You can’t even blink on Instagram these days without seeing a new supplement promising glowing skin, boundless energy, and a sharper mind. But do they really work? And more importantly, which ones are actually worth taking?
To cut through the noise, we sat down with Sarah Malki, a Functional Medicine Health Coach and Integrative Health Practitioner, to get her expert take. From the most common deficiencies to the biggest supplement myths, Sarah keeps it real about what actually moves the needle for your health.
Meet Sarah: A Functional Medicine Expert with a Passion for Real Wellness
Tell us a bit about yourself – who you are, what you do, and how you got into the world of functional medicine.
I’m Sarah, a Functional Medicine Health Coach and Integrative Health Practitioner. I’m also a mom of one 6 year old girl and I’m as passionate about health as I am about being a mother. On a deeper level, I’m a recovering perfectionist and on my journey I’ve struggled with food, finding balance and even loving myself. My worldview changed once I had my daughter. I learned that health and wellness is a lot more nuanced than what we see but at the same time also really simple.
My dream is to one day leave city life and live on an island, adventure in nature, eat food from my garden and bathe in the sun, sand and sea.
The Most Common Nutrient Deficiencies & Why They Matter
What are the most common nutrient deficiencies you see, and how do they impact overall health?
The most common nutrient deficiencies I see are the obvious, Vitamin D, Iron, B vitamins and Magnesium. This is a lot of why we see people feeling run down all the time and chronically fatigued. Another one that is most likely a deficiency as well as an imbalance is the Omega 3:6 ratio. I don’t feel like this one is highlighted enough because fatty acids are the basis of mitochondrial health and our mitochondria are the energy powerhouse of the body.
Supplements Almost Everyone Can Benefit From
Are there certain supplements that nearly everyone can benefit from, regardless of diet or lifestyle?
To simplify, yes, I would say my top 3 are Magnesium, Phosphatidylcholine and I personally love using herbs (as supplements or tea). Oh and of course I’m a huge fan of Black Cumin Seed Oil!
How to Tell If You Need Supplements (or Just Better Nutrition)
How do you determine if someone truly needs a supplement versus getting nutrients from food?
I would always look at bloodwork first and match that with symptoms. It is possible to determine what someone might need through just symptoms but I do feel like there’s always something to discover with bloodwork, or a missing piece of the puzzle.
If we’re just starting off, I’ll go on symptoms and then we confirm and add supplements accordingly after we look at the bloodwork. That being said, I would always focus on nutrients from food with supplements being an assist rather than a replacement for food.
The Biggest Misconceptions About Supplements
What are the biggest misconceptions about supplements?
That they are for everyone. Supplements, just like anything else are bio-individual. Another big misconception is that they are a cure all or a solution to someone’s health or even more popular today, will reverse aging. They are not a cure all. And I want to highlight this very important piece – nothing, and I literally mean nothing can move the needle more than adequate light exposure, nutrition, sleep, exercise and mental/emotional health (in no particular order). The human body is beautifully complex, it has so many moving parts. The easiest way for me to describe this is that our environment is information. The combination of information from light exposure, nutrition, exercise and sleep is what makes overall health. The information from a single supplement is not enough for your body to use as appropriately. At the end of the day, it is a synthetic form! A perfect example of this is zinc. If you were to eat zinc rich foods such as oysters, it has the perfect balance of zinc and copper so that it doesn’t deplete your copper stores. Whereas if you take a zinc supplement (as we were all encouraged to do during and after covid), I see many people’s copper stores being depleted. I am simplifying, of course, but I hope the message is clear.
The Most Overhyped Supplements
Are there any popular supplements you think are overhyped or unnecessary?
Hmm, I would say there isn’t enough conclusive research on a lot of the bio-hacking supplements. I usually wait it out until there’s more published studies. That being said, I am very intrigued by peptides and have been experimenting with them myself. I’m cautiously optimistic, but some may seem to be effective in reducing inflammation and promoting tissue repair which is great for issues like leaky gut. Again, A LOT more research is needed before we can conclusively say that something works and there are no side effects. However, I always say if you are generally in good health, you can experiment or try out some of these popular supplements, but I think most of us really aren’t getting the foundations right in the first place and that’s where I would start before looking at anything else.
Final Thoughts: Supplements vs. Lifestyle Changes
Can supplements ever replace lifestyle changes, or should they always be used in combination with diet, movement, and stress management?
At the end of the day, no supplement can outdo a nutrient-dense diet, movement, sleep, and stress management. Start with the foundations, and use supplements as a tool – not a shortcut.
For those looking to optimise their health, Sarah recommends comprehensive blood testing. Use the code TCC25 with Valeo for a discount on personalised panels. You can also connect with Sarah on Instagram: @sarahmalki.
