A much discussed and sometimes controversial topic when dealing with a carnivore diet is whether you need to supplement. In its essence, carnivore diet theoretically requires no specific supplementation. It is possible to get all the nutrients you need from eating nutrient dense animal products. However, as always, there are times and cases where supplements could be beneficial.

Most often, those who require some targeted supplementation include people who frequently exercise harder and longer, or any other situation where one may deplete resources faster than an average individual. Supplementation may also work for you if you are looking to optimize your nutrient intake or need help during the transition process. If you have a medical issue that impedes your ability to get specific nutrients, supplements are your best option. As always, it is important to consult your medical professional to ensure your nutrients levels are optimized and which supplements you may have to take to keep it that way.

A few supplements you might want to consider while following the carnivore diet include:

Betaine HCL

When you switch to the carnivore diet, your gut health will change drastically. Your body uses different metabolic processes to digest fat, carbs, and protein. When following a more carbohydrate-centered diet, your body is used to digesting these sugars, and the metabolic machinery for digesting fats and protein is under-utilized. When you transition to a high-fat, high-protein diet, your body takes time to adapt, and this is the reason many beginning the carnivore diet experience diarrhea.

Protein needs to be broken down into amino acids and peptide chains to be absorbed, and your body releases HCL, which activates pepsinogen synthesis. However, as your body tries to adapt to the new diet, this process can be slow. This is where Betaine HCL supplements can help. This supplement supports protein digestion by activating pepsinogen to pepsin. It also helps support gut function by providing additional acidity to maximize digestion.  Studies have found that inadequate stomach acid levels increase the risk of maldigestion or malabsorption.

Ox Bile

Bile plays a crucial role in the process of fat digestion. When fat is eaten, the gallbladder releases bile into the small intestine, where most fat digestion occurs. Bile dissolves dietary fats into microscopic droplets so fat digesting enzymes – lipases - can break them down with ease. Bile enables the digestion and absorption of fats and transport and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as K, A, E, and D.

Although the liver constantly makes bile which is then transported to the gallbladder, the additional fat consumption needs more bile than may have been regularly produced. Your gallbladder works similarly to a muscle. It takes time for the gallbladder to adapt to high-fat food digestion.

Supplementing with ox bile provides adequate support to your gallbladder, ensuring seamless fat digestion.

Salt

Sodium is an essential nutrient and the most concentrated electrolyte in your body. It maintains the proper balance of water and minerals in the blood, regulates blood pressure, helps send nerve impulses, and is required for muscle contractions. The body regulates sodium levels very tightly. When there is too much sodium, your brain induces thirst which results in eventually excreting excess sodium. Alternatively, if there is too little sodium present, your body releases aldosterone, which causes sodium to be absorbed.

This balance does come at a cost since aldosterone also promotes potassium excretion, which can negatively impact your electrolyte balance. People who often experience adrenal stress and elevated cortisol on the carnivore diet most likely have a low sodium intake. Supplementing 4-5mg of sodium per day allows you to achieve optimum sodium levels. This is equivalent to 10g of salt. During the transition, you may want to increase your sodium intake more than this.

Magnesium

Magnesium is crucial for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body, including maintaining normal muscle and nerve function, supporting a healthy immune system, maintaining a healthy brain function, keeping the heartbeat steady, adjusting blood glucose levels, and helping bones remain strong. It is a vital electrolyte and plays an active role in transporting potassium and calcium ions across cell membranes.

Magnesium deficiency has far-reaching, often deleterious effects, including:

·       Migraines

·       High blood pressure since magnesium helps remove excess sodium

·       Low vitamin D levels-magnesium is needed to make enzymes that activate vitamin D

·       Fatigue- as magnesium is required for energy production

·       Muscle cramps

·       Seizures

·       Heart spasms

The recommended dietary allowance for magnesium is 310mg per day for women and 400mg per day for men below thirty years. Over thirty years, the recommended amounts increase to 320mg and 420mg per day, respectively.

RDAs, however, were developed based on a standard American diet, which is high-carb, high-sugar. They reflect the minimum amount necessary to prevent depletion as opposed to optimizing nutrient levels. RDAs also account for plant antinutrients like oxalates and phytic acid, which affects nutrient bioavailability. This is the reason many who follow a carnivore diet believe the RDA for magnesium is too high for someone on the carnivore diet since nutrients are more bioavailable on the carnivore diet.

But due to the lack of an alternative RDA recommendation, we have to work with the current recommendations. One pound of steak contains an average of 100mg of magnesium, so if you eat 2-3 pounds of steak, you fall short of the RDA by 100-200mg. While you can get the additional magnesium from magnesium-rich foods like shellfish, taking supplements will help to fill the gap.

If you are still adapting to the carnivore diet, you might want to increase your magnesium supplementation. When you go carnivore, your body gets rid of excess fluid, resulting in depleted magnesium levels.

Liver

The liver has a unique nutritional profile and is a true superfood. It contains many of the nutrients and vitamins that are absent in other plant and animal foods. Liver complements the meat-heavy carnivore diet. Eating a single serving of liver can help you meet your daily RDA of most vitamins and minerals such as folate, vitamin A, iron, copper, and vitamin B.

While muscle meat contains vital nutrients and vitamins, it fails to compare to the amounts found in liver. Steak is fairly low in vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B7, and B9 and contains virtually no vitamin A, copper, selenium, riboflavin, and choline, which are in abundance in the liver. Adding liver to your carnivore diet is an excellent option, but many find organ meats unpalatable, making the option of liver supplement viable. Taking desiccated organ capsules from high-quality grass-fed animals is your best choice in this situation. This is because the freeze-drying process is very gentle and involves low-temperature dehydration, which preserves the organs’ nutrients extremely well.

DHA

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid that is vital for brain development. DHA accounts for 97% of all the omega fatty acids found in the brain and makes up 25% of the brain’s total fat content. DHA is also linked to better vision, reduced inflammatory response, reduced risk for heart disease, prevent and slow Alzheimer’s disease, reduced risk of early preterm births, improved ADHD symptoms, and improved heart health.

DHA is challenging to obtain from red meat but is mostly found in seafood like fish oils, shellfish, and fish. The minimum recommended amount of DHA for adults is 250-500mg, which is very hard to obtain from red meat alone. According to the USDA, 4 ounces of raw grass-fed ground beef contains a mere 45mg of DHA and EPA, another omega-3 fatty acid. If your carnivore diet comprises mostly steaks, you will most likely fail to meet your standard DHA requirement. This may not be an issue if you also eat beef liver.

You can incorporate high DHA foods in your diet a few times a week or take DHA supplements. You can also take well-formulated, third party tested fish oils supplements since they also contain DHA.

The Bottom Line

Each person is biologically individual and supplements on the carnivore diet may be necessary for some people. Most of the nutrients on this list can be found on the carnivore diet in whole food form, but if you are either unable to obtain them for one reason or another or have certain nutrient deficiencies, supplementing is your best option.