The food we eat powers our everyday lives and our health. What we put in our body can either support health and longevity or can undermine it. However, there is a significant amount of “noise” in the health and wellness industry that can cause confusion around what an optimal diet looks like and how we can best support our health through nutrition. Oftentimes, even if we think we are getting a fully balanced array of vitamins and minerals through our diet, we can still fall short or run into imbalances that may affect downstream health. Supplementation can help aid the gaps in our diet with pills and powders, or we can utilize a more direct route of delivery: IV Nutrition Therapy.
“Nutrition” is defined as “the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.” The body can receive nourishment through several means: food, air, sunlight, water, or other elements in its surrounding environment. We require a certain threshold of vitamins and minerals to sustain cellular and metabolic health. Unfortunately, food alone often falls short of giving us the right amount and balance of nutrients needed for optimal health. Chronic disease, high stress levels or environmental toxins may also deplete the body and require an intake more nutrients than average. Supplementation using pill capsules or powders that are ingested by mouth can often be broken down prematurely by stomach acid and not fully absorbed, or take a long time to absorb. By using an intravenous (IV) delivery system, fluids packed with optimal concentrations of nutrients can enter the body in a more direct route via the blood stream.
What is IV Nutrition Therapy?
IV Nutrition Therapy is a method of delivering liquids and concentrations of substances to the body through a vein. It is often used to provide important hydration, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants directly into the body for optimal effect. The benefits of IV Therapy are widespread. It can help increase energy levels, recover from jetlag, reduce inflammation, improved athletic performance and recovery, enhance immunity, increase hydration, improve ability to eliminate toxins, including from weight loss efforts, and even improve skin appearance through hydration and collagen production. IV Therapy allows nutrients to bypass the digestive system, resulting in a 90-100% absorption rate versus a 20-50% absorption rate when vitamins are taken orally. Administering IV Therapy safely and effectively requires oversight from a credentialed and experienced healthcare provider.
Vitamin infusions should be specifically codeveloped by highly qualified functional and anti-aging medicine providers who can oversee your health every step of the way. Vitamin infusions should also be personalized to a patient’s health needs based on recent lab results and be mixed at the time of service. While many IV Therapy protocols help address nutrient deficiencies in patients, they can also often prescribed as a complement to aesthetic and hormone balancing programs. Common IV infusions include:
- Myer’s Cocktail: helps cure hangovers, includes antioxidants & electrolytes
- Energy Push: increases energy with B vitamins & amino acids
- Glutathione: promotes liver health, detoxification and symptoms associated with neurological conditions
- NAD+: repairs mitochondria, promotes ant-aging, improves cognitive function, increases energy, improves ability to manage stress
- B12: promotes healthy cells and energy production
- LipoC: includes B-Vitamins, Inositol, Choline, Chromium, and L-Carnitine to promote fat loss, higher energy levels, and decrease carbohydrate cravings and anxiety
What can you expect after an IV Nutrition Therapy session?
An IV Therapy session can immediately and dramatically impact how you feel depending on the infusion. Many patients feel a burst of energy, sharper thinking, increased hydration, less “puffiness” from a reduction in inflammation, and more recovered from physical activity. Headaches, aches, and other pain may subside post-treatment, and can continue to improve with multiple infusions over the course of 3-4 weeks. Multiple infusions over time can help support hormone balancing, detoxification and immune system functioning that can have systemic effects on overall wellness.
IV Therapy can be beneficial as a single service to improve energy or improve general health on any given day, or it can be a part of a larger strategy to help improve chronic health conditions or longstanding nutrient imbalances. Your provider can help determine how frequently you should have IV therapy. Unlike many medical procedures, some IV infusions can be administered during pregnancy and can help alleviate symptoms of morning sickness, increase hydration, and supplement vitamins and minerals that may help avoid fetal development complications due to possible deficiencies.
IV Nutrition Therapy is a safe, effective and almost universally effective treatment protocol to improve health, but only if it is administered under careful watch of an experienced and certified healthcare provider. Learn more about IV Therapy and schedule a Meet & Greet to see if it may be right for you.