Fundamental Supplements For Travelling
Do you want to get the most out of your holidays without feeling the adverse health effects of jet lag or catching a bug or food poisoning? This article dives into the most essential supplements to take with you on your travels, which covers all bases.
Around 5-50% of people will experience traveler diarrhea, which varies depending on the destination. Traveler's diarrhea can result in significant disruption to your trip. As many as 40% must modify their activities in some way, i.e., ensuring they have toilet paper, a toilet close by, or just feeling uncomfortable exploring. Approximately 20% of persons are bed-bound for one or two days, and hospitalization is required for 1%, although mortality is rare.
Although symptoms are brief, a few days in the majority of cases, between 8% and 15% of affected travelers are symptomatic for longer than a week, and 2% develop chronic diarrhea that lasts for one month or more; such long-lived diseases are mainly associated with protozoan causes of infection which require clinical treatment. With this article, our goal is to educate you on how to prevent this from happening, and the supplements you take on board with you for your adventure to protect you from day one and ensure your body bounces back as quickly as possible.
Where to start?
We need to remember that traveling should be a peaceful and tranquil time where we remove our worries from our typical day-to-day lives. If the idea of taking supplements adds stress to your vacation, then do not dwell - this article is not for you.
The intention of utilizing the best and most appropriate supplements for traveling is to ensure your holiday is beneficial and maximized, where you do not succumb to staying in bed with travelers’ diarrhea or severe jetlag.
Activated Charcoal - The MVP for travel
Food poisoning is a considerable risk when traveling to developing countries or because you can not control food hygiene. Activated charcoal is an excellent safety or insurance policy to prevent any turmoil in the digestive tract. Activated charcoal has the potential to bind and absorb environmental toxins while preventing endotoxins such as lipopolysaccharide that can trigger our immune system, lead to metabolic disturbances and induce fever.
To prevent food poisoning and also to mitigate any alcohol consumption - activated charcoal is a great addition. You can opt for a powder or capsules. You likely do not need many, but say 5-10 pills for a week's holiday and use more as needed. It can support digestive discomforts such as gas and bloating and help excrete toxic waste products from metabolism or environmental toxins.
“Just two grams of activated charcoal powder has about the same surface area as a football field. The porous surface has a negative electric charge that attracts positively charged unwanted toxins and gas.” 9
Other options include zeolite, bentonite clay, chitosan, spirulina, or chlorella. They all have similar mechanisms with binding gas and discomfort or even pathogenic bacteria by-products.
The best Magnesium for travel
Magnesium is one of the most essential minerals in energy production. Without it, there would be no ATP: the source of energy for use and storage at the cellular level. Magnesium makes ATP happen. “Chemical mechanism of ATP synthase. Magnesium plays a pivotal role in the formation of the transition state where ATP is synthesized from ADP and inorganic phosphate” 11
Taking magnesium while traveling will give you more energy, improve your mood, and calm your muscles and nervous system. Still, if you’re heading to a sunny location, it will help you make vitamin D.
“Previous in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that enzymes that synthesize and metabolize vitamin D are magnesium dependent. Recent observational studies found that magnesium intake significantly interacted with vitamin D in relation to vitamin D status and risk of mortality.” 10
Magnesium is needed to activate vitamin D, with low magnesium correlated to more deficient vitamin D. So the next time you’re downloading in the sun, ensure you have magnesium that is waiting to be kissed by the sun and create vitamin D.
Take home: “Our findings suggest that optimal magnesium status may be important for optimizing 25(OH)D status.”
My favorite magnesium when traveling is Natural Stacks. You can use my special discount code of 15% off “LIVEVITAE15” to purchase your own.
Probiotics: Protect your gut for travel
There are many probiotics on the market, but the probiotics we need to focus on for traveling should be specific and do not require storage requirements. You can opt for one or both of the recommendations below.
Spore based such as Just Thrive.
Saccharomyces boulardii is the most efficient probiotic to prevent and support travelers’ diarrhea.
You can take this daily as an insurance policy to ensure that the microbiome is adaptive and nourished while supporting mucin, our healthy biofilm, and our T regulatory cells.
Additionally, probiotics have been shown to support the detoxification of environmental toxins such as pesticides. It comes in handy when you need clarification on the quality of the food you consume at the hotel restaurant or out and about.
Saccharomyces boulardii is the most supported probiotic out there. I would either take them every day in the morning with food or when I have an upset stomach or food poisoning. Spore-based probiotics are ideal for storage.
“A 2018 meta-analysis of 12 randomized clinical trials with a total of 16 intervention arms (n = 3,736) showed a significant reduction in travellers’ diarrhea with S. boulardii prophylaxis (risk ratio: 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.72 to 0.87; p < 0.001)” 7
Key health tip:
If you want a food-based approach, choose fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, or kimchi.
Salt: Bring your own
Although technically not a supplement - electrolytes are essential, especially in a hot and sweaty environment. Ensuring you have enough quality salt that is not fluoridated or using extensive refinement that is technically stripped of its natural properties.
Salt is the most critical electrolyte. It allows us to stay fully hydrated and keep our water inside our bodies. Additionally, this can be handy when you have loose stools or an upset stomach.
Use it with meals or add to water first thing in the morning. PS salt (sodium chloride) allows you to download sunlight much better in the morning and conduct more electricity from grounding, hence why our sweat glands secrete salt.
Having salt on hand will be a vital aid if you have come down with travelers’ diarrhea, which can include dehydration; drinking more water does not mean it is hydrating; adding a small pinch of salt to your water provides a hydrating solution. 6
What type of salt? Anything natural and unrefined - this could be Celtic sea salt or any quality rock salt. There are even brands that now ensure their salt contains no microplastics, which is impressive.
I have recently tried my friend Sol Brah salt, which contains potassium to complement salt. It is a great salt to have alongside whilst traveling.
Extra Supplements to Help
Quality multivitamin-mineral:
I am not a massive fan of taking these, but if you’re concerned, you won’t get nutrients in due to subpar food standards. Explore a multivitamin and mineral with active forms, non-GMO, and third-party testing standard methods.
Curcumin:
To add gut health, antimicrobial effects, and its unique anti-inflammatory effects. You do not necessarily need to take a supplement. You can likely source this from food directly with turmeric. Curcumin has been shown to reduce oxidative stress, be a helpful aid when dealing with an injury, and support skin with potential inflammation from excess sun. Additionally, it supports gut health in food poisoning/travelers’ diarrhea caused by E. coli. 3
Ginger:
It is another excellent digestive aid that supports motility and has antimicrobial effects. You can explore this with local food - most places have ginger - so you likely do not need this as a supplement in extracted form. Just consume the real thing. Ginger can support motion sickness and nausea, a common problem when traveling over land or on the sea. It has supporting effects on the gut, which can reduce digestive discomfort symptoms. 2
Oregano oil:
Oregano oil is a potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent with antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal effects. It is a great all-rounder and safety insurance if you come down with nasty food poisoning. It should not replace the need for an antibiotic if needed or instructed by a doctor or medical treatment.
However, if none are available, start with oregano oil until you can seek medical advice. 4
Iodine drops:
Iodine has a strong disinfecting effect, especially if you are traveling in remote places with unknown water supplies. Be mindful that too much iodine can cause problems. Iodine also has antimicrobial effects and significant wound-healing properties when applied topically. 1
Organ supplements:
If you know your food choices might be limited, opting for organ supplements can bridge the gap to ensure you're getting a hefty dose of nutrients and opting for an organ supplement instead of a multivitamin if you want a more authentic food approach.
For North Americans, one of my favorite organ supplements is = LINKFor the UK and Europeans, one of my favorite organ brands LINK (they have brains, liver, and a whole variety of others)
Methylene Blue:
A broad supplement to be used as an emergency with its energy producing but also antimicrobial effects depending on the dose used. Additionally, methylene blue has been used to support malaria infections. 5
I have written more extensively about methylene blue HERE if you want to read more and know my favorite methylene blue product with a discount code.
You can bring all your usual routine supplements if needed. This list only serves as a guide to ensure you enjoy your holidays with the applied specifics of traveling. Taking a break from your usual supplement routine can be a good break for your mind and body - don’t forget that.
Wrapping things up
Preventing the risks of travelers’ diarrhea is fundamental to avoiding the need for some items listed above. This includes washing hands regularly, ensuring where you buy or eat out uses good hygiene standards, avoiding raw eggs, uncooked vegetables, salads, unpeeled fresh fruit, unpasteurized milk, and undercooked food (meat and shellfish). Other offenders include ice and tap water, all poising potential risks of travelers’ diarrhea.
Those using proton pump inhibitor medication as an antacid can have higher risks of travelers’ diarrhea, “the use of omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor, was associated with a 10-fold-increased risk of infection due to Campylobacter”. 8 Ensuring you’re eating in a calm and relaxing environment while chewing your food is also critical.
At the same time, we want to ensure our health operates on full cylinders, which is why magnesium is listed and the rest as back, for instance, in case of any adverse food reactions or travelers’ diarrhea. There is no concern about taking a probiotic on your travels to support your gut health.
Relaxing, sleeping well, eating local food, and spending time in the sun, sand, and sea may be all you need. I do not see any harm in adding caution by bringing the bare minimum with magnesium, probiotics, and a binder.
If you have any experiences, questions, feedback, please share them with me below.
REFERENCES:
Backer, H. and Hollowell, J. (2000) ‘Use of iodine for water disinfection: Iodine toxicity and maximum recommended dose.’, Environmental Health Perspectives, 108(8), pp. 679–684.
Nunes, C.P. et al. (2020) ‘Clinical evaluation of the use of ginger extract in the preventive management of motion sickness’, Current Therapeutic Research, 92, p. 100591.
Suhett, L.G. et al. (2020) ‘Effects of curcumin supplementation on Sport and physical exercise: A systematic review’, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 61(6), pp. 946–958.
Leyva-López, N. et al. (2017) ‘Essential oils of oregano: Biological activity beyond their antimicrobial properties’, Molecules, 22(6), p. 989.
Dormoi, J. et al. (2022) ‘Methylene blue-based combination therapy with amodiaquine prevents severe malaria in an experimental rodent model’, Pharmaceutics, 14(10), p. 2031.
Caeiro, P. and DuPont, H.L. (1998) ‘Management of travellers?? diarrhoea’, Drugs, 56(1), pp. 73–81.
McFarland, L.V. and Goh, S. (2019b) ‘Are probiotics and prebiotics effective in the prevention of travellers’ diarrhea: A systematic review and meta-analysis’, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 27, pp. 11–19.
McFarland, L.V. and Goh, S. (2019a) ‘Are probiotics and prebiotics effective in the prevention of travellers’ diarrhea: A systematic review and meta-analysis’, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 27, pp. 11–19.
Asprey, D. (2021) The strangest way to Detox, Dave Asprey. Available at: https://daveasprey.com/the-strangest-way-to-detox/
Dai, Q. et al. (2018) ‘Magnesium status and supplementation influence vitamin D status and metabolism: Results from a randomized trial’, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 108(6), pp. 1249
Ko, Y.H., Hong, S. and Pedersen, P.L. (1999) ‘Chemical mechanism of ATP synthase’, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 274(41), pp. 28853–28856.