Transcription
People are spending hundreds of dollars a month swallowing 20, 30, sometimes 40 pills a day and wasting five to 10 minutes every morning just to take their stack. At some point, it stops being health optimization, and it starts being a full-time job. So, in this video, I'm going to outline you a realistic supplement routine for normal people. I'm going to build this stack by looking at the main systems and functions you'd really want to support. That means covering categories like skin antaging and structural support, antioxidant defense, energy production and methylation, cardiovascular and metabolic health, and stress resilience. Basically, the goal is to create a supplement stack, a realistic supplement stack, that is broad enough to be useful, but simple enough that a normal person can execute it realistically.
The first supplement is asexanthin, which I think is quite underrated. Aaxanthin is a carotenoid that acts as a powerful antioxidant. Is going to cover skin anti-aging and UV protection, eye health, inflammation, and lipids. The reason it helps the skin is because of protecting it UV iridation from the sun. A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials found that oral asexant supplementation at a dose of 2 to 12 milligs a day was able to improve skin moisturization by about 10 to 15% and elasticity by 3 to 10%. Secondly, asexant protects the eyes as well, for the same reason. A 2025 randomized control trial on children aged 10 to 14 saw that 4 milligrams a day of asexanthin reduced digital eye strain and improved visual fatigue. Asexantin also improves traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. In this 2020 meta-analysis of clinical trials, asexanthin supplementation at a dose of over 12 milligs a day for over 12 weeks was seen to reduce HCRP by 19 to 26%. Doses below 12 milligs didn't have an effect on CRP. In the same meta-analysis, they also found that asexanthin at a dose of 12 milligrams a day had the most consistent effect in raising HDL by about 3%. Another 2022 meta-analysis of clinical trials saw about a 3.5% decrease in LDL cholesterol from athaganthin doses of 4 to 20 milligs a day.
Moving on, with glycine and NAC that are amino acids, is going to cover skin anti-aging, antioxidant defense, inflammation, sleep, and blood sugar. There have been several clinical trials showing that the combination of these supplements improves body composition, metabolic health, muscle strength, inflammation, and mitochondrial function in elderly people. NAC and glycine both increase glutathion synthesis, which is a powerful antioxidant that protects the brain, the heart, the liver, and the skin. Glutathione levels decline with age, and NAC is one of those supplements that could help to maintain antioxidant defense during aging. Glycine alone also has some interesting effects. Just like NAC, it has been seen to extend lifespan in mice. In humans, glycine helps with collagen synthesis because it makes up 30% of collagen, as well as support steep inflammation and blood sugar regulation. In type 2 diabetics, supplementing 5 g of glycine three times a day reduce hemoglobin A1C by about 1% more than placebo, from 8.3% to 6.9% in the glycine group versus 8% to 7.6% in the placebo group. They also saw reduced inflammation in people with type two diabetes. Individuals with a hemoglobin A1C over 9% have significantly lower glyce status than those with a hemoglobin A1C below 6%. It doesn't necessarily mean that low glycine causes diabetes, but it means that glycine is used in diabetes for regulating blood sugar, and raising glyceatus might help to reduce blood sugar and glycation. Even a single ingestion of five grams of glycine in one sitting with 25 grams of glucose in a drink has been seen to reduce the post-meal glucose response by over 50% compared to glucose alone. Glycine has been seen to improve sleep as well by lowering body temperature and promoting inhibitory neurotransmitters. Collagen is 30% glycine, and taking 15 g of collagen before bed has been seen to reduce the number of awakenings during the night. If I had to choose between only taking collagen or only taking glycine, then I would take only glycine, especially if I was on a budget. Now, optimally, you want to get both. You want to get 10 g of collagen peptides and maybe 10 g of glycine because 10 grams of collagen only gives you 3 g of glycine, which is not enough. The optimal glycine dose for skin anti-aging, antioxidant defense, sculpt synthesis, and liver protection, and blood sugar protection, you want to get something like 5 to 10 grams of glycine. So, the three grams isn't enough. If you can afford, take both. But if you have to choose, then just take glycine.
Next, we have omega-3s, which are going to cover long-term cardiovascular disease and dementia risk: Endothelial function and blood vessel health, blood lipids, and inflammation. I personally think that omega-3s, at least covering your daily omega-3 intake, whether from diet or supplements, is something that most people would need to do for long-term longevity. That's because of what's called the omega-3 index. It's a long-term marker of your intake of omega-3 fats, whether from food sources such as fish, seafood, or sea vegetables. You could also take omega-3 supplements for this. There's consistent research linking a higher omega-3 index to lower rates of heart disease, Alzheimer's, and overall mortality. A 2021 meta-analysis of 17 studies saw that people with the highest omega-3 index, over 7.55%, had a 15 to 18% lower risk of total mortality. A 2022 study also found that the risk of Alzheimer's disease amongst the highest red blood cell DHA quintile, over 6.1%, was 49% lower compared to the lowest quintile, below 3.8%. 8%. The omega-3 index associated with the lowest risk of heart disease mortality is over 8%, whereas an index of less than 4% is linked to the greatest risk. There's also evidence that omega-3 supplementation improves cognitive function, lowers lipids, lowers inflammation consistently, and improves various aspects of health such as better endothelial function and even some skin and aging benefits by protecting the skin against UV iridiation. Again, so based on the evidence, is it best to keep your omega-3 index close to 8% or above it? It's going to keep your arteries less susceptible to aththeroscerosis. It's going to keep your inflammation lower, and it's also going to keep your brain healthy. Now, whether you achieve it with diet or supplements doesn't really matter that much. Yes, the diet is better, but if you're not going to eat seafood, then just take a supplement.
Next, we have creatine, which is the most notorious sports supplement. Is going to cover muscle strength and power and some aspects of brain health. The reason creatine is on this list is because creatine is going to give you the best bang for your buck in terms of physical performance out of any other supplement, aside from maybe caffeine that would just, you know, give you a lot of energy to exercise. Creatine is the most effective muscle and performance supplement. And there are dozens of clinical trials showing that the strongest and most consistent evidence shows that creatine supplementation can improve strength and high-intensity exercise performance by about 5 to 15%, particularly when combined with resistance training. There is an emerging interest in creatine's brain benefits, which is why a lot of people are taking up to 20 to 30 grams of creatine per day. You definitely don't need such large amounts every day. Very high doses like 20 to 30 g have been shown in some studies to mitigate cognitive decline during sleep deprivation, but they don't improve cognition above normal baseline. So, creatine isn't a brain-boosting supplement. The only time when you don't want to take creatine is when you have kidney damage or saloptimal kidney function. If you're also trying to maximize your V2 max adaptation, then it's best not to take creatine because your V2 max gains will be lower if you're taking creatine. If you're also trying to get super shredded, super dry, and super diced, then maybe avoid creatine because creatine does make you hold on to a little bit of water. Now, that water weight is mostly water inside your muscles, not fat, but it might still look a little bit puffier. And when it comes to hair loss, then there's no evidence that creatine would cause hair loss, although some people swear by it. So, you need to look at whether or not it affects your hair.
Next, we have magnesium, which is going to cover magnesium status, stress, sleep, inflammation, and energy production. The reason magnesium is a safe bet is because 45 to 50% of the population is deficient in magnesium, and up to 75% are getting insufficient magnesium every day. That's because a lot of things deplete your magnesium. The soil is depleted of magnesium, and magnesium-containing foods aren't the most popular foods, such as pumpkin seeds or seafood. A deficiency of magnesium, on the other hand, can have one of the most detrimental consequences on your overall health. It's going to increase stress and anxiety, increases blood sugar, increases blood pressure, increases lipids, and increases the risk of arhythmias. In clinical trials, magnesium supplementation lowers inflammation, decreases blood pressure, decreases waste circumference and body weight, improves incident sensitivity, and improves cholesterol profile. So, magnesium is definitely a low-hanging fruit for a lot of people. Even if you's not particularly deficient in magnesium, taking a magnesium supplement can be sort of an insurance policy to make sure that you do get your daily magnesium, especially if your diet isn't very diverse.
Overall, I think this is a pretty realistic and minimalistic supplement for most people. Aexan and glycine for skin health; aexan, glycine, n, and omega-3 for inflammation; glycine and magnesium for blood sugar; asexantin and omega-3s for blood lipids; creatine for sports and fitness; and glycine and magnesium for sleep. As a bonus, you could also add vitamin D and vitamin K2 into the stack if you're not getting enough sunlight or if you live up in the north. And all of this would cost you probably around $50 per month. Of course, if you make the initial investment, it's going to cost more than that, but if you average it out over the course of 3 to 5 months, it's going to be around $50 a month. This doesn't mean that there aren't other supplements that are very effective and beneficial. You don't need to take a lot of supplements. I personally have a very minimalistic supplement stack, but there are supplements with evidence-based benefits. Check out my video where I rank 100 supplements from Bush the best.