Nutritional Supplements in Greenville, SC
Nutritional Supplements at IHP Greenville. Dr. Hendry, DAOM — functional medicine, root-cause diagnostics, personalized care. Call (864) 365-6156.
The functional organic acids panel catches what the standard CBC misses. Elevated methylmalonic acid with a serum B12 of 340 pg/mL tells me the B12 is not reaching the cellular enzymatic pathway — the patient is functionally deficient despite a "normal" serum result. Elevated kynurenine-to-tryptophan ratio tells me IDO enzyme activity is high — chronic inflammation is diverting tryptophan away from serotonin toward quinolinic acid. These are the findings that change the supplement prescription from guesswork to biochemical precision. I don't prescribe supplements until I know what's actually depleted and what's actually impaired. Then I prescribe the right compound, in the right form, at the clinically effective dose from the research. Not the retail version.
How Nutritional Supplements Works
Nutritional supplement prescribing at IHP follows a clinical methodology: identify deficiencies and therapeutic targets through functional blood chemistry, organic acids testing, or specialty panels; select the most bioavailable form at therapeutic dose; monitor for response and adjust. Dr. Hendry uses only professional-grade supplements from manufacturers with third-party testing and cGMP compliance.
Conditions Treated with Nutritional Supplements
Lab-Guided Supplement Protocols vs. Internet Self-Prescribing
Self-directed supplementation based on symptom-matching internet resources has produced a population that simultaneously over-supplements some nutrients and remains deficient in others, often without awareness of either condition. A patient who reads that omega-3s reduce inflammation and begins taking 4 grams of fish oil daily without testing has no knowledge of their baseline plasma EPA/DHA index, no ability to assess whether their response is therapeutic, and no protection against the bleeding risk potentiation that high-dose omega-3s produce in patients on antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy. Calder PC (Proc Nutr Soc, 2013) documented that the anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3 supplementation are dose- and baseline-dependent: patients with high arachidonic acid to EPA ratios respond robustly, while those with already-adequate EPA/DHA indices derive diminishing benefit from additional dosing. Without a baseline measurement, dose optimization is impossible. The functional medicine approach is to establish laboratory baselines for the specific nutrients relevant to the patient's clinical presentation, calculate repletion doses based on documented deficiency depth, implement supplementation with products verified for form and potency, and retest at eight to twelve weeks to confirm target attainment. This is medical nutrition therapy applied to supplementation — systematic, testable, and documented — in contrast to the trial-and-error approach that characterizes consumer self-prescribing.
Research & Evidence
Nutritional supplementation as a functional medicine protocol component operates from laboratory-derived biochemical profiles rather than symptom-matching heuristics. Functional organic acid testing, serum nutrient levels including methylmalonic acid and RBC element panels, and inflammatory marker profiling identify specific insufficiencies that standard clinical panels miss by design. DiNicolantonio et al. (Open Heart, 2018) demonstrated that serum magnesium — the standard clinical test — is maintained at normal levels until total body magnesium depletion reaches approximately 20-30%, because bone serves as a magnesium reservoir that releases ions to maintain serum homeostasis. A patient with normal serum magnesium can simultaneously have clinically significant intracellular depletion measurable only by RBC magnesium or ionized testing. Kris-Etherton PM et al. (J Am Diet Assoc, 2009) reviewed medical nutrition therapy outcomes and documented that individually tailored nutritional interventions — combining dietary modification with targeted supplementation — produced significantly greater reductions in cardiovascular risk biomarkers than standard dietary advice alone, with effect sizes paralleling those of pharmacotherapy for lipid management in motivated patients. Prasad AS (Mol Med, 2008) reinforced that zinc repletion in deficient subjects normalized interleukin-2 and TNF-alpha production within eight weeks, demonstrating objective immunological restoration from targeted supplementation at clinically confirmed deficiencies.
Your First Appointment
Bring all current supplements and medications so Dr. Hendry can evaluate interactions, duplications, and gaps in your current regimen.
Why Dr. Hendry for Nutritional Supplements
Dr. Hendry's dual training in Chinese herbal medicine and evidence-based functional medicine gives him an unusually comprehensive perspective on supplementation — he understands both traditional and modern applications.