I have anecdotally heard a lot of benefits of supplementing magnesium, but haven't done a deep dive or committed to supplementing (yet). A quick search for a meta-analysis of randomized control trials looks like its effective in reducing inflammatory factories in serum and increasing nitric oxide levels.
Do you take it? If so, for which benefits, and do you believe you're getting them?
I drink a Slow-mag fizzie every evening, which contains 172mg Mg and 150mg Vitamin C. According to Dr Google it alleviates leg cramps and helps to improve sleep. I suffer from both. Can’t say whether my crappy sleep is any better, though…
There are a few fairly comprehensive Meta-Analysis on the Role of magnesium in Sleep Health. I'm linking the most recent I can find below. The punchlines?
- For normal healthy people in observational studies, it seems to help.
- For people with sleep disorders in randomized control trials (gold standard for the clinic), it has mixed results.
Thanks for the article. As a person suffering from a chronic inflammatory disease learning about anti-oxidant foods and supplements has drastically improved my quality of life.
I think we should all do some gentle exploration of supplements. My general rule is the weirder the supplements name the higher caution you should employ.
I.e. do you research and don’t do multiple things at once.
Great points. If I have a follow-up in the future, I'll add your advice regarding naming and caution lol.
I have also felt a lot of issues with inflammation, especially eating American food and food-like products. This seems to miraculously get better when I am outside of the US. But this is all anecdotal.
What antioxidant supplements have you found to be most impactful?
This is only my personal experience, of course, but turmeric with black pepper extract (to increase potency/absorption), zinc 50mg (not sure you need this daily, but it is helpful), vitamin E, (a combination supplement of both tocopherols and tocotrioenols, it’s expensive but the tocotrienols I think are worth it).
It’s hard to exactly explain what they all do specifically. Deep seek has a load of theories, but I know they help with my inflammation. Unfortunately with my situation I get direct feedback when I forget to take these for a substantial period of time.
Excellent concise article. I really appreciate this info, David. I've been taking a few supplements (Vit D, fish oil, and B complex) and had skimmed the literature but not done enough of a deep dive.
I'd enjoy an article about the opposite: supplements that are known to be pointless to take and have zero evidence showing any benefit.
I’m glad this could be valuable! If it seems a bit like I’m thinking my way through what to take, it’s because that’s exactly what’s happening. I’m just hoping that the info can helpful to others.
What not to take sounds like a great follow-up. I’ll put it in the queue. A few supplements already come to mind.
I meant to say that I went through a period of drinking matcha (and still do occasionally), in part because of the theanine content. I'd never considered actually supplementing caffeine directly with theanine. I might try it.
I don’t see any mention of magnesium as a supplement?
I have anecdotally heard a lot of benefits of supplementing magnesium, but haven't done a deep dive or committed to supplementing (yet). A quick search for a meta-analysis of randomized control trials looks like its effective in reducing inflammatory factories in serum and increasing nitric oxide levels.
Do you take it? If so, for which benefits, and do you believe you're getting them?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35277037/
I drink a Slow-mag fizzie every evening, which contains 172mg Mg and 150mg Vitamin C. According to Dr Google it alleviates leg cramps and helps to improve sleep. I suffer from both. Can’t say whether my crappy sleep is any better, though…
There are a few fairly comprehensive Meta-Analysis on the Role of magnesium in Sleep Health. I'm linking the most recent I can find below. The punchlines?
- For normal healthy people in observational studies, it seems to help.
- For people with sleep disorders in randomized control trials (gold standard for the clinic), it has mixed results.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fatemeh-Shirani/publication/358731543_The_Role_of_Magnesium_in_Sleep_Health_a_Systematic_Review_of_Available_Literature/links/62ad95c9e1193368baa5f162/The-Role-of-Magnesium-in-Sleep-Health-a-Systematic-Review-of-Available-Literature.pdf
Thanks for the article. As a person suffering from a chronic inflammatory disease learning about anti-oxidant foods and supplements has drastically improved my quality of life.
I think we should all do some gentle exploration of supplements. My general rule is the weirder the supplements name the higher caution you should employ.
I.e. do you research and don’t do multiple things at once.
Great piece.
Great points. If I have a follow-up in the future, I'll add your advice regarding naming and caution lol.
I have also felt a lot of issues with inflammation, especially eating American food and food-like products. This seems to miraculously get better when I am outside of the US. But this is all anecdotal.
What antioxidant supplements have you found to be most impactful?
This is only my personal experience, of course, but turmeric with black pepper extract (to increase potency/absorption), zinc 50mg (not sure you need this daily, but it is helpful), vitamin E, (a combination supplement of both tocopherols and tocotrioenols, it’s expensive but the tocotrienols I think are worth it).
It’s hard to exactly explain what they all do specifically. Deep seek has a load of theories, but I know they help with my inflammation. Unfortunately with my situation I get direct feedback when I forget to take these for a substantial period of time.
Health Stack: Pills, just pills
Collagen Peptide comes as a powder for me!
Excellent concise article. I really appreciate this info, David. I've been taking a few supplements (Vit D, fish oil, and B complex) and had skimmed the literature but not done enough of a deep dive.
I'd enjoy an article about the opposite: supplements that are known to be pointless to take and have zero evidence showing any benefit.
I’m glad this could be valuable! If it seems a bit like I’m thinking my way through what to take, it’s because that’s exactly what’s happening. I’m just hoping that the info can helpful to others.
What not to take sounds like a great follow-up. I’ll put it in the queue. A few supplements already come to mind.
Thanks David.
I meant to say that I went through a period of drinking matcha (and still do occasionally), in part because of the theanine content. I'd never considered actually supplementing caffeine directly with theanine. I might try it.
What are some super b complexes that you like?