9 Supplements With STRONG Evidence Of Benefit

nine supplements that actually work number one creatine but not for the reason you think most of us already know about creatine's effects on muscle performance and Recovery we also know that it's the most studied supplement to date and the initial safety concerns have been disproven specifically we know that creatine has no link to hair loss it does not increase uric acid levels it poses no risks to our kidneys it's not associated with dehydration or muscle cramping and it increases lean muscle mass not fat Mass but what most people don't know is the emerging evidence on

creatine's effects on cognitive performance creatine supplements not only increase muscle creatine stores but also brain creatine stores this is especially important during times of stress such as sleep disruption and even aging itself these challenges can cause the levels of brain creatine to decrease based on that idea multiple randomized clinical trials have been done to see if creatine supplements can improve brain performance perance and a metaanalysis published last year in August 2022 combined all of those studies together and yes it found that creating supplementation enhanced measures of memory performance in healthy individuals especially older adults but

while that result is very encouraging the analysis did find some problems 10 studies were included in the review but there was a moderate degree of heterogeneity which means that some trials did show a benefit whereas others didn't and in a perfect world we should see robust improvements across the board there was also a high risk of bias in six out of the 10 randomized control trials overall we have a really intriguing mechanism for how creatine supplements can further improve cognitive performance and it's another reason to supplement with creatine so personally I Take 5 G of

creatine every day including on the days that I don't work out and continuing with the theme of muscle performance number two on the list is protein powder we know that higher muscle strength is associated with lower all cause death rates so we should be aiming to maximize muscle strength in youth maintain that muscle strength in middle age and minimize the loss in older age this is why the preventative care clinical guidelines suggest to increase protein intake and the magic number appears to be 1.6 g of protein intake per kilogram of body weight per day and

older adults to compensate for their muscle loss and their digestive tracts don't absorb protein as well they should be targeting an even higher 2 G of protein intake per kilogram of body weight per day and that's a lot of protein for an 80 kg person that's 160 g of protein intake every day to put that in perspective that's more than half a kilogram of beef now I'm not suggesting that you should eat that much beef I'm just using that as an illustrative example of how difficult it is to reach those recommended protein intakes particularly when

for optimal muscle building the international Society of Sports Nutrition suggests that we should be having multiple protein meals throughout the day spaced about 3 to 4 hours apart to reach these high protein intakes protein powder is a fantastic option it's highly bioavailable and can be mixed in with smoothies and shakes just make sure that the powder you select doesn't have added sugar and salt now there is some controversy online about these high protein targets some longevity influencers will say the opposite that we should be targeting low protein intake this is based on mice studies showing

that mice live longer on a low protein diet but it's important to remember that we are not mice living in a controlled lab we need to be strong to maintain our independence as we age and resiliency against disease plus from the observational study in the British medical journal published in 2020 it shows that higher protein intakes are associated with a lower all cause death rate so in addition to a great diet protein powders are fantastic to help you reach these protein targets and continuing with the theme of muscle performance number three on the list is

TMG or trimethyl glycine TMG helps to accelerate the recycling of adenosine triphosphate and it may help enhance protein muscle synthesis but there is some controversy a 2017 meta analysis combining seven randomized control trials showed that only two of the studies reported increases in strength or power following supplementation with TMG but here's the crucial point it was only those two trials that combined TMG with exercise the other five studies gave TMG to individuals who weren't exercising and there were no benefits seen just taking TMG supplements is not going to offer benefits you have to exercise as

well for example a 2021 randomized control trial of professional soccer players showed that TMG improved V2 Max and Sprint ability performance but it's not just the muscle performers benefits for why I take TMG a 2020 analysis looking at risk factors for Alzheimer's disease concluded that lowering homosysteine levels in the blood seems to be the most promising intervention to prevent Alzheimer's disease which is exactly what TMG does now it's not a done deal a lot more research needs to be done before any firm conclusions can be made about TMG and its effects on lowering dementia rates

but it is an interesting mechanism and just like creatine it offers an extra reason to take TMG so I take between 500 mg and 1 G every day on the point of brain health number four is multivitamin and mineral supplements 31% of the US population are at risk of at least one vitamin deficiency people often struggle to reach the recommended daily intakes of all of the micronutrients just from diet alone specifically vitamin B3 D3 K2 zinc and magnesium and we have evidence from a massive 2022 randomized controlled trial involving over 2,000 participants over a 3-year

period that daily multivitamin and mineral supplements relative to Placebo resulted in a statistically significant benefit on global cognition but I want to be clear about two important points multivitamin and mineral supplements should in no way replace a great diet and the second point is to not me a do so while it's important to reach our recommended daily intakes most multivitamin supplements they significantly overshoot and a quick note about the form of magnesium to take personally I prefer magnesium Tate a recent study in mice showed that the amino acid toine extended mice lifespan by between 10

and 12% so there's a lot to consider When selecting a multivitamin and mineral supplement But continuing with the theme of brain health number five on the list is omega-3 observational Studies have consistently shown that people who consume fish have significantly reduced cognitive decline compared to people who don't eat fish which led to a lot of excitement that Omega-3 supplements might be the key that if we supplement with omega-3 we can reduce cognitive decline unfortunately though the evidence from randomized control trials is lacking and is not the reason why I take omega-3 for example a trial

done in the UK of 748 people showed that compared to Placebo Omega-3 supplements offered no cognitive benefits the same can be said for a randomized control trial of 3,51 alter adults again no benefit was seen and finally in the Omega ad trial for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease no benefit was seen multiple metaanalyses have been done combining these randomized control trials and again no benefit is seen instead here is the reason why I take Omega-3 supplements a massive study called the vital trial showed an unexpectedly High 28% reduction in the risk of having

heart attacks for the groups that took omega-3 and a mayoclinic meta analysis that combined all of the relevant clinical studies together showed a significant reduction in the risk of heart attacks with a high-grade certainty I take between 1 to two capsules of Omega-3 every day and continuing with heart health number six on the list is pelium husk pelium husk is a fantastic source of fiber which is critical for our gut bacteria our gut bacteria have complex interactions between our immune system and we can see that higher fiber intakes are associated with reductions in cholesterol specifically

LDL cholesterol just like protein powder it can be mixed into smoothies or shapes and it helps keep you Fuller for longer number seven is collagen peptides and this is controversial we have multiple human studies showing that collagen supplements reduce wrinkles by about 8% but these findings are incredibly controversial collagen peptides are short chains of amino acids and amino acids make up protein so one interesting question is whether there would be any significant benefit from collagen peptide supplements if your protein intake is fine to explore this idea a randomized double blind trial was done in burn

patients published in 2020 one group took the hydrolized collagen and the other group took protein the authors found that the wound healing rate was significantly higher following supplementation with hydrolyzed collagen compared to protein and crucially that study was not sponsored by a supplement company there were no conflicts of interest to declare the one criticism of that study that often comes up in the comment section is that the protein that was used in the trial was soy protein but Soy is a fantastic protein supplement it's incredibly bioavailable and contrary to the noise on social media soy

has no effect on estrogen or testosterone levels and when we have a look at the latest metaanalysis published this year in 2023 it combined 26 separate randomized control trials and it found good evidence that hydrolyzed collagen improves skin hydration and elasticity So based on the research we have so far I take between 10 and 15 G of collagen peptide supplements every day this is in addition to the protein targets continuing with skin Health number eight is hyaluronic acid multiple randomized control trials in humans show that we have significant decreases in skin wrinkles following hyaluronic acid

supplements by about 18% and the latest trial showing that 18% decrease in wrinkles again had no conflicts of interest to declare the one safety concern that often pops up on social media is cancer but when hyaluronic acid is given to mice that already have cancer there is no effect and the human studies going out 12 months also show no safety concerns the final point is molecular weight now when we take hyaluronic acid supplements it's broken down into shorter chains or low molecular weight so personally I don't think it particularly matters which molecular weight of the

hyaluronic acid you take and I take 200 mg number 9 is lowd dose melatonin but not just for the effects on sleeve and there is another supplement at the end of the video we know from multiple studies that melatonin helps people fall asleep quicker and improves Sleep Quality but the big issue is dose and timing melatonin is a chronobiotic agent meaning that it can shift our sleep wake cycle so it's critical to take melatonin supplements 1 to 2 hours before trying to fall asleep otherwise it has no effect then there's the issue of dose our

bodies create up to 80 microG of melatonin per hour as we sleep so for an 8h hour sleep that's 640 microG but people who take melatonin supplements often take orders of magnitude higher doses than that we have no idea about the long-term effects that that can have so people like Professor Andrew hooperman rightly warn against high doses of melatonin personally I think the maximum dose of Melatonin that people should consider is 300 microgr and melatonin doesn't only have effects on sleep it also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects this is especially important to consider with respect

to aging because as we age there's a 10-fold decrease in the amount of melatonin that our body produces so it's possible that there's a vicious cycle at play where as we have lower levels of melatonin the age related inflammation gets worse which itself further decreases the amount of melatonin we produce so older adults may consider a lowd do prolonged release version of melatonin again taken 1 to 2 hours before trying to fall asleep this may help to restore the Melatonin levels back to a more youthful state but I want to be absolutely clear that the

evidence for this in humans is lacking it's an interesting mechanism but there's no evidence for example that the strategy will reduce mortality rates or heart disease it is an active area of research that I'm following closely and the final supplement on the list is Knack and this is the least evidence-based supplement that I would consider as we age the levels of oxidants increase in an attempt to maintain survival until they betray their original original purpose so what we want to do is strike a balance between oxidants and antioxidants but from the age of 45 a

powerful antioxidant called glutathione declines rapidly so by supplementing with the building blocks of glutathione we can help restore our glutathione levels and restore that balance between oxidants and antioxidants to explore this concept a randomized clinical trial was done which found that Glycine and Knack supplements in Old adults significantly corrected the glutathion deficiency and improved D their mitochondrial function we're very early in the research Journey on this strategy but it's an area I'm following closely now collagen supplements already have high quantities of glycine and I already take TMG which is trimethyl glycine so from the age

of 45 I would only add 1 G of neack and again this is the least evidence-based supplement that I would consider we've talked a lot about supplements and it's a Minefield out there so make sure to check out this next video here that outlines the four wasteful supplements that you should avoid to save your money