What supplements do you use and why?

Alzheimer's, cardiovascular, and other chronic diseases; biomarkers, lifestyle, supplements, drugs, and health care.
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Saskia
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What supplements do you use and why?

Post by Saskia »

There are a lot of threads on the benefits of various supplements. Of course, many of them are expensive, and some are very specific to particular issues that come up in tests. I would love to see an overview of supplement decision rationale from you all, so we can learn from each other. I loved the primer section on supplements as well... learned so much from it. Moderators, if there is such a thread and I overlooked it please let me know!

I am focusing on inflammation. I have yet to do blood tests but previous blood tests for other reasons have never shown insulin resistance. I'm only 45yo so I feel this is my best focus for now (until I get full diagnostics done). Doing 16h fasts to help healing. Still hoping to move towards keto but finding it a bit hard to get ready and committed just yet.

- Resveratrol
- Curcumin, powder dissolved in water with piperine and oil
- Krill oil
- Vitamin D
- B12
- Folic acid (bit of an "old fashioned" choice?)
- Baby aspirin (as above)
45 years old, E4/E4 and strangely no AD in (large) family. Mother (73 yo) E4/E4, father (87 yo) E4/E3, both symptom free. Recently started 16h fasts, taking resveratrol/B12/curcumin/krill oil/folic acid. Working on minimizing sugar & refined carbs
Hboroughs
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Re: What supplements do you use and why?

Post by Hboroughs »

Hi Saskia - I take all the supps you listed with the exception of folic acid and aspirin. Ben Lynch has instructed that folic acid is a synthetic form of folate and blocks our folate receptors such that folate cannot be absorbed. He says we should take methylfolate or folinic acid, but never folic acid. His book Dirty Genes is fabulous and explains how to use these supplements with the “pulse method”. He points out that we should be supplementing based on symptoms, not SNP’s.

I don’t take baby aspirin but not for any reason other than I already take a ton of supplements! Ha.

I do take the Seeking Health multivitamin a few days a week, as well as a probiotic called Visbiome.

I use Longivenix resveratrol and either Theracumin or Longvida for my curcumin supplement (alternating).

My Vitamin D has K-2 added to it as they need to be balanced. I recently added that when my labs showed a lowish Vitamin D level of 55. My functional medicine dr prefers 70.
NF52
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Re: What supplements do you use and why?

Post by NF52 »

Saskia wrote:There are a lot of threads on the benefits of various supplements. Of course, many of them are expensive, and some are very specific to particular issues that come up in tests. I would love to see an overview of supplement decision rationale from you all, so we can learn from each other. I loved the primer section on supplements as well... learned so much from it. Moderators, if there is such a thread and I overlooked it please let me know!

I am focusing on inflammation. I have yet to do blood tests but previous blood tests for other reasons have never shown insulin resistance. I'm only 45yo so I feel this is my best focus for now (until I get full diagnostics done). Doing 16h fasts to help healing. Still hoping to move towards keto but finding it a bit hard to get ready and committed just yet
...
- Folic acid (bit of an "old fashioned" choice?)
- Baby aspirin (as above)
Wish we could offer you such an overview, Saskia, but nothing like that exists (yet) on the forum.

I'm glad you found the Primer helpful, though, since Dr. Stavia's advice about how to prioritize areas is a great place to start. She would agree with your plan to focus on insulin resistance, I think. So you may want to read this section of our Wiki:
Insulin Resistance

I'm not a health professional, but will also offer this from a recent U.S. recommendation about taking baby aspirin:
But today, the benefit for taking aspirin for the majority of otherwise healthy adults just doesn't outweigh the risks enough. Aspirin still may be considered for very select high-risk adults ages 40-70 who are not at increased risk for bleeding, if advised by their doctors.

"For primary prevention, the risk of bleeding and the benefits of reducing heart attack are pretty matched, even to even. So there isn't a lot of gain for taking aspirin," Michos said. Primary prevention is a term for avoiding a first heart attack, stroke or other type of cardiovascular event.
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2019/03/1 ... nes-advise

Sounds like you are thoughtful and asking great questions, Saskia!
4/4 and still an optimist!
CoachDD
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Re: What supplements do you use and why?

Post by CoachDD »

I sincerely appreciate learning what helps others, but proceed with caution if considering having a thread specifically on supplements. My concern is people will diagnose/treat themselves which may do more harm than good.

Many doctors (particularly those in Functional Medicine) have a growing understanding of the importance of "personalized" care. I'm hearing this more and more: test, don't guess. What works for some may not work for others and many times it is critical to have testing done to know what to target.

I think it's super helpful to have discussions on what has helped (including supplements), for things such as stress management, exercise and recovery, sleep, and even environmental toxins, but any suggestions should be taken back to their doctor for review/approval. Just my two cents on this. . .
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Saskia
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Re: What supplements do you use and why?

Post by Saskia »

That's great feedback CoachDD. I'm sometimes a bit naive in my enthusiasm. I'm only going to do my first round of blood tests next week so I don't know anything about my own situation yet. I'd just love to understand what considerations played a role in people's selection of supplements for problems they know they have such as e.g. inflammation or insulin resistance. So not: "take these twenty pills and you're good" but "I couldn't see the trees for the forest so I decided to focus on these three as they have the strongest scientific backing for this particular purpose" (or so). Where we learn from the crowd (in addition to the primer and Bredesen book and other more comprehensive lists) and take some of that back to our doctors. Not sure. I doubt any doctor I get access to here in the Netherlands will take me very seriously at my young age and (probably) without insulin resistance.
45 years old, E4/E4 and strangely no AD in (large) family. Mother (73 yo) E4/E4, father (87 yo) E4/E3, both symptom free. Recently started 16h fasts, taking resveratrol/B12/curcumin/krill oil/folic acid. Working on minimizing sugar & refined carbs
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Re: What supplements do you use and why?

Post by CoachDD »

I wouldn't consider that naive. . . just investigative, which you very well should be. At your young age, you SHOULD be taking a proactive role, so I applaud you for doing so. Best of luck ~ find a doctor that will work WITH you!
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