How long will it take for my supplement to start working? This is one of the top questions we hear from our Stonehenge Health community members. It’s not surprising because you purchased a supplement, hoping that you will feel better – and you would like to know when feeling better will begin. But the fact of the matter is, this seemingly simple question has a pretty complex answer. 

Supplements vs. Prescriptions

Unlike nutritional supplements, prescription and over-the-counter non-prescription medications address specific medical symptoms with immediate and temporary results. Nutritional and natural supplements are not event-specific remedies but work by helping address the underlying issues that are causing your problems.

For example, Celebrex is a brand-name prescription medication that treats arthritic swelling and pain. You can expect to get temporary relief quickly. The question is, what about the underlying problem?

Turmeric contains a compound called curcumin shown in study after study to reduce chronic inflammation stemming from arthritis. As a result, Turmeric helps reduce pain, discomfort, and stiffness linked to arthritis (and in some studies, as effectively as over-the-counter painkillers ⁽¹⁾ by helping reduce chronic inflammation.  

The point here is, herbal and natural remedies may not be quick fixes, but they do tend to address the issues instead of the symptoms. The best part, the effect may be more long-lasting and comprehensive once you address the underlying causes like chronic inflammation or an imbalanced microbiome.  

Factors to Consider

Deficiency Level

How deficient you are in a particular vitamin or mineral helps determines how long it takes for the effects of a supplement to kick in. Think of your body like a swimming pool; the more empty it is, the longer it takes to fill it up.

Dosage

If your pool is half-empty, but you only pour in a few gallons of water each day, it will take a lot longer to fill. On the flip side, if a hurricane comes along and floods your pool, that can cause a lot of damage. Overdoing anything is never a good idea. And mega doses of nutrients found in some supplements like zinc can be toxic at extremely high doses.

Absorption

There’s no one rate of absorption, every person has their own, and it depends on genetics, environment, and other nutritional deficiencies you may have. Ensuring you’ve got your baseline nutrition covered is an excellent place to start.

Nutrition

Eating a healthy balanced diet with lots of vegetables and sparing amounts of red meat, sugar, and alcohol is essential for maintaining a healthy weight and balanced life. And eating a quality whole, unprocessed food diet, while taking a multivitamin can help prevent nutritional deficiencies.

Timing

When you start taking a supplement, the first week, you should feel something – for a healthy brain supplement, you should feel more mental energy, clearing thinking, and an improved ability to recall names and dates. That’s how you know it’s working.

Stick with the recommended daily dosage for a few weeks at least. Feeling the full effect of an herbal intervention takes longer, from six weeks to a few months. 

And remember, herbal remedies usually offer a double bonus by boosting your overall health, unlike pharmaceuticals that may be harmful and are known to cause adverse side effects such as nausea and dizziness.   

The Most Popular Herbal Medicine – Turmeric

Curcuma longa or Turmeric is a root that belongs to the ginger family. Used for millennia in cooking and ancient medicinal remedies, it has recently gained tremendous attention for its powerful anti-aging, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Turmeric’s health benefits are attributed to a compound called curcumin. It’s a phytochemical that gives Turmeric its bright orange color. The curcumin within Turmeric has been shown to help a host of conditions, including pain, metabolic syndrome, anxiety, and most notably, chronic inflammation. ⁽¹⁾

If you are interested in taking Turmeric to improve mobility and joint health, look for a supplement with a significant amount of curcumin like Stonehenge Health® Dynamic Turmeric™. It’s a powerful blend of 1,650 milligrams of organic turmeric curcumin complex, plus 300 milligrams of organic ginger root extract.

Dynamic Turmeric™ contains one of the highest levels of curcumin you’ll find in one daily dose. Fifteen milligrams of BioPerine® improves bioavailability, ensuring your body gets Turmeric’s maximum benefits.

Sources:
1. Hewlings SJ, Kalman DS. Curcumin: A Review of Its Effects on Human Health. Foods. 2017 Oct 22;6(10):92. doi: 10.3390/foods6100092. PMID: 29065496; PMCID: PMC5664031. | pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29065496/