Your gut health depends on more than just what you eat—it also needs the right vitamins and nutrients to function at its best. In this video, Dr. Sameer Islam breaks down the essential vitamins and supplements that support digestion, boost your immune system, and keep your microbiome balanced.
Learn how to fuel your gut with the right nutrients for long-term health and wellness!
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Who Am I: I’m Sameer Islam – your poop guru! I am functional gastroenterologist and I provide options of lifestyle and diet treatment coupled with medical treatment. I make videos about medicine, gastroenterology, and life in general. I write a weekly email newsletter that contains some quick thoughts + links to interesting things (https://bit.ly/2MtOXhN).
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Timestamps ⏱
Medical Advice Disclaimer: This video and description are for informational purposes only and do not provide medical advice. Viewing or using this content does not create a physician-patient relationship. Sharing personal or medical information with the author does not establish such a relationship. This content is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a licensed physician or qualified healthcare provider for any health-related concerns.
Did you know that your gut plays a huge role in your overall health? From immunity to how you feel to how your bowel movements are? Well, in today’s video, I’m going to break down the best vitamins that you can take and incorporate to optimize your gut so you can feel good, you can look good, so you can be good overall to support a happy and healthy gut. And stick around to the very end where I will share how you can get these vitamins naturally. Guys, let’s talk about these. Howdy. I’m Dr. Islam. I’m a boardcertified gastropologist trained at the Mayo Clinic. Over 10 years of treating thousands of patients with GI issues. We love to be a partner in your journey for gut health. Visit leaggastro.com for more information. So before we get into the list, I want to discuss exactly why it’s important that you get the vitamins that you need to optimize your gut health. So your gut microbiome is literally the central source for a lot of things going on inside your body. It’s the root for immunity, for gut health, obviously, for mental health, for anxiety, but also for skin issues, for joint issues. We’re seeing that the gut microbiome pretty much has has a central role in everything and affects everything in your body from the inside all the way out to the outside as well. And commonly for a lot of my patients who are not feeling good, who have joint issues, who have GI issues, it may not be that they’re that they’re absorbing the vitamins and minerals in the best way possible. If your gut is not working, if your gut lining is impaired, if you don’t have the correct way to absorb, you’re not going to get the vitamins that you need to optimize your gut health. Because without those vitamins, you’re not going to give your body a chance to defeat all the inflammation that’s going on. And I’ll tell you, for a lot of my patients, once we can get their gut optimized and they can optimize their vitamin absorption, they feel so much better and their life is literally changed from the inside out. When it’s not working correctly, you know how you feel. The bloating, the change in bowel habits, the just feeling brain fog, just being tired all the time. If you’re feeling this, this means that you’re probably not absorbing the vitamins that you need to absorb in a natural standpoint. So, let’s go over the top vitamins I want you to incorporate to make sure we can optimize your gut. Now, one thing you can always do is always have your doctor check these vitamins on a routine basis. For my patients who are having GI issues, I will add this to a basic lab panel to make sure we can optimize their gut absorption. I can see exactly what is going on because when that’s out of whack, this will allow me to at least determine what we need to do to hopefully optimize that to make sure their gut is working correctly. Let’s start with the first one, vitamin D. Vitamin D is probably one of the most important vitamins you can have in your diet. Studies have shown that those individuals that have bloating, distension, diarrhea or constipation, irrital bowel syndrome, Crohn’s and colitis are actually deficient in vitamin D. Actually, we’ve seen a role of playing a vitamin D deficiency also playing a role in energy but also depression as well. So for all my patients who are having GI issues or if they’ve been diagnosed with IBS, I recommend checking a vitamin D level so we can see where it’s at because more and more studies have shown that vitamin D levels are actually low in those individuals. And by correcting that actually get the gut barrier back on track to remove the inflammation that’s going on and allow your GI tract to fight off the toxins that are incorporating and attacking your gut lining. So there are a couple different ways you can get vitamin D. The best way, the easiest way is do it from sunlight. Here’s what I recommend when it comes to sunlight. The best way to get sunlight is first thing in the morning because not only will you get your vitamin D, but also wakes you up. There’s a natural response that your body has when it sees morning sunlight because it actually wakes up your body to help out with tracadium rhythm, which in turn will help out with sleep. So, if you can get up in the morning, just be outside for a little bit, get that vitamin D naturally, you know, obviously wear your sunscreen. Don’t just stare at the sun. It’s kind of weird, but if you can do that on that component, this is a great habit to incorporate to get you the vitamin D levels. And now, obviously, if you can’t do that, you may need a vitamin D supplementation, but it’s one of the most important vitamins I have seen to be deficient in a lot of my IBS patients. Next, we have vitamin C. Now, you may have heard of vitamin C. It plays an important role when it comes to skin, collagen, but also immunity as well. You know the old saying, you know, have vitamin C whenever you’re sick. Well, there actually is some truth to that. The sicker that you are, the more vitamin C you may need. But also, for those individuals, they have immunity problems. So, they’re sick all the time, they have their colds all the time, their vitamin C levels actually may be deficient as well. So, I have a daily vitamin C every single day. And I’ve noticed when I don’t incorporate that, I feel worse. But also, interesting enough, my skin is not as shiny and bright as it normally is. Not only is vitamin C important for your immune system, it’s also important for your gut lining as well. It help reduce inflammation, but also repair the the barrier that may be destroyed from the irritation going on from the toxins you’re ingesting or the intoxins from the environment. Keep in mind that the barrier lining is really the root cause of why a lot of my patients have gut issues. they have bloating, dissension, they feel bad, it’s because that lining is impaired. And the more impairing that you have, the more titans get lost. The more endotoxins go into your bloodstream, go into your gut and cause irritation to occur. And vitamin C is a very effective way to give your gut the reinforcement it needs to help patch up those linings to get you feeling better. Plus, also, if you’re iron deficient, vitamin C can actually help out with iron absorption. So for my patients who have Crohn’s disease, ulcer clots, or even celiac disease, they commonly are iron deficient. So I recommend for them to take vitamin C on top of their iron to help out with the absorption of that iron. So natural ways you can do vitamin C. Obviously, you have oranges, bell peppers, and strawberries are great ways to incorporate vitamin C. Now, let’s talk about the B vitamins. B is in boy, B, vitamin B6, and B12. Now, these vitamins are essential for breaking down food to get you the energy that you need. And so if you are tired, you may be vitamin B12 deficient. And this is why vitamin B12 shots are so effective when it comes to energy and giving you more, you know, just, you know, feeling good. In addition, vitamin B is also important for improving your metabolism, but also maintaining the healthy gut lining. You’ll see a common theme here where all these vitamins actually play a big role when it comes to the lining of your gut. Now, it’s very important, particularly if you’re on a vegetarian diet or you’re vegan. Most of my patients who are on this diet are vitamin B deficient and so make sure that you can check these out because vitamin B commonly is found in animal protein. And if you are deficient, obviously animal protein can help out or get a vitamin shot as well. Now for a lot of my patients who have Crohn’s disease, especially Crohn’s disease in the terminal illium, the very end part of the small intestine, they actually may be vitamin B12 deficient as well. So, make sure that gets checked so we can keep an optimized level to get you feeling good, but also to make sure you’re absorbing the vitamin B’s that are necessary for your gut health. All right, I could not leave this out without talking about this. It’s not a vitamin, but probiotics, yes, probiotics are a fantastic way to give you the bacteria that you need to help out when it comes to your GI tract. Now, probiotics are not the end all beall. It’s not going to be a miracle cure for anyone, but it can help out. And sometimes we need all the help that we can get. The best probiotics I recommend are natural ones you can do. Whether it’s live culture bacteria, fermented foods like kimchi, miso, fibrous foods, or plant-based foods. These give you the natural probiotics. But not only that, it gives you the natural vitamins, minerals, and prebiotics. All in a nice combination that you can eat to give you the best chance for absorption. So, don’t forget that. They’re essential for a healthy gut microbiome, and they’re essential for anyone who’s hoping to improve their digestion. And guys, let’s not forget fiber. Even though technically it’s not a vitamin, without the adequate fiber component, it doesn’t matter how many vitamins you’re going to take, you won’t be able to optimize the absorption as effectively without fiber. Fiber is the foundation which everything is built upon. And so without that foundation, everything you try to intake is just not going to work. It’s going to crumble down. And so out of everything you can do, make sure you have the adequate fiber component and the adequate fiber content to allow you to absorb naturally. You need to aim for at least 25 grams of fiber per day at least. And I would recommend doing this slowly over the course of time, especially if you’re not used to having a lot of fiber because you may get a lot of bloating from that. But once you can have that fiber component, this will give your body the capabilities to fight off the infection, fight off the irritation, but also allow you to absorb the vitamins naturally, but also most effectively. Then there’s vitamin E, an antioxidant that also protects your gut lining, but also decreases inflammation as well. Vitamin E is necessary to give you the anti-inflammatory process to destroy the inflammation that’s going on inside your GI tract. So, how do we get these vitamins? So you can certainly use supplements and sometimes I do this myself. I h I actually take a daily vitamin D. I also take a daily vitamin C as well. But also there are natural ways which you can incorporate these vitamins. So you don’t have to take a supplement. So you don’t need to and it’s perfectly fine if you don’t. So for example, vitamin D. You can get this from salmon, egg yolks, fortified foods. Obviously going out in the sun. These are great ways to incorporate vitamin D. Vitamin C. Citrus based foods. Kiwi, broccoli. These are packed full of vitamin C, B vitamins, whole grains, meat, egg, and leafy greens. Vitamin E. These are in nuts, seeds, and spinach. Now, I would recommend using your body’s natural mechanisms to incorporate these vitamins. This means eating the foods that have these particular vitamins. Cuz not only are you going to get the vitamins, you’re going to get the other benefits of eating these foods. Whether it’s more fiber, prebiotics that are natural, probiotics that are natural, symbiotics that are natural as well, also the vitamins that you need as well. And so, literally having food will give you everything you need. Not only the vitamins, but all the other components that you need to maintain a healthy gut microbiome. So, there you have it. These are the vitamins that I recommend as a Mayo Clinic trained GI doctor to make sure you have the optimal health, but also to make sure that we can get you the vitamins that you need to do the job you needed to do to have the best lining, to have the best gut, but also to fight off all the bacteria that’s going on that are destroying your GI tract from the inside out. Now, if you’ve tried any of these supplements or vitamins, or if you have recommendations how to incorporate this, I would love to hear what you guys have to say. I really read every single comment that comes to me and I use those comments to allow me to determine which approach I can use to allow me to help out with my patients and for you guys as well. Well, thank you for watching. If you want to learn more information about what you can do to help with your gut health naturally, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel, subscribe to my newsletter, and visit labagastro.com for more information how we can help you and be a partner in your journey for optimizing your gut health.
