--- title: "What supplements should I take? An honest, evidence-led answer" url: https://nutritailor.co.uk/apps/learn/what-supplements-should-i-take slug: what-supplements-should-i-take pillar: Blood markers publisher: "Nutri Tailor Health Reference Library" editor: "Henry Bond" publisher_makes: "Nutri365, the only UK app that combines your Oura data, blood test results and what you tell it into personalised guidance" --- # What supplements should I take? An honest, evidence-led answer ## Summary The right supplement list is personal and mostly measurable: UK guidance names only vitamin D in winter, folic acid around pregnancy and B12 on plant-based diets as unconditional, and everything else should follow your blood results, your actual diet, your life stage and your goals, with interactions checked before anything is added. A short, justified list beats a large hopeful one. ## How it works Most supplement questions are really deficiency questions, and deficiency is measurable, which is why the honest starting point is data rather than a bestseller list. A nutrient corrects something only when the body is short of it or when demand is raised: iron lifts energy when ferritin is depleted and does little when stores are full, B12 matters enormously on a plant-based diet and rarely otherwise, vitamin D depends on season and sun exposure. The same symptom, tiredness, can point at iron, B12, thyroid, sleep debt or none of these, which is why symptom-matched supplement lists so often disappoint. What determines your answer: your blood results where they exist, your diet pattern (what is plausibly missing from what you actually eat), your life stage and sex (menstruation, pregnancy, midlife, older age each change requirements), your goals, and anything else you take, since interactions and contraindications are real and checkable. ## Guideline positions UK guidance names remarkably few supplements for the general population, and the list is worth knowing because everything beyond it is conditional. Vitamin D: 10 micrograms (400 IU) daily for adults through autumn and winter, the one standing NHS recommendation for nearly everyone. Folic acid: 400 micrograms daily when pregnant or trying to conceive. B12: essential on vegan and largely plant-based diets, where food sources are absent. Beyond these, NICE and NHS guidance is conditional on a measured shortfall or a clinical situation: iron for confirmed deficiency (NICE classes adult ferritin below 30 ug/L as deficient), and correction pathways for confirmed B12, folate or vitamin D deficiency, each anchored to a blood result rather than a symptom. Nothing in UK guidance supports a standing multivitamin for a person eating a varied diet with normal results. ## Practical framework A working method, in order. First, anchor on data you already have: recent blood results answer most of the question, and the free interpreter on this page reads the standard UK nutritional panel, ferritin and the iron picture, vitamin D, B12 and folate, against the guideline thresholds. Second, cover the unconditional UK basics that apply to you: vitamin D October to March, folic acid if pregnancy is possible, B12 if plant-based. Third, map genuine gaps in your actual diet rather than theoretical ones: no oily fish points at omega-3, minimal dairy and greens at calcium and magnesium intake worth checking rather than assuming. Fourth, match anything goal-led to the evidence for that goal specifically, our which-form and evidence guides across the Health Reference Library cover the main ones honestly, including where the evidence is thin. Fifth, check interactions and contraindications before adding anything alongside existing supplements or prescriptions, and keep the total list short: the evidence consistently favours a few well-chosen, well-dosed supplements over a large stack. If results are deficient, that is a GP conversation first. Nutri365, the Nutri Tailor AI health expert in the app, does this whole process conversationally: reads your blood results and tracking data, remembers your history, checks for interactions and contraindications, and keeps the answer current as your results and life change. ## Common misconceptions That everyone needs a multivitamin: UK guidance supports no such default, and a varied diet plus the seasonal vitamin D advice covers most people. That more is better: fat-soluble vitamins accumulate, and the UK sets upper limits for a reason. That a normal report means no shortfall: several guideline thresholds, ferritin below 30 the clearest example, sit above the flag on standard laboratory ranges, so a result can be printed normal and still meet the guideline definition of deficiency. That symptoms alone can pick the supplement: the same symptom has many causes, which is what testing is for. ## Sources 1. NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary (CKS, UK government). Anaemia - iron deficiency. NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS). https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anaemia-iron-deficiency/. 2. . WHO guideline on use of ferritin concentrations to assess iron status in individuals and populations. World Health Organization (WHO). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK569877/. 3. Snook J, Bhala N, Beales ILP, Cannings D, Kightley C, Logan RPH, Pritchard DM, Sidhu R, Surgenor S, Thomas W, Verma AM (2021). British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines for the management of iron deficiency anaemia in adults. Gut. PMID: 34497146. DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2021-325210. 4. . Vitamin B12 deficiency in over 16s: diagnosis and management (NG239). National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng239. 5. NHS UK. Vitamin D. NHS UK (UK government). https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/. 6. Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (UK government) (2016). SACN Vitamin D and Health report. Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN, UK government). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-vitamin-d-and-health-report. --- Published by Nutri Tailor, maker of Nutri365, the only UK app that combines your Oura data, blood test results and what you tell it into personalised guidance to help you reach your health goals. Details: https://nutritailor.co.uk/apps/learn/nutri365