Hi, Lance here, and I know that some of you have been waiting a long time for this video.
Today, we’re gonna be talking about supplements.
So, for everything you ever wanted to know about supplements, and then some, stay tuned.
I’ve been wanting to do this video for a long time,
and I’ve gotten a lot of requests in the comment section asking me to do this video.
Supplements are an important aspect of any strategy to extend longevity.
Now, there’s a lot of information that I’ve collected regarding supplements,
so I’ve decided to break it into 2 parts.
The first part is the video itself, and here you’ll find information that’s more general;
what supplements are, benefits and reasons for taking them,
how to build supplement stacks, how to buy them and how to take them.
The second part is an infographic that I've created
and that’s where you’ll find detailed information on specific supplements,
like dosing information and what conditions they address.
Watch this video to the end and download that PDF.
I guess I begin by giving some definitions of “supplements” and there’s are a couple.
First, what I think of as the original definition.
And that’s something that you take to augment molecules that you already get in your diet.
These are typically vitamins and minerals.
You can get them from the whole, healthy foods that you eat, but sometime not in sufficient quantities.
So you need to argument those insufficient amounts with supplements.
The second definition is more broad, and it doesn’t simply refer to vitamins and minerals,
there’s also botanicals and adjuncts.
Sometimes they’re things that you can get in your diet, but in other instances they’re not.
So, I’m going to be using the second definition.
When I refer to the word “supplement”
I’m going to be referring to a whole broad range of products that you can take to support or improve your health and longevity.
When I’m talking about vitamins and minerals, as in the first definition,
I’ll try to actually say “vitamins” and “minerals.”
All right. I want to start out by saying that most supplements,
with the possible exception of supplemental protein, are considered to be micronutrients…
as opposed to macronutrients like protein, carbs and fats.
You only need to take them in really small amounts,
usually measured in a range that extend from the micrograms to milligrams.
Macronutrients, on the other hand, are required in larger amounts
and usually measured in ounces or grams.
OK, so there are principally 4 types of supplements.
Now, this is my definition and my own categorization.
I don’t know if anybody else breaks it down like this, but this is what I use.
The first category is vitamins.
These are organic molecules that are considered an essential micronutrient
that we humans need for the proper functioning of our metabolism.
The second category is minerals,
and these are inorganic elements and compounds that are also required by our metabolism in order to function properly.
I think that most of use are pretty familiar with vitamins and minerals.
Next is botanicals.
An example of this would be herbs that have been traditionally used in Ayurvdic medicine for millennia.
Things like ashwagandha, ginseng and turmeric.
A number of these have been studied scientifically
and shown to have benefits for both your health and your longevity.
The final category is adjuncts.
These are essentially anything that’s not a vitamin, mineral or botanical.
This would include things like CoQ-10, creatine, DHEA and the like.
Now there’s another possible category.
And that would be things like metfornim, rapamycin,
berberine, fisetin, dasatanib, and quercitin.
Most of these would be considered medications,
because you can’t get them without a prescription from your doctor.
Now, some of them are available without a prescription,
but all of them are molecules that have been demonstrated in scientific studies to enhance longevity.
So I’m going to create a 5th category, strictly for my own purposes, and call it “medications.”
This category I sometimes might include in “supplements” and sometimes not.
So when I do, I make a note of it.
OK, moving on.
Let go briefly into the benefits and reasons to take supplements.
Supplements can increase anti-oxidants, reduce the risk of some cancers, postpone age-related disease,
optimize hormones, and promote longevity by delaying cellular senescence,
combating cellular damage, improving or restoring mitochondrial function and boosting autophagy.
And there’s a lot of good reasons to take supplements.
If you have poor eating habits, taking supplements can fill a nutritional gap.
Nutritional absorption goes down as we age, and exercise can increase nutritional needs.
Taking supplements can bridge this gap and they can bolster your immune system.
Finally, modern farming practices depletes the soil of essential nutrients,
so the food that it produces probably doesn’t have the same nutritional value that it used to.
All of these are good reasons to take supplements.
OK, so you’ve decided that taking supplements is an excellent idea…
but which supplements should you take?
There are countless supplements that are available, and you could spend of fortune on supplements.
So here’s what I did, and again, this is how I do it…
I’m not necessarily suggesting that anyone else follow my plan.
So, I break supplements down into stacks, and I have several stacks.
I have what I call a foundational stack,
a longevity stack, a nootropic stack, a stack for optimizing my hormones and treating ED,
and a skincare and joint health stack.
And finally, what I call a “medication” stack.
Now, let’s break it down.
The foundational stack are the supplements that I take to ensure that I stay healthy.
So, this stack includes a good multivitamin.
This gives me most of the vitamins and minerals that I need.
These include vitamins A, B complex, C, D, & E
as well as the minerals iodine, magnesium, selenium, zinc, boron, manganese.
It does not include vitamin K, so I take another supplement for that.
Now, this multivitamin is a bit low in calcium, magnesium and zinc;
so I take an additional supplement for that.
In addition to the vitamins and minerals,
there are some additional nutrients that I’ve identified that I take in my foundational stack.
I feel that I need some additional omega-3 fatty acids, so I take fish oil.
I also take CoQ10 in the form of Ubiquinol and I take PPQ.
I also supplement with creatine monohydrate and finally, I supplement my protein intake.
Next is my longevity stack.
Now this one gets a little complicated.
Mostly, because I’m always changing it up.
I cycle my supplements, depending on my current health, longevity and exercise goals,
which I’m also changing frequently.
Now, I’m going to save that discussion about how and why I change up my goals for another video.
So, first off, I include either resveratrol or pterostilbene…
to be honest, I haven’t come down in favor or either, but I’m leaning towards pterostilbene.
I also include quercitin, berberine and fisetin in the cycle.
I take some form of NMN or NR.
Currently, this is another supplement that I haven’t made up my mind about yet,
but primarily because the research is in it’s infancy and both NMN and NR are so expensive.
Now, because taking large amounts of any form of nicotinamide can interfere with methylation,
I also take trimethyl glycine, or TMG, to offset that.
Next is my nootropics stack.
I did some videos on nootropics where I get into a lot more specifics,
but in a nutshell, I take Alpha GPC, noopept, piracetam, L-theanine, and phenabut.
Sometimes I also take MCT oil.
Now, optimizing my hormones is really important to me, so I also have a stack for that.
A lot of what I need is covered by the foundational stack,
so this stack is just the additional supplements that I take.
I take boron and DHEA, and sometimes I cycle sublingual oxytocin & melatonin.
Now, as it turns out, my thyroid is actually in pretty good shape,
but for a lot of folks as they age, their thyroid levels can drop, and if that were the case,
I'd also be taking something for that.
I also have a stack for joint & skincare health and this includes oral hyaluronic acid, collagen and ceramides.
Finally, there’s what I call my "medication” stack.
This includes things that I need a prescription for, and technically,
since they’re all things that I take to extend longevity, they could also be included in the longevity stack.
These are things like metformin, dasatanib, and rapamycin…
if I was taking rapamycin, which I’m not.
Everything in my medication stack I cycle, based on my goals.
For example, I only take dasatanib a couple times a year.
Alright, let’s say that you’ve put together your own stacks of supplements
and you’re ready to start purchasing the supplements in those stacks, right?
Hold on just moment,
there are some things you should know about making those purchases…
things that I’m sure a lot of you already know.
Supplement manufacturers are required to produce dietary supplements
in a quality manner and ensure that they do not contain contaminants or impurities,
and are accurately labeled according to current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) and labeling regulations.
Dietary supplement labels must include name and location information for the manufacturer or distributor.
But let’s face it, the supplement industry is huge and there’s a lot of money to made in supplements.
There are a lot of unscrupulous supplement manufactures and distributors out there.
So, buyer beware. Do your due diligence.
Make sure that whoever you get your supplements from are reputable.
Now personally,
I know that the Life Extensions Foundation provides it’s members with supplements of the highest quality,
and that’s where I get a lot of my supplements.
OK, you’ve decided on your stacks, and you’ve gone out and purchased your supplements.
The only thing you still need to know is how to take them.
And there’s 3 things we need to cover:
dosing, timing, and absorption which is whether or not the supplement is fat or water soluble.
But first, you should always strive to get as many of the molecules in supplements as you can from your diet.
You should always be using supplements to augment the molecules you naturally get in the food that you eat,
not replacing them.
The molecules that you get in your diet
will always be both superior in quality and better absorbed than the molecules you obtain from supplements.
Let’s tackle doses first.
And to do that, we’ll need to discuss some definitions.
RDA means “Recommended Daily Allowance”
and it’s the average daily intake of nutrients that sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of most people.
Now, that’s under normal circumstance…
if you’re sick or have some other medical condition, these requirements can differ.
The RDA is established by Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine.
Now, for some supplements, there’s just not enough evidence to set an RDA,
so in these instances AIs, or Adequate Intakes, have been established,
and these estimates are really just a best guess of how much a person should take to adequately support good health.
Now, there’s also DVs, or Daily Values, and these are set by the FDA.
But they’re based on RDAs and IAs, and they’re not always up-to-date.
The FDA has given manufactures deadlines to update their labels,
but they’ve extended some of those deadline out until 2021, so some outdated DVs may still appear.
For some supplements, an Upper Limit, or UL, has been established.
There may be an increased risk of adverse side effects when taking supplements in amounts which exceed the upper limit,
although in some cases this risk may be deemed acceptable, such as when used in a medical treatment.
Finally, there’s what’s called a therapeutic dose, which is usually quite a bit higher than the RDA.
This is the amount that one might decide to take in order to achieve a certain result or effect.
For example, the RDA for vitamin C is 90 mg/day for men and 75 mg/day for women.
But if you’re trying to fight off a cold or the flu, you might want to take 6,000 to 10,000 miligrams of vitamin C.
Bottom line? Read the label and start with the RDA.
If you’ve done you’re due diligence and know that you need to take more,
or you’re working hand-in-hand with your doctor…go from there.
But remember to track how many supplements you’re getting from your diet
and adding them to the supplements that you take
so that you have a good idea of the total amount of supplements you’re taking.
Now, let’s talk about absorption.
Not every supplement breaks down in your body the same way.
When and how you take it can have a lot of impact on how well it’s absorbed.
For that reason, it’s a good idea to know if you’re taking your vitamin at a time of day that will give you the most benefit.
Some dietary supplements should be taken with food, while others may be best taken on an empty stomach.
Fat soluble vitamins are stored in the liver and should be taken with a meal containing some kind of fat to aid absorption.
Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, K, E and D.
Water-soluble vitamins are absorbed best on an empty stomach.
That means taking them first thing in the morning, 30 minutes prior to eating or two hours after a meal.
Vitamin C, all B vitamins are water-soluble.
Water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water so your body can use them
and your body absorbs whatever amount of the vitamin it needs and flushes out the rest through urine.
Your body doesn't store these vitamins, so it’s a pretty good idea to supplement these vitamins in particular.
Finally, you need to be aware that some supplements can have an effect on the absorption of some medications,
like anticoagulants, certain antacids and antibiotics.
Also, be aware of any possible interactions between supplements and prescription drugs.
For example, don’t combine vitamin K with the blood thinner warfarin.
Make sure to read the label on both prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications
and have a talk with your doctor
about the prescription drugs and the supplements that you’re taking and any possible interactions.
OK, that does it for me.
Remember to download this infographic for more detail information on specific supplements.
Hope you enjoyed this video and got a lot out of it.
I’ll catch ya next week, I’m outta here!