Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- health:dietary-supplements [2019/12/12 20:25]
marcos
+++ health:dietary-supplements [2021/11/16 04:03] (current)
marcos
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-//This page is about both dietary supplements and herbal medicines.  What they have in common, is that they are molecules that are used by living organisms in their metabolism.  Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, are not part of any living organism's natural metabolism.  [[health:drug-allergy-testing|Read more]].//
+//This page is about both dietary supplements and herbal medicines.  What they have in common, is that they are molecules that are used by living organisms in their metabolism.  Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, are not part of any living organism's metabolism.  [[health:drug-allergy-testing|Read more]].//
+====== Dietary Supplements ======
 ===== Dietary Supplements I Take =====
 Websites you can look at to review the worth of the individual supplements:\\
-www.examine.com\\
+www.examine.com - this one used to have links to the research, from which they drew their conclusions, but now you have to pay to view them.\\
-www.selfhacked.com\\
+www.selfhacked.com now www.selfdecode.com\\
 www.consumerlab.com\\
+www.labdoor.com - although their rankings are completely bogus, and thus probably paid for, you can look at the data for an individual supplement and compare it to the others.\\
+www.lifeextension.com - although a conflict of interest since they sell supplements.
 key (supplements not fully labelled):\\
@@ Line 26: / Line 30: @@
   * <wrap lo>DN</wrap> creatine --- (met-rx brand hplc 3500mg or 5/6 dose)
   * coq10 --- (dr best brand with bioperine 100mg)
-  * green tea extract --- (now brand min 40% catechins 400mg)
+  * green tea extract --- (now brand min 40% catechins 400mg, but, don't recommend based on labdoor's analysis)
   * <wrap lo>J</wrap> glucosamine sulfate --- (20180414 substituting green lipped mussell for glucosamine+chondroitin, swanson brand 500mg)
   * <wrap lo>J</wrap> methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) --- (swanson brand 1g)
@@ Line 39: / Line 43: @@
   * <wrap lo>DN</wrap> bacopa (serotonergic) --- (swanson brand 2xdose 100mg 10:1 extract.  previously took nature's answer brand 100mg extract 20% bacosides + 400mg leaf)
   * <wrap lo>DN</wrap> gotu kola --- (swanson brand 2xdose 870mg aerial parts)
-  * <wrap lo>DA</wrap> inositol --- (loose powder sprinkled into smoothie at several grams, but not daily)
   * <wrap lo>N</wrap> carnitine/alcar --- (jarrow brand 500mg)
   * <wrap lo>A</wrap> nac --- (swanson brand 2xdose 1200mg)
   * <wrap lo>D</wrap> holy basil --- (swanson brand 1.5xdose 1200mg leaf)
+  * <wrap lo>DA</wrap> inositol --- (loose powder sprinkled into smoothie at several grams, but not daily)
   * <del><wrap lo>D</wrap> saffron (-5HT2C serotonergic) (all 9 studies regarding effects on depression come from Iran, which is the leading producer of saffron)</del>
   * melatonin (5mg time release)
   * <wrap lo>D</wrap> magnesium --- (100mg dr best mag lycinate glycinate chelate)
+  * gaba --- (500mg now brand with vitamin b6 + 500mg swanson brand)
   * percutaneous dhea (life-flo 1/2 pump)
@@ Line 54: / Line 59: @@
 Morning: <del>a small pinch of saffron and</del>, dermal dhea and pregnenolone, coffee, yohimbine, theanine\\
 First meal: everything else except:\\
-Bedtime: magnesium, melatonin
+Bedtime: magnesium, melatonin, gaba
 Below are notes that went into forming this stack.
+===== 20210411 =====
+Ideas to consume bulk powder, aside from the usual capsules:
+  * Smallish rectangle of fruit roll-up.
+  * Compress powder into a solid.
+  * Use a little honey to make a paste, which solidifies into a pill.
+===== 20210302 =====
+Looks like melatonin kicks the adrenal glands into high gear:\\
+[[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29199635 |Melatonin Elicits Stimulatory Action on the Adrenal Gland of Soay Ram: Morphometrical, Immunohistochemical, and Ultrastructural Study]]
+===== 20200503 =====
+To my supplement stack above, I switched from Vitamin Code Multi to Now Adam Softgels.  I take half servings of multivitamins.  I also added Amla and Eleuthero.  Also I was adding maca to my smoothies.  This has resulted in intestinal distress.  So, I'm going to backtrack.  Update a couple months later: I switched back to Vitamin Code Multi.
+Eleuthero seems to be pretty gentle.  So I'll keep taking the 1.7 grams (4 capsules).  I'll cut out the Amla, the Adam Softgel, and the maca, and see if my intestines get a break.  They have been doing so well until recently.  Update after a few days without these three: No more upset tummy.
+I've been reading that maca should be cooked, or it causes stomach distress.  I dumped the rest of my maca powder into water, boiled it for 10 minutes, and made maca ice cubes.  I'm going to stay away from these for a while.
+Amla is loaded with vitamin C, and I was taking 2 grams of it.  Maybe I was taking too much vitamin C?  "[[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/side-effects-of-too-much-vitamin-c |A tolerable upper limit (TUL) of 2,000 mg per day has been established]]"  Side effect is stomach distress.  Yet I read people having a half teaspoon of amla powder per serving, and then twice a day, adding up to about 4.2 grams daily.  Maybe some of the other herbs I take have vitamin C as well?
+I didn't like the vitamin mega doses of Adam softgels, but they are cheaper.  Wondering about mega-dosing, I came across a site that explains that the DV is simply the amount needed to avoid disease, not the [[https://healthknight.com/prime-daily-values |optimal amount needed per day]].  However, that explanation is not exact.  [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_Reference_Intake#Calculating_the_RDA |The RDA is set at two SDs above the EAR]], where the EAR would be the average amount needed for half of the population to be healthy. [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK45182 |1]]  Another site used the term Optimum Daily Intake, which is also bogus.
+It's not like I'm not eating.  I get nutrients elsewhere.  I don't want a multivitamin to go beyond the minimum.  Excess can also do harm.
+[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivitamin#Systematic_reviews_and_meta-analyses |Wikipedia's coverage of systematic reviews]] shows no benefit to taking multivitamins.  I differ because modern produce is nutrient deficient, due to GMO and lesser quality soil.  Also, I may not always eat a balanced diet.
+I don't like that Vitamin Code Multi got bought out by some huge [[sociology:self-governance#sociology-of-companies |corporation]], so I was looking elsewhere.  I was looking at VitaminIQ or Naturelo, but the reviews I found on them, suspiciously where being pumped up by another website designed to trick google into improving the [[information-technology:2019-web-hosting#seo-search-engine-optimization |SEO]].  [[https://decorengarden.co/naturelo-multivitamin-vs-garden-of-life |This bogus website]].  I could tell it was a bogus website, because, besides not having anything besides lawyer-speak pages, and unrelated blog entries, it borrowed images directly from the servers where I found the multivitamin reviews (information I have thanks to my using [[information-technology:2020-ublock-origin-extension|ublock origin]]).  So I can't find any independent reviews, aside from perhaps [[https://labdoor.com/rankings/multivitamins |labdoor]] and [[https://www.consumerlab.com |consumerlab]].  Neither of these have reviewed Naturelo or VitaminIQ, so I guess I am going to stick with Vitamin Code for now.
+===== 20200318 =====
+May add Bromelain, Amla, Eleuthero\\
+May take all supplements with coffee in morning, with ghee and inositol ("bulletproof" style), along with ~4g glucomannan which slows digestion and increases absorption
+Now Supplements sells Gaba that includes B6, because B6 is a cofactor in forming Gaba in the brain.  However, I don't think I need to take B6 with Gaba, unless I am deficient in B6.  "Eighty to ninety percent of vitamin B6 in the body is found in muscles and estimated body stores amount to about 170 mg with a half-life of 25-33 days." [[https://vkm.no/download/18.645b840415d03a2fe8f2653d/1499330353450/087ba2170f.pdf |source]].  [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4056565 |More detailed info on plasma b6 levels]].
+Quote from Lifespan.io, Josh Conway:
+"As a general rule, as researchers discover more about aging, they often find that it is a panoply of processes, even within individual hallmarks of aging. For example, there is currently no broad senolytic treatment that destroys all senescent cells; instead, different senescent cell types require different senolytics. It should be absolutely no surprise, then, that genomic instability is turning out to be a broad term that refers to multiple types of genetic damage, each of which has its own symptoms and potential therapies."
+May add Astragalus Membranaceus[[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5758356 |1]].
+Considering taking the following during a flu: https://examine.com/supplements/andrographis-paniculata.  Also zinc and elderberry lozenges or syrup.  Also considered https://examine.com/supplements/pelargonium-sidoides, except that the "vast majority" of studies were funded by a company that sells a patented extract.
+https://thehealthbeat.com/best-worst-multi-vitamins-athletes/
+===== 20200111 =====
+Absorption comparison of different curcumin formulations:\\
+https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/#sources-and-structure_formulations-and-variants\\
+https://pureprescriptions.com/scientific-study-reveals-the-best-curcumin-product
+Turmeric is not easily absorbed on its own.  Piperine, a component of black pepper, aids in its absorption.  Absorption can be increased alternatively by other methods, such as complexing with phospholipids (such as the Meriva formulation).   Turmeric standardized to 95% curcumins, is often just called Curcumin.  Even if not absorbed, turmeric helps the digestive system.
 ===== 20191117 =====
@@ Line 77: / Line 137: @@
 === nicotinamide riboside ===
+Update: Maybe the better option for this is intermittent fasting?  See https://lifeapps.io/fasting/the-5-stages-of-intermittent-fasting\\
+Update: Maybe the better option for this is niacin: https://www.lifespan.io/news/niacin-increases-nad-significantly-in-human-trial
 see "basis"
@@ Line 146: / Line 209: @@
 Why are so many sleep herbs anti-androgen or estrogenic?  Most of the research is on women, so maybe the effect is related to improved hormone regulation, rather than being anti-androgenic.  Maybe the phytoestrogens compete with estrogen, not just promoting the pathway.[[https://nwhn.org/herbs-and-phytoestrogens |1]]  So it's complicated.  I was taking chamomile, valerian, and skullcap before bed, but have discontinued until I have a definite conclusion.  Even ginkgo, green tea extract, and panax ginseng are implicated, but I will continue to take those for now, as I've been taking them forever.  Example research: [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693613 |Plant Derived Anti-Androgens]].
+"The results of the present study led to the conclusion
+that the isoflavone dosage (40 mg) in the supplement,
+which is similar to the amounts consumed in many
+Eastern nations [36], had no effect on gonadotrophin or
+sex hormone levels or on semen quality. However, the
+studies in experimental animals suggest that exposure
+to phytoestrogens in the developmental period is not
+advisable [32]. Moreover, the results of our study do not
+exclude the possibility that supplementation at a higher
+dose or over a more prolonged period would produce
+modifications in male reproductive health." [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11352776 |(Mitchel et al 2001)]]
+"Exposure to endocrine disruptors (e.g. BPA or dioxins) during critical periods of reproductive development increases the incidence of reproductive disorders. Given the popularity of soy‐based formula, isoflavone supplements and soy‐derived products, a better understanding of the influence of phyto‐oestrogens on male development is needed. To date, there has been a lack of consistency in human and animal studies examining the effects of soy and phyto‐oestrogens on reproductive parameters. These discrepancies certainly reflect the variety of experimental designs, the differences between the specific endpoints measured but also inadequate descriptions or insufficient sample size to permit confidence in the observed results. In humans for example, it would be important to investigate adult male reproductive and endocrine functions of healthy full‐term infant fed soy‐based formula compared with breast‐fed or cow milk formula‐fed infants. These studies should investigate pubertal development and reproductive endpoints such as adult testicular function (testicular volume, spermiogram) and endocrine parameters (testosterone, DHT, oestradiol, LH, FSH, IGF1, INSL3, etc). The cohorts should be large enough to ensure statistical power to detect meaningful differences. Concerning animal studies, the choice of the animal model and nutritional differences in animal diets need to be considered carefully when designing experiment. It would be relevant to assess dose response relationships, mutigenerational studies and evaluation of both reproductive and post‐natal endpoints. Finally, most studies are designed to investigate the effects of a single endocrine disrupting chemical. Although straightforward in term of scientific design, this approach fails to appreciate the chemical soup that is more typical of the human or animal environment. Thus further investigation is needed to evaluate the consequences of simultaneous exposure to phyto‐oestrogens and other EDCs on fertility and testicular function." [[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2605.2009.01011.x |(Cederoth et al 2010)]]
+Basically, it's "we know nothing", except that it does have effects.  If you are an aging woman, my guess is that taking them is beneficial to make up for decreased hormone levels.  If you are male, they should be avoided.
 ===== 20190731 =====
@@ Line 161: / Line 240: @@
 [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19584739 |This 2009 study]] shows that time release melatonin improves sleep quality.  Unfortunately, it was funded by a pharma company (shows "FORENAP pharma", but if you download the full text, you will see Neurim Pharma, in Tel Aviv), thus the results are practically worthless.  Another [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18036082 |2007]] study from Neurim.  I found several studies, dating from [[https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/18/7/598/2749726 |1995]] to 2010, with similar conclusions, and they were all funded by Neurim pharmaceuticals.  Very suspicious to have several publications from different years from the same funding source.  [[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-079X.2007.00528.x |Another study]] on children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, but with one of the authors also having a pharma connection.  I am disappointed that Examine.com didn't mention this detail, which leaves a lot of sleuthing work to be done in the future for results I have taken for granted.  I still believe melatonin may be beneficial to supplement (due to hormonal decline in old age), but improvements in sleep quality or insomnia is not a proven benefit.
 ===== 20190508 =====
@@ Line 275: / Line 355: @@
 {{:health:metabolic-pathway-for-the-synthesis-of-choline-and-related-compounds.jpg?450|}} {{:health:metabolites-of-the-homocysteine-remethylation-and-sulfoxation-transsulfuration.png?650|}} {{:health:f1.large.jpg?650|}}
+Update 20211107:\\
+https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4611077/\\
+"Concentrations of pHcy were reduced by 23 % with the combination of the nutrients betaine, pyridoxine, choline and creatine supplied directly to suckling piglets during lactation."

Life Hacks for Health

User Tools

Site Tools

Differences

Page Tools