Huberman podcast supplement recommendations | dstill.ai shared chat

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Supplements recommended on Huberman podcast? List the supplements by name, and explain their purported purpose.

In the Huberman podcast episode on supplementation , Andrew Huberman discusses various supplements and their purposes. He emphasizes the importance of foundational supplements, which are designed to compensate for any deficiencies in vitamins and minerals from diet or inadequate diet . These supplements can act as an insurance policy against any deficiencies, particularly for those practicing intermittent fasting or not getting enough nutrients from food sources .

For foundational supplementation, Huberman suggests a broad spectrum supplement that includes vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, and adaptogens . These supplements aim to support overall brain and body systems and can enhance mental health, physical health, sleep quality, and focus .

However, Huberman also notes that supplementation should be approached in a rational and regimented way . Single ingredient formulations can offer more control and help determine the most effective and minimal doses for individuals . By trying individual ingredients alone before combining them, one can rule out potential negative effects and find what works best for them .

Additionally, specific supplements can target different aspects of health and performance. For example, omega-3 fatty acids, specifically EPA, have shown benefits for brain and body health, focus, and cognitive ability when taken in the form of fish oil capsules or liquid .

It is important to remember that supplementation is not a replacement for healthy living habits such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, and social connections . These behavioral protocols are essential for overall well-being.

Please note that individual needs and responses to supplements may vary, and it is always advisable to consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new supplementation regimen.

For detailed information on specific supplements mentioned in the Huberman podcast, you may want to visit the Momentous Supplements website, as they are mentioned as a sponsor of the podcast .

1

Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: Well, I think what we need to do is to take a step back and ask what are different supplements designed to do? For instance, there are foundational supplements. These are supplements that are designed to establish a foundation or provide insurance along with your nutritional intake to ensure that you're getting all the things that you need in order to have a basic level of mental health, physical health, and opportunity for optimal performance. Now, this is the one category of supplements for which I think it's appropriate and in fact, advantageous to have multiple ingredients in a given supplement. Throughout the rest of today's discussion, I'm going to talk about the advantage of mainly focusing on taking single ingredient formulations for a variety of reasons. But when it comes to foundational supplements, what we're mainly talking about are supplements that contain vitamins and minerals that are designed to compensate for any deficiencies you might have from diet or from lack of adequate diet. how would such a lack of vitamin and mineral intake arise? Well, for instance, if you're somebody that practices intermittent fasting or other components of fasting, or if you're somebody who does not get enough vitamins and minerals from vegetables and fruits and grains and meats, well then taking a supplement that can act as a insurance policy against any vitamin mineral deficiencies in many ways can be advantageous. Although I will talk about some of the safety concerns in just a few minutes. Now, I want to acknowledge that as soon as we talk about vitamin mineral supplements, The skeptics immediately raise their hands and say, well, all that vitamin and mineral supplements do is give you very expensive urine.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: The single ingredient formulations are going to give you the most power and control. They're going to make sure that you can find the minimal effective doses, that you can rule out things that are not effective for you, or that may be detrimental for you in whatever fashion. And it's not just about cost-effectiveness, it's also about arriving at small kits or cocktails of supplements that you can really manage and work with that you're not dependent on, but that you really feel can augment the various aspects of your health that are important to you. So that's really what today's episode is about. Even though we had coverage of specific supplements and their functions in these different domains of mental and physical health and performance, today's episode was really geared toward giving you resources and a framework to think about how to approach supplementation, how to navigate sticking points and pain points in supplementation, how to get the most out of your supplementation regimen without spending an excessive amount of money. And if you don't have finances, to allow for a lot of exploration of supplements, how to narrow in on the most effective supplements the most quickly and derive all the benefits that you can from them. And as a final point that is redundant with a few of the themes we talked about today, but that I don't think I ever really explicitly stated is that While the word supplement makes it sound like these compounds are something just to add on top of or compensate for deficiencies in nutrition or other areas of your life, many of them are actually quite potent compounds. These are potent non-prescription molecules that really can move the needle in terms of your ability to think more clearly, sleep better, support your hormone function, but

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: I don't say that merely to protect me. I mainly say that to protect you. The most important aspect of today's episode is not going to be that you discover one particular supplement or category of supplements or blend of supplements that is going to transform your mental health, physical health and performance. No, the purpose of today's episode is for you to understand where you have needs that can be met by supplementation better than any other approach. And most importantly, how to think about supplementation. That is how to think about the different categories of supplements that are out there and how those interact with your nutrition and your behaviors so that you can maximize your immediate and long-term health. What I mean by this is that we have this word supplements or supplementation, but that means many, many different things. It means vitamins, it means minerals, it means adaptogens. Most people probably don't even know what an adaptogen really is. And in fact, many people talking about adaptogens never actually define what an adaptogen is or it's designed for, or the fact that many adaptogens are also used for other purposes. So today's discussion is really about you learning how to think about supplementation the same way you would learn to think about nutrition or exercise or anything related to brain and body health for that matter, in a way that lets you navigate this vast space that we call supplementation and develop protocols that are optimal for you. And indeed, it may be the case that the ideal dosage of a given supplement for you is zero milligrams. For instance, if I ask you, are you sleeping deeply and enough each night?

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we're discussing supplements, or more specifically, a rational guide to supplementation. Now to be forthright, I want to tell you that I am not a fan of the word supplements because it stems from this idea that all supplements are somehow food supplements or designed to compensate for what one could otherwise get from food. And that's simply not the case. Many supplements are compounds that are extremely efficacious, for instance, for enhancing sleep or for enhancing hormone function or for enhancing focus. And many of those compounds are simply not found in food or are not found in enough abundance in food to have the desired effect. Now that raises the issue as to whether or not these compounds are good to take, safe to take, and whether or not they are actually beneficial for us. And the short answer is that like everything else, supplements can either be good for us or dangerous for us, depending on dosage, sourcing, et cetera. But more importantly, we need to think about supplements and a rational guide to supplementation as taking into account a number of different factors. And we need to set aside the idea that all non-prescription compounds that fall under this umbrella term supplements are simply things that could be extracted from food, but most people don't either. ingest enough of those foods or pay enough attention to their diet in order to obtain them.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: It means digestive enzymes. That could be its own supplement or in combination with vitamins and minerals. It means often not always adaptogens, things like ashwagandha, different plant-based and mushroom-based formulations that can buffer stress and provide other brain and body support. And it often, although not always, but should I believe include the probiotics and prebiotics or anything that supports healthy gut microbiome. Once again, I think a broad spectrum supplement that has many, many ingredients of high quality that covers all these bases is going to be the best route to ensuring foundational supplementation is covered. And I do think that should be the starting place for any and all supplementation regimens. I'll say that once again, I think covering your foundational needs in the realm of vitamins, minerals, probiotics, digestive enzymes, and adaptogens is going to give you the most benefit. by cost and the most benefit across the board in terms of brain and body systems, that's going to allow you to feel better overall, sleep better overall, focus better overall, and support all the different systems in your brain and body that are going to allow you to be at your best while of course also paying careful attention to your nutrition because you simply cannot abandon nutrition. Again, better living through chemistry still requires better living. So now that we've had that discussion about foundational supplementation, And again, highlighting the fact that that's the one category of supplementation where multi-ingredient formulations make the most sense, I'd like to now shift our attention to single-ingredient formulation supplements that are designed to achieve specific endpoints.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: So these could be things like herbs, like ashwagandha, that are designed to reduce cortisol levels. In that sense, ashwagandha is an adaptogen, but ashwagandha has other effects related to hormone augmentation in both the testosterone and estrogen, and maybe even the thyroid pathways. We'll talk about this a little bit later when we talk about supplements for hormone augmentation. So foundational supplements has really expanded to include a lot of different categories of nutrients and micronutrients, vitamins and minerals, digestive enzymes, designed to achieve a broad spectrum of effects. Again, this is the one category of supplementation where I think it makes sense to explore multi-ingredient formulations. And the other thing that's often included in these so-called foundational supplements are probiotics or prebiotics. which are designed to augment and support the so-called gut microbiome. The gut microbiome is the collection of trillions of little micro bacteria that exist in all of us. They mainly exist in the mucus membrane lined tissues of the body. So that would be your nasal passages, your mouth, the vagina, the urethra, and the gut, the whole way from your mouth all the way out the other end. So not just your stomach. Trillions of bacteria live there. Trillions of micro bacteria also live on your skin. In fact, every time you shake someone's hand, you're exchanging micro bacteria. These microbacteria often are healthy for us, good for us.

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GUEST SERIES | Dr. Andy Galpin: Optimal Nutrition & Supplementation for Fitness

(someone): We've talked about the consequences of this with things like antioxidants, but even simple stuff like stimulants and other tools that are effective for recovery, we don't use them unless we have a reason. That said, that's not the reality for a lot of people. They're not going to be able to do something like that or work with somebody who can help them in that. So there are a handful of supplements that I would consider to be in my 80-20 rule, which is sort of like the 20% of supplements that are going to give you 80% of the benefit for the lowest cost. And so what I can actually do is just sort of start there, even though this burns my skin and my soul a little bit, I absolutely hate this, I am the context guy, it depends, it's high-precision guy. But let's be real, there are a number of supplements that are fairly effective and fairly cheap for a wide range of outcomes. So this is for general public, this is for people who want to do the three buckets, right? You want to look a certain way, so supplements that can enhance muscle growth and fat loss. non hormonal based supplements, of course, supplements that can improve energy or physical performance, again, from everything from, you know, squatting more to feeling better in your yoga class to having more energy throughout the day, to our third major bucket that we've been talking about throughout this entire series, which are longevity. So we can cover those first if you'd like to start there.

Andrew Huberman: Yes, absolutely. Let's start there.

(someone): Oftentimes when we think of supplements we immediately jump to high sport performance type of things or vigorous workouts or muscle building. Though that doesn't necessarily have to be the case.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: Again, I arrived at these protocols for myself by mixing and matching, but mostly by trying individual ingredients alone before combining them into any sort of cocktail before taking them before a workout or before a cognitive work bout. And I suggest that you explore them in the same way because that's going to deliver you to the best possible protocols for you, which only you can determine. And then of course, there's the category of supplements that can support cognitive function and focus, but that also touch on other general functions related to brain and body health, such as metabolic health, mood, et cetera. And the one that comes to mind here are the omega-3 fatty acids. I've talked a lot about omega-3 fatty acids. that are available in the form of foods. So for instance, fatty ocean fish, there are certain plant-based sources for these as well, certain algaes and things of that sort. Touched on this in the episodes on depression that I've done. But this topic mainly comes up around the issue of fish oil, fish oil capsules and liquid. And this is a discussion I think is worth having. Early on in the episode, we talked about foundational nutrition and supplements that include a bunch of different ingredients. We touched on the idea that some people might have the budget to take one such product or any number of different products that combine all those ingredients. I should say that for those that are interested in taking a supplement, but have a lower budget than would allow for taking one of those general categories of supplements we talked about earlier for foundational nutrition that combines everything, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, adaptogens, digestive enzymes,

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: as well as you want to and need to, and you feel that your hormones and related functions are where you want them. However, for most people who are doing most everything right, they want to explore how they can make things like their sleep, their focus, their hormone function even better. And that's where supplementation makes a lot of sense. And when I say it makes a lot of sense, I mean, it makes a lot of sense to explore in a rational and regimented way. There are a couple of big themes that we've talked about a few times during today's podcast that I'd like to reiterate now 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. Foundational supplements that include all those things I just listed off, all combined in one supplement are fine. I simply don't see any other practical or reasonable way to get each and every one of those things through single ingredient formulations. However, when you want to start thinking about and actually practically exploring things like supplementation for sleep or hormone health or cognitive function, The single ingredient formulations are going to give you the most power and control. They're going to make sure that you can find the minimal effective doses, that you can rule out things that are not effective for you, or that may be detrimental for you in whatever fashion.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: have emerged as a mainstay within the health and wellness, but also the medical communities that are focused on developing mental health, physical health, and performance for their patients and their athletes and for the everyday person. Essentially what I'm saying is that 20 years ago, a discussion about supplements would mainly take place within the niche communities of health food stores or of particular athletes. But nowadays, I think almost everyone is familiar with the fact that Yes, indeed, there are standard vitamin supplements, but that there are also supplements such as vitamin D3, which are designed to make sure that people have a certain amounts of hormones in their bloodstream because they might not be getting enough sunshine. Although I'll be very clear over and over throughout this episode that there is no pill replacement for sunshine, nor is there a pill replacement or food replacement for that matter, for exercise or for social connection. or for sleep or for simply getting smarter. Again, there is no pill that's going to replace excellent behavioral protocols. In fact, a physician friend of mine has a great saying that I think everybody should keep in mind as we wade into this conversation, which is that better living through chemistry still requires better living. And I think that's a very important phrase to keep in mind when thinking about the optimal supplementation or prescription drug protocol for you. So what is an ideal supplementation protocol? Well, I think what we need to do is to take a step back and ask what are different supplements designed to do? For instance, there are foundational supplements.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: Also, please check out the sponsors mentioned at the beginning and throughout today's episode. That's the best way to support this podcast. During today's podcast and on many previous episodes of the Huberman Lab Podcast, we discuss supplements. Again, while supplements aren't necessary for everybody, many people can derive tremendous benefit from them. We've partnered with Momentous Supplements because Momentous Supplements are of extremely high quality. They have single ingredient formulations and they ship internationally because we know many of you reside outside of the United States. If you'd like to learn more about the supplements discussed on the Huberman Lab podcast, please go to livemomentous, spelled O-U-S, so that's livemomentous.com slash Huberman. If you're not already following us on social media, we are Huberman Lab on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And in particular on Instagram, I cover science and science-related tools, some of which overlap with the contents of the Huberman Lab podcast, much of which is distinct, however, from the contents of the Huberman Lab podcast. Again, it's Huberman Lab on all social media platforms. And if you haven't already subscribed to our neural network newsletter, it's a zero cost monthly newsletter. You simply sign up with your email by going to hubermanlab.com. The newsletter includes summaries of podcast episodes. We have toolkits for sleep, toolkits for focus, toolkits related to deliberate cold exposure, heat exposure, and much, much more.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: We touched on the idea that some people might have the budget to take one such product or any number of different products that combine all those ingredients. I should say that for those that are interested in taking a supplement, but have a lower budget than would allow for taking one of those general categories of supplements we talked about earlier for foundational nutrition that combines everything, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, adaptogens, digestive enzymes, I do think that there's a category of supplements that can greatly enhance the probability of offsetting depression and maybe even improve mood directly or indirectly. There's evidence for what I'm about to tell you within the scientific literature and or offset the amount of antidepressant medication that people need to take. That's also been demonstrated. and improve metabolic function, cardiovascular function, and also enhance our ability to do focused work. 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. This is especially true in developing brains. And there's actually an extensive data out of a laboratory at University of California, Santa Barbara, talking about how mothers who supplement omega-3s, in particular the EPAs, although they also need to get the DHAs, that leads to greater brain weights and health of offspring. This is something we will definitely explore in a future episode, likely with an expert guest who's doing that work in that laboratory at UC Santa Barbara.

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GUEST SERIES | Dr. Andy Galpin: Optimal Nutrition & Supplementation for Fitness

(someone): So we've already knocked that one off. Another one from the fatigue blocker is going to be anything like beta alanine or sodium bicarbonate. And then from the stimulant use, of course, we have anything like a beetroot juice to a caffeine or something of the equivalent. So we can come back again and talk about all those in more detail a little bit later.

Andrew Huberman: Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is also separate from Dr. Andy Galpin's teaching and research roles at Cal State Fullerton. It is, however, part of our desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, we'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Momentus. Momentus makes supplements of the absolute highest quality. The Huberman Lab podcast is proud to be partnering with Momentus for several important reasons. First of all, as I mentioned, their supplements are of extremely high quality. Second of all, their supplements are generally in single ingredient formulations. If you're going to develop a supplementation protocol, you're going to want to focus mainly on using single ingredient formulations. With single ingredient formulations, you can devise the most logical and effective and cost-effective supplementation regimen for your goals. In addition, Momentus supplements ship internationally.

List specific examples of vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, and adaptogens

Here are some specific examples of supplements mentioned on the Huberman podcast along with their purported purposes:

Ashwagandha: Ashwagandha is a powerful adaptogen that can help buffer stress and reduce cortisol levels . The recommended dosage is typically around 600 milligrams per day .
Lion's Mane Mushroom: Lion's Mane mushroom is an adaptogen that may improve memory and cognitive function . It is often taken in the form of a supplement, with a recommended daily dosage of about 1,000 milligrams .
Chaga Mushroom: Chaga mushroom is another adaptogen that may improve memory and cognitive function . The suggested daily dosage ranges from 500 to 1,500 milligrams .
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements: Foundational supplements, which include a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals, can compensate for deficiencies in diet or inadequate nutrition . These supplements aim to support overall brain and body systems and can enhance mental health, physical health, sleep quality, and focus . An example of such a supplement is Athletic Greens . Make sure to consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new supplementation regimen.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA found in fish oil, may have benefits for brain health, focus, and cognitive ability .
Probiotics: Probiotics help support the gut microbiome, improve digestion, and enhance immune function . Consuming low sugar fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and Greek yogurt can be beneficial for the gut microbiome .
Prebiotics: Prebiotics are fibers that feed beneficial gut bacteria and promote overall gut health . Consuming a diverse range of plants and fiber-rich foods is recommended for promoting gut microbiota diversity .
Digestive Enzymes: Digestive enzymes can aid in digestion and nutrient absorption, potentially improving gut health and overall well-being .

It's important to note that individual needs and responses to supplements may vary, and it's always advisable to consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new supplementation regimen.

1

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: divergent thinking associated with creativity and things of that sort. Again, these are not psychedelic mushrooms. That said, there are good data showing that 1,000 milligrams, that is one gram of lion's mane per day, and or, okay, we'll talk about the and or portion in a moment, and or chaga mushroom at 500 to 1,500 milligrams per day can act as adaptogens in, again, reducing but also and mainly reducing some of the anti-inflammatory cytokines that are known to circulate in high abundance when you're under a lot of psychological and or physical stress, things like interleukin-6 and some related molecules. So here's what I would recommend. If you are interested in exploring adaptogens, I'm a big fan, as some of you probably know, if you heard that episode on rational guide to supplementation, I'm a big fan of mainly focusing on taking supplements in single ingredient formulations. so that you can figure out what dosages are best for you, and so that you can toggle in and out those adaptogens as needed. So I, of course, am a fan of taking certain blends and mixes. The one that we talk about a lot on this podcast, and I've been a sponsor from the beginning, I've taken for a decade now, long before I ever had a podcast, is athletic greens, which some of you might note does contain some ashwagandha, although the levels of ashwagandha that are contained in athletic greens are low enough

2

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: Without further ado, let's get to answering your questions. And as always, I will strive to be as accurate as possible, as thorough as possible, and yet as concise as possible. The first question today is about adaptogens. Some of you may have heard of adaptogens. I'm guessing many of you have not heard of adaptogens. The strict definition of adaptogens is still evolving, meaning no one really knows what adaptogens mean and what's included in adaptogens and what's excluded from adaptogens. But the most common definition of an adaptogen is a compound that is typically a supplement or a drug, although it could be a behavior if you really think about it, that helps you adapt to and buffer stress. So when you hear about adaptogens, there are three main categories of adaptogens that come to mind. The first are things that are contained in food. So these would be vitamins or micronutrients that one could easily find in food, but One would have to consume a fairly restricted number or type of foods in order to obtain those things, or consume a lot of those foods in order to get sufficient dosages of those adaptogen compounds in order to buffer stress. Some good examples of these would be any kind of vitamin, either water-soluble or fat-soluble, that can adjust or reduce what are so-called reactive oxygen species. And then that's what gives rise to this idea that antioxidants are good for us.

3

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: Two weeks is probably enough, but four weeks off because you don't want to chronically buffer cortisol. It's just not a good idea. But that said, I think ashwagandha is a very powerful adaptogen. placed at the top of list of supplement-based adaptogens. But keep in mind that even if you're taking a supplement-based adaptogen, that's no reason to abandon the nutrition and behavioral type adaptogenic effects that you can create through eating dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, then we'll talk about behaviors in a moment. The other two supplement-based adaptogens, as I mentioned, are lion's mane mushroom and chaga. And I get asked a lot about lion's mane and chaga for sake of their purported roles in acting as nootropics, as quote-unquote smart drugs. there are fewer data on the beneficial roles of Lion's Mane and Chaga for sake of nootropic effects. We'll do an entire episode on nootropics at some point, but there have been a few studies showing that Lion's Mane and supplementation and Chaga supplementation can improve memory and maybe even divergent thinking associated with creativity and things of that sort. Again, these are not psychedelic mushrooms.

4

Dr. Justin Sonnenburg: How to Build, Maintain & Repair Gut Health

(someone): The really good advice that I've heard is try to find a study that supports in, you know, a really well-designed study. And this is very hard for people who aren't scientists to evaluate, but so, you know, if you're experiencing a medical problem or want to consult a doctor, the, you know, that, that might be helpful, but finding a study where a specific probiotic has successfully done whatever it is you're looking for, and then sticking with that probiotic is really the best recipe for as a, as a place to start in this space, I think.

Andrew Huberman: And what about prebiotics? Is there a number of reasons why I can imagine that prebiotics would be beneficial? Which essentially, you're pushing the fiber system, which we talked a lot about today.

(someone): Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The studies that have been done on prebiotics, it's really kind of a mixed bag of results. There have been studies done with purified fibers where you actually see microbiota diversity plummet over the course of the study. You get a very specific bloom and a small number of bacteria that are good at using that one type of fiber. And that's at the expense of all the other microbes that are in the gut. And so it's really hard to replicate with purified fiber what you'd get, for instance, at a salad bar in terms of the array of complex carbohydrates that you would be exposing your microbiota to. And I think the kind of, The broad view of this in the field is that consuming a broad variety of plants and all the diverse fiber that comes with that is probably better in fostering diversity in your microbiota than purified fibers.

5

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: We'll address that briefly at some point in today's discussion. But dark leafy greens are known to contain a number of compounds in the form of vitamins and micronutrients that are very effective in reducing reactive oxygen species and inflammatory cytokines. So if you're somebody who's interested in adaptogens and adaptogenic processes, reducing stress and buffering stress, which of course has its role in buffering daily stress in order to help you sleep better, to improve cellular function for longevity, sports performance, cognitive performance, that is all good. And it makes sense why people would be interested in adaptogens. But remember that the two main adaptogens that you should think to first are going to be behaviors and nutrition. I've started with nutrition on purpose. As I mentioned, we'll get to behaviors in a moment. So if you're interested in adaptogens at all, I highly recommend that you include at least two to four servings of dark leafy greens and or cruciferous vegetables per day. I think that'd be highly advantageous. And just be aware that excessively heating dark leafy greens or cruciferous vegetables can actually destroy the very nutrients and micronutrients that act in an adaptogenic way. That does not mean that you need to eat raw broccoli or cauliflower. Just the thought of that makes me nauseous. It's very hard to digest. Some people might like that or can digest it more easily than others.

6

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: Now what's occurred over the last 10 years is that we know that reactive oxygen species are a major source of depleting cellular function by way of depleting mitochondrial function, but they are just one of many mechanisms that can deplete cellular function, mitochondrial function. So nowadays you'll hear about reactive oxygen species and antioxidants, but not as much as you used to. Now you hear a lot more about inflammatory responses and inflammatory cytokines also being an issue. And the truth is all of these things are an issue. So going back to this question about adaptogens, Adaptogens include these three categories. I've told you the first, which are the vitamins and micronutrients that are contained in food that can reduce reactive oxygen species and other aspects of cellar stress, such as inflammatory cytokines. What are some of those things that occur in foods? Well, in order to answer that, let's just think about what sorts of foods themselves can act as adaptogens. It's commonly held that the dark leafy greens type foods, for those of you that eat plants, and I think the majority of people out there do eat plants. I know that the carnivore diet and lion diet and some other diets tend to exclude plants. We'll address that briefly at some point in today's discussion. But dark leafy greens are known to contain a number of compounds in the form of vitamins and micronutrients that are very effective in reducing reactive oxygen species and inflammatory cytokines.

7

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: Aim to get dark leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables. Don't overcook them. If you want to explore supplements, the best supplements to act as adaptogens are going to be ashwagandha, lion's mane, and chaga. One or two or three of those. Although if you're going to pick one, I'd recommend ashwagandha, 600 milligrams per day taken in the later half of the day. And then there are the behavioral tools that we just talked about now, which are anything that reduces stress can reduce cortisol. And in doing so are technically adaptogens. If you want to know more behavioral tools and other tools for adjusting stress and learn more about adaptogens, we did a whole episode called Mastering Stress. So you can look to that. That episode also pretty clearly defines, I like to think, what short-term, medium-term, and long-term stress really are. Keep in mind, stress is part of life. Learning how to work with it, how to dance with it, how to buffer it is terrific, but zeroing out cortisol is not the goal. The goal is to learn to modulate and control your cortisol, and that's really what adaptogens are all about. Thank you for joining for the beginning of this Ask Me Anything episode.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: We'll get back to this a little bit later. The reason I mention it now is that it is indeed hard to get the so-called adaptogens in sufficient concentrations from food-based sources. I have to assume that most people aren't out there collecting chaga mushroom or the ashwagandha herbs and then combining them with their salads or their foods. And so that's why this adaptogen category fits into foundational. Now this opens up the category of foundational supplements that are broad spectrum. That is that include vitamins and minerals that have digestive enzymes, that have adaptogens, and that also have prebiotics and probiotics at the appropriate dosages. This is one reason why I'm a big fan of supplements like Athletic Greens, which is as many of you know, a sponsor of this podcast, and does really nicely cover all of these categories of foundational nutrition. But I do want to emphasize that this is not a way to focus on athletic greens specifically. There are other categories and brands of excellent foundational nutritional supplements that cover these categories of vitamins and minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, and adaptogens, it just so happens that Athletic Greens is the one that I discovered and that works best for me and that many people find works really well for them. So this is why when people approach me and they ask me, as they often do, very, very often do, I should say, if I'm only going to take one supplement, what supplement should I take? Rather than just give them one specific answer, I actually asked them three questions.

9

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: So I, of course, am a fan of taking certain blends and mixes. The one that we talk about a lot on this podcast, and I've been a sponsor from the beginning, I've taken for a decade now, long before I ever had a podcast, is athletic greens, which some of you might note does contain some ashwagandha, although the levels of ashwagandha that are contained in athletic greens are low enough that I don't see any issue with taking athletic greens consistently day to day, every day, because you're not getting anywhere near that 600 milligram dosage. But the idea is that if you are going to take Any adaptogen forsake a buffering stress over the short term, say for a week or two weeks or a month, and then taking that recommended time off. I would start with ashwagandha. And then if you feel you need something else to buffer stress, keeping in mind, of course, that you're doing the behavioral and the nutritional things to buffer stress as well, you can never abandon those, right? Well, then I would suggest adding 1,000 milligrams or 1,000 milligrams of Chaga per day and seeing how that further benefits your system in terms of buffering stress. How would you measure if your stress is being reduced? Well, you're going to be sleeping better at night. You're going to feel subjectively better, lower levels of anxiety, all the things that are measured in the types of studies I described before.

10

Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: improves the function of the gut microbiome, and in particular, enhances the function of the immune system, and it reduces the so-called inflammatome. It reduces inflammation in the brain and body in ways that are helpful and effective for brain and body, that is mental health, physical health, and performance. So there are ways to support your gut microbiome strictly from food, but it should come as no surprise that most people are not ingesting four servings a day of fermented foods. Hopefully they're getting enough fiber, especially prebiotic fiber, which is one other way to support the gut microbiome. Although the studies from Justin Sonnenberg's lab point to the fact that fiber intake itself was not directly supportive of the gut microbiome in everybody. It was in some individuals, but not in others and some had no effect. And in other individuals, it actually made the or I should say the array of inflammatome markers worse. It actually led to more inflammation. So that's not to say that fiber is bad. In fact, in the episode that we did with Dr. Lane Norton, he discussed the many benefits of getting enough fiber. There are a lot of reasons why people should get enough fiber in their diet, but at least for supporting the gut microbiome, Four servings a day of low sugar fermented foods seems to be the best way to support the gut microbiome through the intake of nutrition. Again, most people are not achieving that.

11

How to Enhance Your Gut Microbiome for Brain & Overall Health

Andrew Huberman: Well, that doesn't seem to be the case. Probiotics and prebiotics, both of which can enhance microbial diversity, can improve mood digestion, immune system, and so on. That's been established, but it's mainly been established in the context of post-antibiotic treatment, or people that are recovering from illness, or people that have been very stressed, or have been dealing with all sorts of challenges, mental or physical, and they are an attempt to replenish the gut microbiome. However, it's also clear that excessive microbiota brought about by excessive intake of probiotics can lead to things like brain fog. There's actually some good studies that point to the fact that certain metabolites of the microbiome, certain chemicals produced in the gut and in the body can actually lead to brain fog states. This is thought to come about through the lactate pathways of the gut that can then impact the brain. If you want to look more into this issue of whether or not probiotics taken in excess, perhaps can lead to brain fog. I'd encourage you to look at a particular paper. This is a paper published in clinical and translational gastroenterology. And the title of the paper is brain fogginess, gas and bloating, a link between SIBO probiotics and metabolic acidosis. It was published in 2018. We can provide a link to this study. And there are several other studies in the references that point to the fact that in some cases, excessive intake of probiotics and excessive proliferation of gut microbiota can actually be problematic.

12

Nutrients For Brain Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: And without getting into a lot of detail about this, the best way to ensure a healthy gut microbiome that I am aware of is not necessarily to take supplemental prebiotics or probiotics. There are actually some reasons why you might not want to do that, but rather to ingest two to four servings of fermented foods that are low in sugar each day. There is a recent study published in Cell showing that the ingestion of fermented foods, two to four servings each day, can enhance the quality of the mucosal lining of the gut that allows certain gut microbiota to flourish and the gut microbiota that are not good for us to not flourish, because that's the environment that they settle down into. This is work that was carried out by my colleagues, Justin Sonnenberg, which is in the laboratory upstairs from me, as well as Chris Gardner and others at Stanford. They're certainly not the only researchers exploring this, but it does appear that two to four servings of. fermented foods each day. So these would be things like natto, sauerkraut, low sugar fermented foods is great for the gut microbiome. And separate studies, not their study, but separate studies have shown that the correct gut microbiome conditions allow these neurons that signal to the brain to signal at the right times and in the right ways to promote healthy food seeking. Many people opt to supplement with capsule form probiotics. There are some data that suggests that maybe those don't contain the correct prebiotics and probiotics for setting the correct gut microbiota conditions. That's a little bit of a controversial issue.

13

AMA #3: Adaptogens, Fasting & Fertility, Bluetooth/EMF Risks, Cognitive Load Limits & More

Andrew Huberman: Some good examples of these would be any kind of vitamin, either water-soluble or fat-soluble, that can adjust or reduce what are so-called reactive oxygen species. And then that's what gives rise to this idea that antioxidants are good for us. Now, over the last 10 years or so, there's been a shift. What shift has occurred? Well, about 10 years ago, you often heard about antioxidants, antioxidants, antioxidants and vitamins, antioxidants in this food, this superfood, et cetera. And why were people talking about antioxidants? Well, just to remind you, reactive oxygen species are types of reactions and molecules that occur in cells when cells get stressed and or age, and antioxidants are the compounds that reduce those reactive oxygen species. Reactive oxygen species are bad for cells because they tend to hinder the function of mitochondria, which are associated with energy production in those cells. So what do we know for sure? We know that as cells get older or as any cell or biological system, organ, tissue, et cetera, get stressed a lot over time, the number of reactive oxygen species increases in those cells and tissues and organs and antioxidants, which can include certain vitamins, but also some micronutrients are effective in reducing those reactive oxygen species. Now what's occurred over the last 10 years is that we know that reactive oxygen species are a major source of depleting cellular function by way of depleting mitochondrial function, but they are just one of many mechanisms that can deplete cellular function, mitochondrial function.

14

Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: I would say for people that are extremely physically and or mentally active and for people that perhaps are following a intermittent fasting schedule. So they are not ingesting a lot of food in general or restricting their food intake to specific times of day. Well, then a vitamin mineral supplement likely makes sense for them. However, it's going to be very important to ingest that vitamin mineral supplement with food. and ideally early in the day. So that can set up a little bit of a challenge for the intermittent fasters who are restricting their feeding window to late in the day. Why do I say this? Well, many of the water soluble vitamins in particular, the B vitamins need to be ingested with food because otherwise they can cause some stomach upset. And again, there's a range there. Some people like myself can take B vitamins on an empty stomach and feel fine. Other people feel really lousy when they take B vitamins. There are a few other things that we'll talk about later, namely zinc. and coenzyme Q10 that really should also be taken with food. But the best time to take a vitamin mineral supplement is with food. And I believe that if you're going to take a vitamin mineral supplement, that you want to take it with food and you don't want to take dosages of vitamins and minerals from supplements that are exceedingly high for a couple of reasons. One is the buildup of fat soluble vitamins that we talked about before.

15

Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: Well, I think what we need to do is to take a step back and ask what are different supplements designed to do? For instance, there are foundational supplements. These are supplements that are designed to establish a foundation or provide insurance along with your nutritional intake to ensure that you're getting all the things that you need in order to have a basic level of mental health, physical health, and opportunity for optimal performance. Now, this is the one category of supplements for which I think it's appropriate and in fact, advantageous to have multiple ingredients in a given supplement. Throughout the rest of today's discussion, I'm going to talk about the advantage of mainly focusing on taking single ingredient formulations for a variety of reasons. But when it comes to foundational supplements, what we're mainly talking about are supplements that contain vitamins and minerals that are designed to compensate for any deficiencies you might have from diet or from lack of adequate diet. how would such a lack of vitamin and mineral intake arise? Well, for instance, if you're somebody that practices intermittent fasting or other components of fasting, or if you're somebody who does not get enough vitamins and minerals from vegetables and fruits and grains and meats, well then taking a supplement that can act as a insurance policy against any vitamin mineral deficiencies in many ways can be advantageous. Although I will talk about some of the safety concerns in just a few minutes. Now, I want to acknowledge that as soon as we talk about vitamin mineral supplements, The skeptics immediately raise their hands and say, well, all that vitamin and mineral supplements do is give you very expensive urine.

16

Dr. Sara Gottfried: How to Optimize Female Hormone Health for Vitality & Longevity

(someone): Your first question is about nutritional testing. What I like to do with nutritional testing is run a panel that's looking at antioxidants, so like vitamin A, vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, plant-based antioxidants, because you can measure that in the blood. I like to look at some of the key vitamins, especially the B vitamin range, because as you probably know, if you've got particular genetic polymorphisms, you might be less likely to be absorbing the right level of vitamin B9, folate, vitamin B12, et cetera. I'm also looking, going back to the antioxidants, at glutathione, because I think that's such an important lever when it comes to detoxification, which we haven't talked about yet. And then I'm looking at some of the minerals. Magnesium is really the most important, and we know that somewhere around 70% to 80% of Americans are deficient in magnesium. That's like the lowest hanging fruit.

Andrew Huberman: I would be curious, for instance, like with magnesium, if that number of people are deficient, does that mean that that number of people should be targeting their nutrition towards foods that contain magnesium and or supplementing with magnesium? And if so, what forms of magnesium? We've talked about mag three and eight for sleep. There's a mag citrate. There's so many forms. It can be a little bit of overwhelming to people. So any detail in sourcing, I would appreciate it.

(someone): Great. So first, in terms of testing, what I prefer to do is to mention more than one lab and more than one brand.

17

AMA #6: Eye Health, Why We Yawn & Increasing Motivation

Andrew Huberman: that it's not present at excessively high levels in a foundational supplement or vitamin mineral supplement. Getting some additional vitamin A from a foundational supplement or vitamin mineral supplement is probably not going to be an issue unless you really take in far too much of that vitamin A and could potentially provide some insurance. But again, I think most people can get enough vitamin A from their diet if they're taking care to eat the foods that contain vitamin A, green leafy vegetables being one. The other food that's known to be highly enriched in vitamin A is liver. One of my least favorite foods, regardless of what animal that liver comes from. Liver is somewhat of a popular slash controversial organ meat in the nutrition space for reasons that aren't interesting for sake of this discussion anyway. I suppose for those of you that like liver, you could eat a little bit of liver every once in a while. It is, you know, rich in a number of things that are beneficial to health. Although for you vegans out there, I'm sure you'll want to avoid liver entirely. I avoid liver because I just simply don't like the way it tastes. I've maybe once or twice I've tasted liver that was appetizing to me and it can be okay, but it's just not, or at least by my read, it can be okay, but it's not a food that I actively seek out, order or prepare for myself on a regular basis. So fortunately there are other sources of vitamin A as well. And again, I just invite you to all put into a web search, you know, food sources of vitamin A and figure out how to get your daily dose of vitamin A by taking in foods that you like for you.

18

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Micronutrients for Health & Longevity

(someone): But most people, I mean, this is regulating our immune cell, immune system. It's regulating our blood pressure, all that water retention. I mean, bone, of course, homeostasis, 5%, more than 5%. I mean, I can't tell you, like so much.

Andrew Huberman: I mean, and with 70% of the U.S. population deficient, I'm beginning to think that this could be the linchpin in a number of really important issues. So supplementing vitamin D3 is what I normally, here is the, I do, I take, I think I ended up taking 5,000 IU, sometimes 10 IU of vitamin D3 per day. I've just done that for a long time and I've had my levels tested and they're in range. But I have a family member, I'll just mention this, I have a family member who was not feeling well, just kind of feeling off, a little low, had some digestive issues. This went on a long period of time. was taking on my recommendation 15,000 IUs of D3 and was still deficient in D3 now takes, and I'm not suggesting anyone do this as a special case perhaps, but no chronic illness that we're aware of, needs to take 30,000 IUs per day in order to bring their D3 range just into normal. which to me is striking because they eat quite well, they're a healthy weight, et cetera, and it's made a tremendous difference in terms of their mood. Now, of course, this is correlative. Now they feel better, they're doing it.

19

Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: to the podcast episode we did with Justin Sonnenberg. You can find that at hubermanlab.com if you want to learn all the different ways that you can support your gut microbiome. But for sake of today's discussion, I want to emphasize that some of those methods of supporting the gut microbiome are through the direct consumption of particular foods. And there are two categories of foods that if you're getting enough of them, it's likely that your gut microbiome is diverse and is going to support all those important functions I just listed off and other functions as well. The two sources of gut microbiota supporting foods are low sugar fermented foods. So these would be things like sauerkraut, kimchi, Greek yogurt, again, low sugar Greek yogurt. kombucha in particular as a drink, things like kefir. There are a bunch of other varieties of fermented foods, different cultures at different fermented foods. So the Japanese natto is another source of ferment that is very good for the gut microbiome. And work from Justin Sonnenberg's lab and close by labs at Stanford School of Medicine have shown that if people ingest four servings a day of these low sugar fermented foods, it greatly improves the function of the gut microbiome, and in particular, enhances the function of the immune system, and it reduces the so-called inflammatome. It reduces inflammation in the brain and body in ways that are helpful and effective for brain and body, that is mental health, physical health, and performance.

20

Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: Now, I want to acknowledge that as soon as we talk about vitamin mineral supplements, The skeptics immediately raise their hands and say, well, all that vitamin and mineral supplements do is give you very expensive urine. And there the skeptics are referring to the fact, the reality that when you ingest high levels of water-soluble vitamins, so think vitamin C and some of the other vitamins, that indeed you will excrete them in your urine. However, It's also the case that many people are not getting enough of the water-soluble vitamins from their foods. And it's also the case that many people are. And it's also the case that ingesting higher than needed amounts of most water-soluble vitamins, provided those levels aren't exceedingly high, is, or at least we should say, can be safe. And again, this is provided that the levels that they're ingesting are not exceedingly high. So the typical vitamin mineral supplement is indeed going to cover any gaps or deficiencies that might arise in the water-soluble vitamins from your food intake. But the reality is that most people are getting enough of the water-soluble vitamins from their food if they are paying attention to a couple of things. And those things are very simple to lay out regardless of whether or not you're a vegan, a vegetarian, a more traditional omnivore eating from both animal-based and plant-based sources, grains, et cetera. Or even if you're in the pure carnivore or strict, I guess it's called the lion diet where it's just meat and salt.

21

The Science of Vision, Eye Health & Seeing Better

Andrew Huberman: And it's also in the feathers of flamingos. Please don't eat the feathers of flamingos. And please also don't eat flamingos. It's structurally similar to beta carotene, so it's very pro-vitamin A, but it has some chemical differences which may make it safer than vitamin A. Remember, vitamin A is a lipid-soluble vitamin, so it can be stored in our body for long periods of time. What is the deal with this astaxanthin? What are its drawbacks? Well, we can go to our ever favorite examine.com. What does it do? Well, it has a number of different effects, a huge number in fact, but it does seem to notably increase, it's now been shown in three studies, the antioxidant enzyme profile. It has a number of different effects, but the most notable for sake of this episode is the one on ocular blood flow. It does seem to increase the amount of ocular blood flow. So the blood supply to the eyes. So that makes it an interesting compound. Has a number of other effects for whatever reason. It also has a notable effect. Several studies have shown this. on fertility in males. So it seems to at least double the pregnancy rate when men take astaxanthin and works as in particular, it seems here in men that were previously infertile.

22

How to Enhance Your Gut Microbiome for Brain & Overall Health

Andrew Huberman: In general, it seems that maintaining a healthy gut microbiome involves ingesting certain types of foods, and we'll talk about those in a moment, but perhaps also augmenting the microbiome system through prebiotics or probiotics at a fairly low level on a consistent basis. So these are not high dose probiotics except under conditions of dysbiosis, where for instance, if somebody has done a round of antibiotics and they need to replenish their gut microbiome, their foods and their pill form and powder form prebiotics and probiotics, that can be very useful. or in cases where people have been very stressed or are undergoing excessive travel or have shifted their diet radically. Maybe that's due to travel, maybe that's due to illness, maybe that's due to stress. But when there are a number of different converging events that are stressing or depleting microbiotal diversity. That's when at least I believe it can be useful to support the gut microbiome through the ingestion of quality probiotics or prebiotics. So it would be under conditions where people are stressed or their system is generally stressed for environmental or illness related reasons that it might be useful to lean towards higher doses of prebiotics or probiotics than one might normally use. but that under normal conditions that one would focus on quality nutrients through diet and focus on ingestion of probiotics at a fairly low to moderate level and or prebiotics at a fairly low to moderate level. That just seems like the logical approach based on the experts that I've spoken to.

23

Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

Andrew Huberman: Four servings a day of low sugar fermented foods seems to be the best way to support the gut microbiome through the intake of nutrition. Again, most people are not achieving that. And therefore these foundational supplements that can be just vitamin and mineral supplements, or it could be vitamin and mineral supplements plus digestive enzymes or Both of those things plus adaptogens now also tend to include prebiotics and probiotics that are designed to support the proliferation and maintenance of enough gut microbiota in order to support the gut microbiome and the gut brain axis. Now, because of the importance of the gut microbiome and because most people are not getting enough support for the gut microbiome in the form of low sugar fermented foods and prebiotic fiber from their diet, I think perhaps one of the most essential foundational supplements. irrespective of whether or not it includes vitamins and minerals, adaptogens and digestive enzymes is some way to support the gut microbiome. Now this gets into a whole dimension of categories of prebiotic and probiotic capsules. And one needs to be very careful there. I do want to say that most of the prebiotic and probiotic capsules that you can buy, first of all, are very expensive. The best ones are going to be refrigerated or require refrigeration, just as do any good low sugar fermented foods, by the way. So for instance, pickles are a low sugar fermented food that can support the gut microbiome. But if you're buying pickles from the section of the grocery store where the pickles are not