Essentials: Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

“So, for instance, alpha-GPC, which is essentially a choline donor, acts in the pathways related to the neuromodulator acetylcholine and can enhance focus. So, at dosages of anywhere from 300 to 600 milligrams, people experience heightened levels of focus for sake of mental work or physical work.”

“or physical work. The half-life of alpha-GPC is about four to six hours, so it's relatively short-lasting, although you wouldn't necessarily want to take it right before bed. I don't recommend that.”

“So, for instance, 300 milligrams to 600 milligrams of alpha GPC taken alone will allow people to be more focused, but doesn't tend to make people feel jittery or overstimulated. Similarly,”

“Then you decide to combine them. What people tend to experience is that the cholinergic stimulation from alpha GPC and the dopaminergic stimulation from L-tyrosine, or simply L-tyrosine alone, or alpha-GPC alone, leads to increased levels of focus without the kind of overall feelings of stimulant-based alertness that one would experience with caffeine.”

“that combine all three of these things together: caffeine, alpha GPC, and L-tyrosine. And while I'm not suggesting that's a good or a bad thing, I would suggest that anytime you start to explore the cognitive enhancing effects and the focus-enhancing effects of any supplement, that you ask which ones are stimulants.”

“So, for instance, caffeine and alpha-uhimbine, which ones tend to tap more into neuromodulator systems like alpha-GPC and L-tyrosine, and to separate those out conceptually, because whereas things like Alpha yohimbine and caffeine will mostly serve the role of increasing levels of”

“Again, individual ingredients are going to be the way to go in terms of figuring out what's best for you. I will routinely take 300 milligrams of alpha GPC prior to some cognitive work or prior to a workout. I do often combine that with some caffeine, not in capsule or pill form, but rather in the form of a cup of coffee or Yerba Mate.”

“Fadogia agrestis. This is an herb that I've talked about before on the podcast that, when taken at dosages of 600 milligrams per day, many people, not all, report elevated levels of libido, elevated sperm production, elevated testosterone, in some cases, elevated estrogen, a bunch of hormones downstream of luteinizing hormone.”

“bunch of hormones downstream of luteinizing hormone. Now, are you going to be a Fadogia agrestis responder or a non-responder? There's simply no way to know except by trying it. If you are going to go down this route, there are two very important considerations.”

“that are recommended on various product labels and cycling fadogia agrestis can be important. Some people need to cycle it eight weeks on, two weeks off. Other people opt for 12 weeks on, a month off. Stay within the recommended dosage ranges. You can go lower, but certainly don't go higher.”

“Just because there's a recommended dosage of Fadogia agrestis of, say, 600 milligrams per day, first of all, that is not an invitation to take twice as much and expect twice the positive effects. That is not a good approach, especially with something like Fadogia agrestis, which can at high dosages be toxic.”

“what's going to work for you in the immediate end in the long term, and to ease into any kind of supplement regimen. So, Fadogia Agrestis is a good example of a supplement that is known to have potent effects, but you need to approach it with the appropriate, I would say, respect for the fact that the dosage ranges in which it works have to be kept pretty narrow without causing issues.”

“The other supplement is Apigenin, A-P-I-G-E-N-I-N. Apigenin, which is a derivative of chamomile. I've talked about this in various podcasts before, also acts as a bit of an anxiety-lowering”

“and stay asleep? Well, would you immediately take magnesium threonate and apigenin together? Well, that depends. If you have the budget and you just simply want to fall asleep quicker and you don't care which of those two ingredients is going to be more effective for you, well, then you could try one, for instance, magnesium threonate,”

“perhaps, a week and see how that affects your latency to sleep time, that is how quickly you fall asleep, or you could try apigenin in the first week, or you could combine them both, or you could try magnesium threonate for a week, then switch to only apigenin for a week and evaluate which one works better for you.”

“that they just say, okay, I'm just going to take magnesium threonate, I'm going to take apigenin, I'm going to take theanine. If my dreams are too vivid and I'm waking up in the middle of the night from excessively vivid dreams, I'll drop the theanine, and many people actually derive great benefit from that approach. I think one week's time of taking something,”

“sleep and allowing people to ease into sleep more readily. And those are magnesium threonate, which is interchangeable with magnesium bisglycinate. Both have transporter systems that allow them to readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and they lead to a mild form of drowsiness.”

“Well, would you immediately take magnesium threonate and apigenin together? Well, that depends. If you have the budget and you just simply want to fall asleep quicker and you don't care which of those two ingredients is going to be more effective for you, well, then you could try one, for instance, magnesium threonate,”

“That is how quickly you fall asleep. Or you could try apigenin in the first week, or you could combine them both, or you could try magnesium threonate for a week, then switch to only apigenin for a week and evaluate which one works better for you.”

“That said, a lot of people want excellent sleep so badly that they just say, okay, I'm just going to take magnesium threonate, I'm going to take apigenin, I'm going to take theanine. If my dreams are too vivid and I'm waking up in the middle of the night from excessively vivid dreams, I'll drop the theanine.”

“And there are things like yohimbine and different forms of yohimbine, like alpha-yohimbine. There are multiple forms of these things now. I would go to examine.com to explore the different forms of yohimbine.”

Also filed under Yohimbine

“One particular form is called alpha yohimbine. It sometimes goes by the name Rauwolscine, and that's spelled R-A-U-W-O-L-S-C-I-N-E. Again, that's alpha-yohimbine, and it's used as a stimulant, often to also promote fat loss and alertness. I have to say that it's a very potent and somewhat precarious supplement. Some people experience a lot of anxiety on it.”

“and to separate those out conceptually, because whereas things like Alpha yohimbine and caffeine will mostly serve the role of increasing levels of alertness, but not tightening your focus, things like alpha-GPC and L-tyrosine tend to serve the role of less elevation in alertness but more tightening of focus.”

“upset. The so-called foundational supplements include, of course, vitamin and mineral supplements, but has expanded over the last decade or more to also include supplements that have vitamins and minerals, but also things like digestive enzymes.”

“toward focus or hormone augmentation, but rather that they focus on buffering and enhancing their foundational nutrition, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive”

“because they are so crucial to developing a rational supplementation protocol. The most important of which is unless we're talking about foundational nutritional support, that is coverage of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, probiotics, prebiotics, and adaptogens, we should really be focusing on single-ingredient formulations.”

“fish oil capsules or liquid can be beneficial for a number of different aspects of brain and body health and can enhance focus and cognitive ability.”

“a high quality omega-3 fatty acid fish oil and to ingest it in quantities sufficient enough to get above that one gram of EPA per day. Again, this is really important.”

“So again, this would be single ingredient supplement. I would say it's going to be a high quality omega-3 fatty acid, typically taken in the form of fish oil. Again, you have to decide based on your budget, etc.”

“Those people would do well to avoid certain supplements. So, in a moment, I'll talk about the value of a supplement called theanine for falling asleep. But theanine, which typically is taken in dosages anywhere from 100 milligrams to 400 milligrams, theanine can be great for many people,”

“of their intense dreams, would do well to avoid theanine supplementation. Now, for those of you that are not waking up in the middle of the night or not having excessively vivid dreams, but are having trouble falling asleep, two supplements in particular have been shown to be effective for shortening the transition time to sleep and allowing people to ease into sleep more readily.”

“threonate, I'm going to take apigenin, I'm going to take theanine. If my dreams are too vivid and I'm waking up in the middle of the night from excessively vivid dreams, I'll drop the theanine. And many people actually derive great benefit from that approach.”

“And here I'm referring to the so-called omega-3 essential fatty acids, in particular the omega-3 form of the essential fatty acids. There's now a lot of data showing that ingesting one to three grams of EPA in particular in the form of either fish oil capsules or liquid can be beneficial for a number of different aspects of brain and body health and can enhance focus and cognitive ability.”

“But if I were to be asked, you know, what is the one supplement that is a single ingredient supplement that serves the greatest role in increasing mental health, physical health, and performance.”

“So again, this would be single ingredient supplement. I would say it's going to be a high quality omega-3 fatty acid, typically taken in the form of fish oil. Again, you have to decide based on your budget, etc.”

“So, this would be, for instance, whey proteins or milk proteins or egg proteins or plant proteins. That's a discussion that in and of itself deserves an entire episode.”

“And that, of course, leads to a discussion about the quality and type of protein that would be present in a supplement like a whey protein supplement or casein, which is a milk protein-based supplement. That discussion is segmented and time stamped in the episode that I did with him.”

“to take whey-based protein. But the fact that whey-based proteins can be very useful for getting to and above a protein threshold for all sorts of reasons, not just for muscle building, although it's great for that, but for other purposes as well.”

“For other people, they might actually find it to be a very effective stimulant. In general, in terms of supplement-based approaches to increase cognitive function and focus, caffeine, either in coffee or tea form or in tablet or capsule form, but at lower dosages than you would find in coffee and tea, I think is actually a reasonable”

“I do often combine that with some caffeine, not in capsule or pill form, but rather in the form of a cup of coffee or Yerba Mate. And it turns out that for me, just by way of example, L-tyrosine is something that works very powerfully to elevate my level of focus, but that I tend to crash pretty hard afterward.”

“tend to make people feel jittery or overstimulated. Similarly, 500 milligrams to 1,000 milligrams or somewhere in between of something like L-tyrosine, which is an amino acid precursor to dopamine, a different neuromodulator, taken alone or in conjunction with, again, I believe in separating these things out by product, but I suppose you”

“experience with caffeine. And indeed, or I should say, of course, there are products out there and there are people out there that combine all three of these things together: caffeine, alpha GPC, and L-tyrosine.”

“for you toward your goals. Any discussion about supplementation for sleep, I feel has to include a discussion about melatonin. I've talked about melatonin before on numerous podcasts, mine and others.”

“The other reason is that melatonin supplements almost always include levels of melatonin or amounts of melatonin that far, far exceed the normal biological levels or so-called endogenous levels of melatonin that we would normally produce.”

“or more on supplements per month, then my recommendation is that they not focus on any specific supplements directed towards sleep or toward focus or hormone augmentation, but rather that they focus on buffering and enhancing their foundational nutrition, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive”

“because they are so crucial to developing a rational supplementation protocol. The most important of which is unless we're talking about foundational nutritional support, that is coverage of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, probiotics, prebiotics, and adaptogens, we should really be focusing on single-ingredient formulations.”

“There are other supplements, in particular, Tongkat Ali, which is known to increase free testosterone by reducing sex hormone binding globulin. Tongkat Ali can be beneficial both for men and for women in dosages anywhere from 200 milligrams to 600 milligrams per day.”

“To my knowledge, Tongkat Ali does not need to be cycled, meaning you don't have to take periods of time off from it. I should note that the effects of Tongkat Ali can take a little bit longer to experience. So perhaps blood work should be done eight to 12 weeks after initiating the Tongkat Ali protocol as opposed to earlier.”

“The point here is that if somebody has a limited budget to purchase supplements and cannot afford a foundational supplement of the sort that we talked about earlier, athletic greens are similar, but they do have a budget that would allow them to purchase a high quality omega-3 fatty acid fish oil”

“There's now a lot of data showing that ingesting one to three grams of EPA in particular in the form of either fish oil capsules or liquid can be beneficial for a number of different aspects of brain and body health and can enhance focus and cognitive ability.”

“effective for shortening the transition time to sleep and allowing people to ease into sleep more readily. And those are magnesium threonate, which is interchangeable with magnesium bisglycinate. Both have transporter systems that allow them to readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and they lead to a mild form of drowsiness.”

“might want to consider. The first is myoinositol, typically taken as 900 milligrams of myoinositol. Other people who wake up in the middle of the night will wake up because their dreams are very intense. Those people would do well to avoid certain supplements.”

“And so, I tend to err away from L-tyrosine, but some people tolerate it really well and actually really like it. I rely on something else for dopamine augmentation, which is phenyl ethylamine, which is a little bit more short-lasting. Again, I arrived at these protocols for myself by mixing and matching, but mostly by trying individual ingredients alone before binding them”

“You can find it at hubermanlab.com. He actually pointed to some interesting data on potato protein as perhaps being a great plant-based substitute for those that don't want to take whey-based protein. But the fact that whey-based proteins can be very useful for getting to and above a protein threshold for all sorts of”

“For other people, they might actually find it to be a very effective stimulant. In general, in terms of supplement-based approaches to increase cognitive function and focus, caffeine, either in coffee or tea form, or in tablet or capsule form,”

“I do often combine that with some caffeine, not in capsule or pill form, but rather in the form of a cup of coffee or Yerba Mate. And it turns out that for me, just by way of example, L-tyrosine is something that works very powerfully to elevate my level of focus, but that I tend to crash pretty hard afterward.”

“Again, that's alpha-yohimbine, and it's used as a stimulant, often to also promote fat loss and alertness. I have to say that it's a very potent and somewhat precarious supplement.”