Transcription
So the next question was submitted by Earl and Earl says, "Could you talk more generally about which supplements you take early in the day, which you take later in the day on an empty stomach versus food?"
So I know this question, I've answered this question before in a previous Q&A. I'll go ahead and sort of briefly go through this. I'm not going to go into too much detail because I have answered these this kind of question before. So, I'm going to just run through the list of, you know, some of the most important supplements, including the ones that I've already just mentioned in terms of what I take, in terms of what I think most adults, including older adults, should take and then when to take them.
So, vitamin D, top of the list. Um, really best to take in the morning or midday. There have been a variety of anecdotal effects on melatonin. So, you might be getting some melatonin suppression there. So, that's one perhaps reason to take your vitamin D earlier in the day. You also want to take it with a a meal, particularly one that's higher in fat. And that is because vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin. Therefore, taking it with a meal that has more fat in it as opposed to like a salad with like no fat, you'll increase the bioavailability of the vitamin D.
The next one would be omega-3. Omega-3 is also it's a fatty acid. We're talking about fatty acids, EPA and DHA. So, you do want to take that with a meal. Again, particularly with a higher fat meal. There actually have been studies showing that you absorb more EPA and DHA with a high-fat meal versus a lower fat meal. And certainly if you're taking on an empty stomach, you're you're going to be missing a lot of it. You're going to be not absorbing a lot. So that's very important when it comes to taking it in the morning versus the evening. It really is about consistent dosing, right? We're really trying to to raise our omega-3 index. Omega-3s are being stored in our cell membranes. They're also used acutely as anti-inflammatory, you know, molecules as well. They're resolving inflammation. So, it doesn't it's not as big of a deal, but, you know, you might consider like if you have more inflammation happening during the day, maybe you want to take it during the day or maybe you want to split your dose like morning and day. I would say that um one thing to consider is taking it with meals. So maybe both meals because omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to blunt the lipopolysaccharide or LPS release from the gut when you eat a meal. This is the transient quote unquote leaky gut that happens with every meal. It's a postprandial inflammatory effect. This is just even you could be eating the healthiest meal ever, you're going to get a postprandial inflammatory effect because food is hard on the gut. It's just hard on the gut. And you know, some foods are harsher on the gut than others, but there are studies showing that taking omega-3 with a meal blunts some of that inflammation that happens when you're digesting your food.
Magnesium, I think the the timing of magnesium in terms of when to take it, morning versus evening, it's kind of like your goal dependent, right? So most most people are interested in improving their sleep and relaxation. And I think that is that is why you know people are taking it mostly in the evening time. I take it in the evening time. I take magnesium glycine as I mentioned glycine molecules are attached to the magnesium. So you're getting that relaxation effect. However, there are variety of studies showing that magnesium is important for has been shown to improve cramps, headaches, you know. So, some people if they're trying if their goal is to help with their migraines, obviously you're going to want to take that in the day or whenever the migraine or cramps are happening. And also, some people are just wanting to generally replete their magnesium. They're physically active. They're doing this sauna, right? So, you're going to take your electrolytes, you're going to take your magnesium after you're doing a lot a lot of sweating. So, you kind of just it's it's really goal dependent. You may you may want to just add a standard magnesium glycinate to your evening relaxation protocol and then in addition to that take a little bit of extra magnesium throughout the day depending on whether or not you're repleting your magnesium stores after exercise or sauna or you're trying to dampen headaches or cramping etc.
When it comes to vitamin K2 again I do think the timing is flexible. However, most of the vitamin K2 we're kind of trying to take it with vitamin D. So, why not just take it with the vitamin D? I personally take Pure Encapsulations vitamin D K2 combo. That way, it's like you get everything in one pill, which is great for someone who's already taking too many supplements. So, I think um again, you don't have to take it in the morning with vitamin D, but why not? because that's kind of you're wanting to you're wanting to take it at the same time to basically make sure that all the extra dietary calcium that you're absorbing by you know by becoming vitamin D adequate you're you're going to move that calcium to the bones and to the muscle and that's where vitamin K2 comes in because it is activating a lot of proteins like matrix glo protein osteocalin these proteins are activated by vitamin K2 and they're able to help shuttle calcium out of the vascular system. Put it to your bones. Put it to your muscle where you want it. You don't want it sitting around your vascular system forming calcium precipitates and plaques.
The next would be a multivitamin. I think this is kind of obvious. You know, multivitamins contain a lot of different micronutrients including vitamin B, the different B vitamins, which can be a little stimulating for people. So, I think ideally you want to take your multivitamin earlier in the day. It does contain some of the D and some of the K and you're getting vitamin A and E in there. Those are all fats soluble vitamins. So, you probably want to take the multivitamin with your with your first meal of the day. That would that's that's essentially probably the the best idea.
When it comes to creatine, um I do think for most people who are are doing creatine for just muscular function, like they're only going to do five grams a day, you know, it is the consistency that's important. You are trying to saturate your muscle stores. It takes about a month or so to do that if you're doing five grams a day consistently. Uh however, if you're really going for the brain effects, which I think most of us here are now really really interested in, I do think the timing matters. You do want to get it more in the morning afternoon. So, you don't want to be taking it necessarily later in the evening time. Some people have reported when they take creatine right before bed, they're they have difficulty going to sleep. I've never really taken creatine before bed, so I don't really know how that's going to affect me. I always take it in the morning. Um, I stopped taking it by, you know, afternoon timeish. I I would say like 2:00 p.m. or so is like the last time I take the creatine. But, you know, again, I don't I don't know that timing is as important. Although, I would speculate it might be better to take it in the morning afternoon than the evening.
Sulforaphane, that's one. If you're taking the AMAL like me, it's there's really there's really no best time of day. However, you know, I would say you don't want to take it well, some people like taking it on an empty stomach because it may increase absorption a little bit. However, other people that take it on an empty stomach think a little bit of GI irritation occurs. So, I think typically taking it with like a small meal is good. I personally think just based on the detoxification part of what sulforaphane is doing, you probably want to take it during the daytime when you're constantly bombarding your system with all the plastic chemicals. So, taking it in the daytime is probably ideal, but I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't if if taking it in the evening is easier for you, I wouldn't like lose my mind over it is is what I'm trying to say.
Nicotinamide riboside. Um, I apologize that is one I forgot to mention for the 70-year-olds. um that also I think is a new important one that I would take and and um it's interesting nicotinamide riboside is a precursor for NAD. I've been taking it now since last August. I take true niogen and I take about 500 milligrams to a,000 milligrams a day depending on the day. Sometimes I only do 500, sometimes I do a,000. Interestingly, nicotinamide riboside is on a circadian rhythm and it it is higher in the day and so I think it's probably better to take it in the morning versus the evening. I don't just because you want to make sure there's no chance of it like throwing off any circadian rhythm, any chance of any sleep disruption. So, I think nicotinamide riboside is one to do during the a during the day.
Urethane a um that's one that I don't know that it's essentially crucial to time it but I think that you know I I take it during the day. I'm taking it around the times I'm exercising. I don't know that it's really essential. I think it's more of a cumulative effect to be honest. Uh but that's something you know at the end of the day if you're going to if you're going to be having to take a lot of the vitamins with your first meal, why not just take the bulk of them and then save the ones for the evening that are only for the evening, right? that you really should be take like melatonin for example, right? So I think I think that's kind of the way I approach it with respect to cocovia the cocoaflavanols. That's another one that you know I take for acute cognitive effects and it really hits me like 30 minutes to an hour after I take it where I do feel a stimulatory effect in my brain. I feel like I'm in a better mood. There are studies showing that it increases blood flow to the brain. There are studies showing that it's it improves cardiovascular function. It also improves some measures of cognitive function as well. So that's a that's one that I like to take earlier in the day. Sometimes I stick I mix it in my coffee and it really seems like there's a synergistic effect with the with the caffeine as well.
And then with ubiquinol you want to take that one with a fat-containing meal. Um I do think if you're taking a higher dose of it, you want to there's a saturation effect that occurs. So like you don't want to take for example 200 200 milligrams like all at once. It's like maybe do 100 and then 100, maybe even split it across, you know, 100 in the morning, 100 in the evening. Um, so I do think it's better to kind of split that across meals if you are going for the higher dose rather than taking it all at once. Typically, the blood levels rise six to eight hours after you take the ubiquinol. So, I don't know that it really matters when you take it. I mean, I take it at