What supplements do you take that have good scientific backing?

Have you seen the "Supplement scorecard" here:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/supplement...

I take D and fish oil, and from my reading the science on both is strong. I also take 4-in-1 Fiber but people who have a better diet likely don't need it, but I find it beneficial (and, no, "number two" isn't the exclusive reason to make sure you're getting enough, fiber has numerous health benefits with "regularity" just being what is famous for).

Creatine also has surprisingly strong scientific evidence with few side effects and has been heavily studied in sports medicine. It is niche though, primarily used by people doing regular resistance exercises or pro athletes to help expedite recovery and repair.

PS - Creatine does cause water weight gain by design (it causes your muscles to hold more water) which can result in 8-16 lbs of additional body weight after two weeks~ and then for two weeks~ after you stop taking it (this isn't a problem nor body-fat gain, but people trying to lose body-fat need to expect this; it is largely a flaw in using scales to track body fat which ignores water weight/inflammation).

PPS - Creatine's COVID and post-COVID price increase has made it more niche than it perhaps once was. It used to be near $10 per 30-day from a reputable brand, now it can be $20-30 depending on brand (e.g. Creapure is $32/30 day right now).

I am sharing these two links on the danger of supplements. I am inclined to believe they are at best useless and probably harmful.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20161208-why-vitamin-supp...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2022/08/01/stop-...

Vitamin D. I live fairly far north and several months of the year it is simply impossible to get any D vitamin from sun exposure - even when it is actually shining - because the sun is too low.

- vitamin D (at least 20-30K IU in the cold months)

- magnesium chloride (5-10g/day, 625-1250mg elemental magnesium), great on its own, indispensable with vitamin D which uses it up as co-factor

- omega-3s (in high doses), probably better a high EPA/DHA ratio as you don't need that much DHA and EPA is more anti-inflammatory

- astaxanthin (great for sun protection, antioxidant)

I take the following:

- Vitamin D (mostly during winter times)

- L-Theanin ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03010... )

- Vitamine B12 (I am a vegetarian)

- Omega 3

- Vitamin C + Zinc (especially when I feel like there is a cold incoming due to the shortening effect of zinc see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21328251/ )

On a daily basis I take Vitamin D, garlic, curcumin (turmeric), and glucosamine/chondroitin. Why? I live north of the 45th parallel and many around me suffer from colds and flus this time of year. Since I started taking Vitamin D and Garlic the effects of getting a cold or flu is much less severe as a rule and I have back problems so I want to make every attempt to reduce inflammation without pounding the Ibuprofen.

When I do get sick. I have taken a range of things and have had noticeable results with Wellness Formula from Source Naturals.

I would recommend examine.com as a research tool. One of the few sites not trying to sell you supplements.

Vitamin D 5000IU daily, when I have respiratory disease I increase my daily dose to at least 15-20K IU

Vitamin C and multivitamin with various vitamins, both these in drinks

Vast majority of population is vitamin D deficient all year round, even spending at least 4 hours a day half naked outdoors in Hawaii would not provide you enough vitamin D [1], even 80-90% of Indian population living close to equator with much more sunlight is vitamin D deficient [2]. At very least I'd recommend following Finnish guidelines. [3]

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17426097/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6060930/

[3] https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/27/2/268/2670162

Collagen supplementation has shown to be really effective in various meta analyses. Helps with joint degradation, tendon repair if you do sports, skin elasticity, etc.

This is a representative one focused on joints, but other studies look at appearance of aging etc:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00726-021-03072-x

Collagen supplements are fairly cheap, biggest downside is to get 5g per day you need to take like 5 pills. It's not a small amount (which kinda makes sense, it's structural)

Information is Beautiful did a visualization a couple years ago that attempted to answer this exact question. It hasn't been updated since end of 2020 but perhaps this will still be useful to some readers here:

https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/snake-...

General: vitamin D, epa/dha (AKA vegan fish oil), and b12 (I'm vegan btw)

Workouts: creatine, pea protein isolate, and amino acids (leucine, etc.)

Vitamin D, K, Fish Oil, Magnesium, Creatine, and Theanine all have lots of research on being effective, with very low risk.

Next up, Curcumin (active Turmeric) and Ashwagandha also have significant research concluding their benefits, but I'd say their risk is one level higher, still small.

examine.com

I've been taking Ashwaghanda, it has been proven to slightly increase testosterone. It appears to do this by lowering cortisol levels, I have felt very relaxed and things rarely make me feel stressed.

I started taking it to increase my strength in the gym.

Creatine. Definitely noticed a HUGE difference when I ran out a few months ago.

I take some whey protein supplement most days. It's difficult for me to consume an optimal amount of protein every day (based on the latest scientific research) without also consuming too many calories. I could get the same or better results without the supplements if I was willing to spend more time on meal planning, but I'm lazy.

https://peterattiamd.com/donlayman/

- Caffeine

- Some local "Probiotic" pills, but they seem to be from a culture which actually has some scientific testing. They made my belly a lot happier. Seems to help after alcohol too. Not sure how international this is. A lot of science is pointing to the fact that many things can support the microbiome. I take irregular for a few days in a row.

- Electrolytes on demand

- I plan to take very low doses of Aspirin as I get older as it seems to be helpful in preventing heart attacks.

I used to have frequent headaches. Now I take magnesium and potassium and almost never get them. I think many people could benefit from more minerals/electrolytes (but depends on diet of course).

I also take Vitamin D (not a huge amount) in winter and Omega 3s daily but I haven’t noticed any effects. The oils seems fairly harmless though and the research is compelling.

I also found probiotics and fiber helpful depending on if I didn’t get enough in my diet.

Came here for advice but gotta say I'm disappointed so few comments mention any scientific sources. Something I would expect on HN.

Checkout Labdoor[1], an independent company that tests supplements. They find out whether products have what they claim and if they have any harmful ingredients or contaminants.

[1] https://labdoor.com/review

Exercice

Lactobacillus. Which someone on here recommended, and seems to really help with my IBS. I have to be careful because some versions come packaged with maltitol as a bulking agent and that makes my IBS worse.

Athletic Greens, however I can't speak to specific scientific backing.

Sometimes melatonin.

But I’ve found out that a single pill won’t get me sleepy enough to stop scrolling or closing my laptop, so I don’t bother much.

Daily I take:

Omega-3s

Vitamin D (essential in places with long cold winters)

Creatine (basically the most studied and effective supplement for strength training)

Protein

Glucosamine (for joints)

NAC

vitamin D 50.000 IU once per week Melatonin 1mg quite often and for long period of time Omega 3-6-9 2-3 times per year during three months

Vitamin D

Zinc

OMEGA-3

Whey Protein

Magnesium (if you don't eat a lot of meat)

Adaptogens

Omega 3 and CoQ10

None whatsoever.

Bacopa

ritalin