Capsules from "Organic India"
Capsules from "Organic India"
Capsules from "Organic India"
Capsules from "Organic India"
Yup. Several years back, the FDA tested hundreds of supplement vendors and almost all of them were horseshvt. Say what you will about the FDA, but I can't imagine this was just completely fabricated. You can just assume 99% of supplement brands out there have products that are underdosed, full of heavy metals, or contain completely different ingredients than what is claimed.You have no idea what’s in these capsules and they could have contained toxic hepatotoxic chemicals causing the liver injury. Never assume what’s on the label is the only thing that’s in there. With a name like ‘Organic India’ I would have thrown them in the trash.
Plants are unnecessary. If you eat a lot of beef you don't really need vitamin or mineral supplements.I'm kind of lost on the subject of supplements. Do you really even need them if you're eating lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat?
You will get all the D3, Zinc, Magnesium, B complex, and other vital nutrients if you just eat a lot of beef and eggs. Hamburger or fatty steaks like Ribeye. I have literally lived (and thrived) for months at a time eating mostly just beef and eggs. If you go "carnivore" you don't need Vit C. At all.Currently I'm taking a cheap Vit C, D, & Zinc combo by Nature Made, a multi-vitamin by GNC, and a B-complex by Nature Made.
You can find almost anything on Amazon.Recently I've been hearing about Dana White's physical health transformation using a "methylated" folate and multivitamin. I tried to find them in Whole Foods to no avail.
Well, your post is almost 3 months old, so maybe you are already supplementing T. But honestly you will boost your T if you just do weightlifting. There are also "test booster" supplements out there that always worked well for me. They contain things like D-Aspartic acid, oyster extract, Korean ginseng and so forth. Also, cholesterol is one of the building blocks of T, which is why TPTB have demonized cholesterol and eggs. When I am lifting regularly, I eat eggs every day. Or drink them raw with a little salsa.I've also been thinking about taking testosterone as I'm in my late 40's and starting to feel it. I'm also not sure where to begin with that?
Nowadays, I take only collagen and, pre-workout, BCAAs (the 2:1:1 ratio). One teaspoon of BCAAs mixed in a sports drink, about 30 minutes before lifting, makes a huge difference for me in endurance. And it's pretty cheap too. Don't spend a lot on supplements - better to spend on steak instead.Anyhow, I'm sure like with most things, you get what you pay for, so I'm just wondering what some of you take and what your monthly supplement bill is?
I just started a new stack, 4 brain health supplements that work long term for improving brain/cognitive function, and 4 adaptogen extracts that primarily act as immediate mood/energy enhancers they can be used on an as-needed basis interchangeably, or all at once. The brain health supplements are actually a part of a stack suggested on longecity from over 10 years ago - Uridine, b9/b12, DHA, and choline, though I am not including choline due to finding it underwhelming or detrimental. It doesn't even make sense to include choline in this stack anyway, because Uridine acts as a prodrug for CDP-Choline which is really interesting. NAC seems like it would be synergistic to this stack as it has general purpose use for improving brain function by chelating heavy metals like lead out of the body with it's super potent anti inflammatory/antixidant qualities, among others possible benefits.
Here's the stack:
-Uridine Monophosphate
-Krill Oil (i've always used fish oil, but krill oil is supposedly much more stable/bioavailable and less prone to oxidation which is a huge problem with fish oil)
-Methyl B9/B12
-NAC
-Bacopa
-Kava
-Zembrin (a standardized/patented extract of Kanna)
-Rhodiola (taken with piperine)
Of these, the least familiar to me is Zembrin and Rhodiola, but they have really a interesting mechanism of action; Rhodiola functions as an MAOI (which is improved by taking piperine), while zembrin acts as an inhibitor of both serotonin and PDE4, which is really unique, and apparently depressed people have high PDE4 and inhibiting it leads to higher energy and wakefulness. From anecdotes, rhodiola seems better for energy and zembrin for mood, which isn't exactly in line with the mechanisms, but we don't fully understand them yet since supplements are rarely studied since such studies are useless to the "benefactors" that fund them - it's merely competition to big pharma. It's incredibly annoying when people make the reductio ad absurdum argument that supplements are "snake oil" - maybe 80% of them are, but the 20% that work are the real deal but people refuse to believe anything unless it has something like a Cochrane review seal of approval, which is never going to happen with supplements when you consider who funds these studies and why.
Anyway, after just a few days I already notice pretty big improvements for my energy levels and anxiety which was pretty crippling. The first 4 things in this stack probably take weeks to notice, so I'll be curious how I feel over the coming weeks.
Yup. Several years back, the FDA tested hundreds of supplement vendors and almost all of them were horseshvt. Say what you will about the FDA, but I can't imagine this was just completely fabricated. You can just assume 99% of supplement brands out there have products that are underdosed, full of heavy metals, or contain completely different ingredients than what is claimed.
The overwhelming majority of supplement brands do not do any QC and certainly do not have Certificate's of Analysis (CoA) which is the gold standard - I have attempted to reach out to several vendors inquiring about a CoA, and they either ignore me or say they can't provide it because their super special "proprietary formula" (which is usually the exact same, uninspired nonsense you see with other brands) is too valuble for competitors. What this actually means is they don't have a CoA. Any company that has CoA will share them unquestionably, as this is expensive and something to be proud of (and only a handful of brands actually do it).
Off the bat, I can share all the brands I know about. There are surely others I am missing here, but these cover the majority of the most well-known brands.
Best brands (they all provide CoAs, and and NOW/ND does both in-house and 3rd party testing)
Now Foods / Life Extension - very competitive pricing to boot, my go to brand picks.
Nootropics Depot (ND) - a little expensive, but top tier. Used to be even better and the short lived Ceretropic offshoot brand was the GOAT.
Herb Pharm - high quality plant extracts in liquid droppers
Cosmic Nootropic - pharmaceutical-grade nootropics like Semax, sourced from Russian pharmacies
Science.Bio - widest range of products I've ever seen, have everything imaginable, provide CoAs, not overpriced, though I'm not completely convinced of them for some reason and technically they're sold as RCs which is a bit sketchy. I've never heard of a single negative experience with them, though, and I've used them several times.
Possibly great (may not provide CoAs, but seem to be high quality)
Metagenics
Thorne
Pure Encapsulations
Possibly good
Solaray (Andrew Huberman attested to their Longjack product, not as an affiliate, but I believe he tested them in his own lab)
Swanson, Carlson, Source Naturals, Doctors Best, Nature Made - many others like these that seem to be of similar value/price and have been around for a long time with largely positive reviews, but they're completely overshadowed in price/quality by NOW/Life Extension so I don't see the point in them.
Brands to Avoid
Basically, everything else. The worst is probably Bulk Supplements, it has been tested numerous times to find excessive levels of heavy metals, and many of their products were revealed to either underdosed or contain completely other products than what is claimed. You can assume the same is true for 99% of other brands. A good rule of thumb, the more fancy/markety the branding is, the more likely they're full of shvt. Companies like NOW, Life Extension, ND have bland, generic branding, but the reason is because they spend majority of their money on QC, sourcing,
lab analysis, etc, and the quality sells itself, rather than selling an image. Most of the flashy brands do not last very long at all, with one exception being the "Genius" brand as that seems to have been around for a good while now, and I have no idea if it's good or not.
Toxic Element Contamination of Natural Health Products and Pharmaceutical Preparations
Abstract. Concern has recently emerged regarding the safety of natural health products (NHPs)-therapies that are increasingly recommended by various health providers, including conventional physicians. Recognizing that most individuals in the Western world now consume vitamins and many take herbal agents, this study endeavored to determine levels of toxic element contamination within a range of NHPs. Toxic element testing was performed on 121 NHPs (including Ayurvedic, traditional Chinese, and various marine-source products) as well as 49 routinely prescribed pharmaceutical preparations. Testing was also performed on several batches of one prenatal supplement, with multiple samples tested within each batch. Results were compared to existing toxicant regulatory limits. Toxic element contamination was found in many supplements and pharmaceuticals; levels exceeding established limits were only found in a small percentage of the NHPs tested and none of the drugs tested. Some NHPs demonstrated contamination levels above preferred daily endpoints for mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic or aluminum. NHPs manufactured in China generally had higher levels of mercury and aluminum. Exposure to toxic elements is occurring regularly as a result of some contaminated NHPs. Best practices for quality control-developed and implemented by the NHP industry with government oversight-is recommended to guard the safety of unsuspecting consumers.
Established Toxicant Limits in Supplements (mcg/day)
Overall Results of Toxic Element Contamination
Be careful of overdosing on mercury or other heavy metals if its cod from the ocean. Also be super careful of overdosing on vitamin A. This blog has some really interesting theories about how a large number people have subclinical level hypervitaminosis A.cod liver oil every day,
Great breakdown and good to NOW Foods on the list. I was recently looking to replace some Grape Seed Extract supplements and had settled on NOW -- there was something about their formulation that I found superior to the others (haven't ordered or tried them yet). Their prices were extremely low as well, and availability seems to be good.Best brands (they all provide CoAs, and and NOW/ND does both in-house and 3rd party testing)
Now Foods / Life Extension - very competitive pricing to boot, my go to brand picks.
Is that really true?Brands to Avoid
Basically, everything else.
Jarrow, as I mentioned in an earlier post, and also Doublewood Supplements, are 2 that I know have done well on the consumer labs testing sites - generally you have to pay to get this type of information and periodically people will share info they got access to. I learned about Doublewood a month or so ago. Now, if what I need is available by one of these two I always buy it first before looking elsewhere.....Those are the brands I recommend as clean quality products
Doublewood is good. I've used their Spermadine (gay name for a supplement, good products)when I had COVID.Jarrow, as I mentioned in an earlier post, and also Doublewood Supplements, are 2 that I know have done well on the consumer labs testing sites - generally you have to pay to get this type of information and periodically people will share info they got access to. I learned about Doublewood a month or so ago. Now, if what I need is available by one of these two I always buy it first before looking elsewhere.
If anyone is using chlorella or spirulina, the Terrasoul Superfoods brand seems very good - neither is produced in China which is the main thing to watch out for with the algae products. You can spend a fortune on certain brands of these, but Terrasoul is very reasonable if you buy the powder instead of the tablets and just use a tiny measuring spoon and mix it in water. It really is not so inconvenient.
I have bought a TON of products from Now, mainly because they sell a lot of the things I have been looking for. The sourcing of their raw material is a concern in the back of my mind as is the case with so much nowadays ..... but, nothing has every gone wrong so I will probably keep buying their products.
Personally I think Swansons is garbage (their in-house branded stuff, not everything they sell). This is based on a specific experience in which I believe the product they sell had little of that substance or a degraded version of it. Then I learned as mentioned above that there is quite a wild west aspect to the supplements business. Caveat emptor, for sure.
A couple teaspoons is not enough to oversupplement any of the vitamins in CLO. It has been used as a supplement for literally decades - Scandinavian countries give it to school children daily during Winter, mainly for vit D during the very short days when it is too cold to get much of Sunshine. Or, at least, they used to do this back in the day.Be careful of overdosing on mercury or other heavy metals if its cod from the ocean. Also be super careful of overdosing on vitamin A. This blog has some really interesting theories about how a large number people have subclinical level hypervitaminosis A.
Did you even read the blog link? He pointed out that Nordic countries also have the highest rates of Alzheimer’s in the world and he hypothesises it’s due to heavy consumption of fish products. He points out that fish in cold climates can have up to 10 times the vitamin A naturally in their bodies than fish that live in warm climates.A couple teaspoons is not enough to oversupplement any of the vitamins in CLO. It has been used as a supplement for literally decades - Scandinavian countries give it to school children daily during Winter, mainly for vit D during the very short days when it is too cold to get much of Sunshine. Or, at least, they used to do this back in the day.
And what I am trying to point out to you is that the amount of CLO I consume is nowhere near "heavy consumption". Not only that, the amount of vitamin A a fish has is not relevant to the amount of vitamin A per teaspoon in CLO, which by US law must be listed on the nutrition label. The brand I used to take daily (2 teaspoons) only had 50% of the RDA of vitamin A per teaspoon, and the brand I take now is higher so I don't take it daily.Did you even read the blog link? He pointed out that Nordic countries also have the highest rates of Alzheimer’s in the world and he hypothesises it’s due to heavy consumption of fish products. He points out that fish in cold climates can have up to 10 times the vitamin A naturally in their bodies than fish that live in warm climates.
I don't know, that sounds like an awful lot of sickness. If that were my experience, I would conclude that my supplement regime is failing and I need a new one.I have had all 4 Covid Variants and Probably did not die due to my long history of Immunity Supplements... 1st Covid Variant 8 Weeks Dry Hacking cough sick as a dog. 2nd Variant 6 Weeks, Dry Cough, 3rd Variant 4 Weeks, 4th Omnicron iirc 3 Weeks mild cough mild fever.
Perhaps my immunity resistance was lowered due to all the low level constant nuclear radiation I was exposed to on Nuclear High Speed Fast Attack Hunter Killer submarines making sure the Communist Chinese and Soviet Pukes did not launch Nuclear Missiles at you, your family and our country from the sea. And my reward is condescending comments - the point of my post was to share WHAT IS WORKING NOW that I have relentlessly researched and studied the state of the art in immunity protocols against most respiratory viruses and a wide range of cancer-causing viruses.I don't know, that sounds like an awful lot of sickness. If that were my experience, I would conclude that my supplement regime is failing and I need a new one.
I started taking CLO about 6 years ago, and I've only been sick twice in that entire time. Neither of which would I describe myself as being "sick as a dog". "Capsules", both in my own experience and according to other sources, are far inferior to natural food sources.