Understanding these 3 important factors will make all the difference in your success using our broad-spectrum micronutrients, Daily Essential Nutrients (DEN) or Optimal Balance.

1. The brain and body need optimal nutrition to function correctly. Consistent and regular intake of a sufficient dose of DEN ensures that your nutritional foundation is solid.

2. Gut health is critically important. Without adequate gut health, you won’t properly absorb the nutrients you need. Take this quiz to determine if you might have a gut balance issue.

3. Many medications significantly interfere with the positive effects of nutrients. Broad spectrum micronutrients make the body more capable and responsive. This amplifies the apparent potency of many medications beyond what would be expected in individuals who are not broadly supplementing with essential nutrients. When a drug is potentiated by micronutrients in this manner, the dose of the drug must be reduced to avoid excessive side effects. Thus, by pervasively upregulating the body's natural functions DEN can gradually reduce or eliminate the need for some medications.

Some individuals see dramatic results within a few days; however, Daily Essential Nutrients (DEN) typically produces results gradually over a period of several months (and sometimes longer for certain conditions). Dozens of medical journal publications have reported impressive results in people who took our product at recommended levels for at least 8 weeks. But it’s safe to say that no one will see the full benefits of DEN in just 8 weeks— many people continue to report subtle improvements for many years.

The recommended dose of our clinical strength formula, Daily Essential Nutrients—4 capsules, 3 times per day, with meals, or 1 scoop of powder, 3 times per day—is based on extensive experience addressing various symptoms in thousands of people, including adults, adolescents, and children. Independent university research has shown that people respond best, particularly in the first few months, by consistently taking the recommended dose. However, some individuals have reported significant benefits from taking less. For best results, work your way up to the full dose, and then reduce down to the level that sustains your improvements.

The recommended dose of our regular strength formula, Optimal Balance, is 3 capsules, twice per day.

 

In general, we recommend the following initial dosages of Daily Essential Nutrients for children diagnosed with psychiatric conditions, based on published research and clinical experience:

• 2-3 years: Work up to 4 capsules/day or 1 scoop of powder per day (with food).

• 4-5 years: Work up to 8 capsules/day or 2 scoops of powder per day (with food).

• 6 years or older: Work up to 12 capsules/day or 3 scoops of powder per day (with food).

(1 level scoop of Daily Essential Nutrients Powder is equivalent to 4 capsules).

For individual cases, the dose required to address mood, anxiety, behavioral, and other symptoms may be slightly higher or lower than the initial recommended doses listed above. Optimal dosing of Daily Essential Nutrients appears to be more dependent on individual nutrient needs than on age or body weight.

Based on clinical experience, individuals who are experiencing psychiatric symptoms have significantly higher nutrient needs than most others of the same age and weight. Also, children and adolescents who are growing quickly may actually have higher nutrient needs than many adults.

Children taking Daily Essential Nutrients should be monitored by a medical doctor.

The recommended dose of our regular strength micronutrient formula, Optimal Balance, is 3 capsules, twice per day.

Supplying your body with nutrients on a regular daily basis will ensure your body gets the critical and essential ingredients it needs for maximum wellness and optimal results. Consistently eating nutrient-rich food is also very important, but even if you’re carefully choosing your diet, it’s still very difficult to get all the nutrition you need from food alone. This is especially true for anyone with mood or anxiety issues, because according to research, these people often have higher-than-average nutrient needs. 

Over the years, researchers have documented many cases where people with mood, anxiety, or behavioral issues responded favorably to our nutrient therapy and then stopped taking it, thinking they didn’t need it anymore. The unfavorable symptoms returned. Restoring the nutrients improved their symptoms dramatically again. Most people who experience this contrast decide that it’s worth taking Daily Essential Nutrients regularly to enjoy the stability it provides.

Some have found that they can maintain stable health on a little less than the full therapeutic dose of 12 capsules per day after their symptoms have been eliminated for a few months. It’s important to find a threshold that works for you, keeping in mind that if you take too little, your symptoms may eventually return. Daily Essential Nutrients is like food for a starving brain.

Think of Daily Essential Nutrients as a part of your daily food intake. Taking 4 capsules per meal is like getting a single spoonful of food packed with nutrients to compensate for empty calories (or for some people, simply to meet a higher-than-average need for certain nutrients that can be determined by genetics and other factors).The average person in the United States consumes enough added sugars to make up one-sixth of total daily calories! That’s one-sixth of our food that contains NO essential nutrients at all! Bruce Ames, recipient of the National Medal of Science, stated: “We are starving! Even though we’re all getting fat, we’re starving for vitamins and minerals.” 

 

The reason for our recommended dosage is that we’re focused on helping individuals achieve real-life results! Extensive scientific research has shown that the recommended dosage delivers the most consistent and marked improvements for serious mood and anxiety-related disorders. This research includes careful safety monitoring which showed no safety concerns at the therapeutic equivalent of the recommended 12 capsule per day dosage.

There are 3 important reasons: 

1. Completeness. Daily Essential Nutrients gives you optimally-balanced levels of many critical nutrients in one product. Other multivitamin-mineral products simply don’t contain nearly as many ingredients – or nearly the same levels. 
2. Macro-mineral levels. The macro-minerals calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus are key to the effectiveness of Daily Essential Nutrients. They are vital for proper brain and nerve function as well as for healthy bones, teeth, and muscles. These macro minerals, together with the specialized organic molecules that enhance their effectiveness, make up nearly two-thirds of the total bulk of Daily Essential Nutrients! By comparison, the vast majority of supplements on the market contain inadequate levels of these critical macro-minerals, making them less bulky, but also much less effective. 
3. Our NutraTek™-enhanced mineral delivery technology is the key reason for the effectiveness of Daily Essential Nutrients. It combines each mineral with specialized organic molecules—ensuring effective delivery to body cells. This makes Daily Essential Nutrients more bulky, but many times more effective than other multivitamin-mineral products.

Occasionally, when people begin taking Daily Essential Nutrients, they may have looser stools than usual for a few days, but as the body adjusts to the additional nutrients, this typically normalizes, as it does when you introduce a new food to your diet. It is also normal for a person’s urine to be brighter yellow in color while they are taking Daily Essential Nutrients. This is a harmless side effect of taking vitamin B2 (also called riboflavin).

It’s very rare for people to have any other side effects. Those who have pre-existing gut issues are most likely to experience some rare side effects, but the good news is that these problems can largely be addressed with additional nutritional solutions.
 
Sometimes people who are taking certain medications may think they are experiencing negative effects from Daily Essential Nutrients when in fact, they are feeling over-medication or medication withdrawal effects. Our experience has shown that taking certain medications (or withdrawing too quickly from these medications) can interfere with the positive effects of Daily Essential Nutrients. This is why it is critical for anyone who is currently taking any medication or who recently stopped taking a medication to be very familiar with the side effects that can be caused by their medications. The "Drugs A-Z List" on RxList.com is a great resource for familiarizing yourself with side effects of specific drugs.  

If you wonder whether or not Daily Essential Nutrients is causing a negative side effect, feel free to give us a call. We’re also happy to talk with your doctor or other healthcare professional at any time.

Yes. People with certain rare medical conditions or severe sensitivity to a particular ingredient may not be able to take Daily Essential Nutrients. Feel free to call us to talk about your situation. We’re also happy to talk with your doctor or other health professional. These decisions are best made in consultation with a qualified healthcare professional. For more information, you may want to review the Possible Limiting Factors guide from our Clinical References with your doctor.

It’s rare that people need to take additional vitamins or minerals, because Daily Essential Nutrients is designed to meet nearly everyone’s daily needs at the suggested serving. This all-in-one approach gives you clear advantages in terms of convenience and cost-savings. However, some people have a specific need for additional nutrients. 

In depression, some people have reported that additional vitamin D may be useful. In the case of iron-deficiency anemia, iron can be added to Daily Essential Nutrients without any issue (ideally, under the supervision of a health professional). 

Because the minerals in Daily Essential Nutrients are in careful balance with each other, we advise against adding certain minerals (including zinc, copper, calcium, phosphorus, or magnesium), because adding them could actually create mineral imbalances and lead to adverse health effects. We also advise against adding lithium without a doctor’s supervision, because doctors have observed that lithium appears to be 100 times more powerful when used together with the minerals in Daily Essential Nutrients. 

On the other hand, feel free to add extra potassium, a macro-mineral that nearly all of us don’t get enough of. You’re also welcome to add any whole foods that contain naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals.

Most commonly-used supplements are fine to use with Daily Essential Nutrients. For example, we offer an Essential Omegas product, a Greens & Probiotics product, a Free-form Amino Acid product, and an Inositol Powder product that people often use together with Daily Essential Nutrients.

Our main caution for adding supplements other than vitamins or minerals is that any supplement or substance that affects brain function has the potential to significantly interfere with the positive effects of Daily Essential Nutrients. 

If you use any supplement that has mind-altering properties, do it very cautiously and monitor your symptoms carefully. A few common examples include St. John’s wort, ginseng, kava kava, skullcap, valerian root, SAM-e, and 5-hydroxytryptophan (often called 5-HTP). Recreational drugs also affect the mind and can interfere with the positive effects of Daily Essential Nutrients as well.

As Daily Essential Nutrients provides the body with the basic elements it needs to regulate itself, people usually find that these mind-altering supplements are no longer needed.

Definitely not! Our brains and bodies will always need essential vitamins and minerals for proper function. If it seems that Daily Essential Nutrients isn’t working for you, some interfering factor is standing in the way and causing you to have increased nutrient requirements or limiting the effects of the nutrients. If you don’t find answers for your challenges in our other FAQs or videos be sure to give us a call or have your doctor call us. We’ve worked to provide support and information for thousands of people via phone and e-mail for almost 20 years. We also can refer clients to healthcare professionals in their area, who are familiar with micronutrient treatment, in order to help overcome barriers and find success.

Antibiotics are actually the most common factor. When we take broad-spectrum oral antibiotics, we wipe out the beneficial gut bacteria that help us digest our food, and this deprives us of essential nutrients. Before taking oral antibiotics, be sure to educate yourself on how you can meet your nutrient requirements and keep your gut healthy during and after the course of antibiotics. 

Other factors like physical illness, puberty, and for women, pregnancy, breastfeeding and the menstrual cycle can place higher than usual demands on your body and increase your nutrient needs. At these important times, it may be necessary to temporarily increase your dosage of Daily Essential Nutrients to meet your body’s increased needs and maintain mood stability.