdvanced Stress Support; Mushrooms4Life Reishi Spore; Kiki Health Multi-Mushroom Blend
Your focus: Vitamins and supplements for hormonal imbalance
- Agnus castus (Vitex or chasteberry)
A herb which has been traditionally used to promote better hormone balance, agnus castus is found in many of the formulations for premenstrual symptoms and menstrual irregularities. How does it work? Its stimulatory action on dopamine receptors results in a decrease in the production of prolactin and changes to progesterone levels too. Typically, as menstruation approaches prolactin is released and women experience tender, swollen breasts. So, in theory having less prolactin should result in less discomfort. Progesterone regulates cycle length, so there’s greater chance for irregularities to be normalised.
Testosterone levels naturally start to decline in your 30s. But the conversation about male hormone balance extends far beyond testosterone. Androgens, eostrogen, thyroid hormones and cortisol all play a part, which means men can feel fatigued, anxious, experience sudden weight loss or have difficulty gaining muscle or sleep poorly when their hormones go a little AWOL. The popular Ayurvedic herb, ashwagandha, is interesting. In a recent study on healthy 18-50 year old men who started resistance training, those taking a supplement had a significantly greater increase in muscle strength and testosterone levels, less post-exercise tissue damage, and a larger reduction in body fat. [2]
Supplement suggestions:
NHP Agnus castus premium support; A. Vogel Agnus castus; One Nutrition Ashwagandha
Your focus: improving post-exercise recovery, skin health or supporting digestive health
There are multiple collagen supplements on the market, from different sources - including cow, fish and egg and in different forms - such as powders and capsules. Hydrolysed collagens are preferable as it means the larger collagen fibres have been broken down into more absorbable peptides and amino acids. Powders give a larger dose of collagen per serving. Whether you’re supplementing collagen for beauty, or for muscle recovery or better digestive health it’s best taken with vitamin C. Without it, collagen isn’t formed properly and doesn’t achieve its impressive strength. When it comes to vitamin C you’re spoilt for choice. You could eat a pepper or kiwi, add a spoonful of camu-camu or acerola powder to your collagen shake, or take a supplement of vitamin C.
Supplement suggestions:
Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides; Planet Paleo Digestive Collagen; Birch & Wilde Marine Collagen; Coyne Health Liposomal Vitamin C
Your focus: Fertility Supplements
It takes 3 months for a single sperm or egg to develop to maturation. This is an energy-demanding process and one that can be impacted by oxidative stress. So, having a sufficient supply of cellular energy and antioxidants can help improve the quality (and quantity) of the sperm and eggs that develop. Coenzyme Q 10 is a potent antioxidant and a key ingredient of the energy production cycle, so it’s not surprising that it’s included in fertility formulations. Young women pre-treated with coenzyme Q10 before undergoing IVF showed an improved ovarian response and produced better quality eggs. [3] In men, sperm concentration and motility increased and they had more normal-shaped sperm after taking 200mg or 400mg of coenzyme Q10 a day for 6 months. [4]
The omega-3 oils, typically obtained from oily fish but also from algae, are well-known for their effects on cardiovascular health, joint health, brain, skin and mood but how do they factor into fertility? For starters all healthy cells contain a flexible double membrane – sperm and eggs included. Omega-3 oils contribute to this. These essential fats (never made by the body, always eaten) also increase nitric oxide production in your blood vessel walls. Nitric oxide dilates the vessels, increasing blood flow throughout the body, including to your pelvic organs. In a study in men, omega 3 supplements increased sperm cell count, concentration and improved morphology. [5]
Supplement suggestions:
Viridian Fertility for Men; Wild Nutrition Food Grown Fertility for Women; Bare Biology Life & Soul Omega-3 Capsules
Summary
In your 30s you’ll want to meet specific nutritional needs which let you focus in on your health. A varied, balanced diet with as many fresh vegetables and fruits you can find, is a great place to start. Don’t fall into the food rut of eating the same foods every day! Beyond that, supplements can play a role, particularly if your goals are coping with life’s hassle and pressure, encouraging a healthy hormone balance, enhancing your energy levels and physical resilience or supporting your fertility and reproductive health. As you can see from this article, some carefully selected vitamins and nutrients, like magnesium, ashwagandha, collagen and coenzyme Q10, could deliver the additional health benefits you seek.
References
[1] Nasir et al, 2018. Anxiolytic-like activity of ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi) in mice.
[2] Wankhede et al, 2015. Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomised controlled trial.
[3] Xu et al, 2018. Pretreatment with coenzyme Q10 improves ovarian response and embryo quality in low-prognosis young women with decreased ovarian reserve: a randomized controlled trial.
[4] Alahmar A, 2019. The impact of two doses of coenzyme Q10 on semen parameters and antioxidant status in men with idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia.
[5] Safarinejad M, 2011. Effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on semen profile and enzymatic anti-oxidant capacity of seminal plasma in infertile men with idiopathic oligoasthenoteratospermia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised study.
Nina Sabat Is is a BANT-registered nutritional therapist who encourages step-by-step changes to create healthier habits that last a lifetime for women who want to eat right, sleep tight and feel super again.