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Aging itself is not just about time, it's driven by physiological processes such as
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chronic inflammation, mitochondrial decline, muscle loss, connective tissue breakdown,
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nutrient depletion, and then hormonal shifts ultimately.
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And if we can support those systems properly, we can dramatically improve how the body ages.
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Welcome to Health Decoded, your number one source for real health information with your
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host, doctor Alessi and Matt Tack.
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Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Health Decoded.
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I'm your host, doctor Alessi.
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And today, we are talking about something that a lot of people ask about, but very few people
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truly understand.
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And I think is just so overlooked, and that is the topic of supplements or supplementation.
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And, you know, more specifically, what supplements actually matter when it comes to
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aging well.
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That's gonna be the topic for today.
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Because let's be honest, if you walk into a supplement store, pharmacy, or you're scrolling
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online, you'll see thousands of products claiming to improve your health, your energy,
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your metabolism, your longevity.
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But most of them fall into one of two categories, either they're unnecessary or
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they're poorly formulated.
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And that creates a lot of confusion for people.
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The goal of today's episode is not to overwhelm you with a giant list of pills or things you
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need to take.
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The goal is to focus on seven foundational supplements that support the biological systems
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responsible for healthy aging.
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Because aging itself is not just about time, it's driven by physiological processes such as
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chronic inflammation, mitochondrial decline, muscle loss, connective tissue breakdown,
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nutrient depletion, and then hormonal shifts ultimately.
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And if we can support those systems properly, we can dramatically improve how the body ages.
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Now, I want to be clear about something upfront.
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Supplements are not magic.
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They don't replace your sleep.
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They don't replace movement.
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They don't even replace nutrition.
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But when used strategically, they can support the body's ability to repair, adapt, and remain
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resilient over time.
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So, today we're going to walk through seven supplements that almost every adult should
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consider when their goal is long term health and longevity.
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And these are not in any rank or order of importance.
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I'm just going to go through this list.
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And so, let's start off with number one.
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And this is one of the most important, just happens to fall at number one.
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This is omega-three fatty acids.
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So, the first supplement is omega-three fatty acids, which are essential fats, meaning your
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body cannot produce them on its own.
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The two most important forms are EPA and DHA.
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These fatty acids are primarily found in fatty fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel, but
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the problem is that most people simply don't eat enough of those foods.
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At the same time, modern diets tend to be extremely high in what are called omega six
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fats, which come from processed foods and seed oils.
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And this imbalance in omega three to omega six actually drives inflammation, whereas the omega
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threes help to counteract that inflammation.
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Now, let's talk about why that matters for aging, okay?
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So, omega-three fatty acids play a role by regulating inflammatory signaling, helping
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maintain the cell membrane flexibility.
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The membranes of your cells are created in these phospholipid bilayers that are actually
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made of fatty acids.
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And so, if we don't have a sufficient amount, those can start to break down and become weaker
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over time and more rigid, if you will.
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They also work to support cardiovascular health, they protect brain function, and they
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improve metabolic regulation.
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For example, your brain is nearly 60 fat.
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I'm sure you've heard that and that's why it's so important for young people children, but
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also older people to maintain a level of fatty acid content in their blood.
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DHA is one of the most important structural fats in your neuronal membranes.
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Research studies, they show that low omega-three levels are associated with an
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increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, depression, and chronic
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inflammation.
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And so in functional medicine, we always measure something called the omega-three index,
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which tells us how much EPA and DHA are actually incorporated into your red blood
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cells.
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And so, you know, people always ask how much should someone take Because optimal levels can
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vary and, you know, to have that lowering risk of disease, what does it look like?
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And so, most adults, the standard is going to be somewhere around two to four grams per day
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of combined EPA and DHA.
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Higher doses are often used therapeutically when inflammation or triglycerides are
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elevated, sometimes twice that amount.
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But that's not for a long term, that's more so for a short term acute approach.
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Long term, again, two to four grams can be ideal.
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And this is something that realistically is it's ideal to test rather than just guess and
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take, you know, willy nilly.
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And so knowing what your levels are, what you need to supplement to support those levels, and
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then go from there.
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Hey, busy professionals and parents.
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Let me ask you something.
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Do you need help with your low energy, stubborn weight, brain fog, gut issues or hormones, but
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you don't know where to start?
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Well, you're not alone.
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The biggest problem is that modern healthcare is designed to diagnose disease, but often
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misses the dysfunction that begins years earlier as under the surface symptoms.
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That's exactly why I created the functional medicine starter system.
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This is a structured physician led process designed to uncover what is actually driving
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your symptoms, whether it's rooted in gut health, metabolic function, inflammation,
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nutrient status, or hormonal imbalance.
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No guessing, no generic protocols, just real data and a clear plan.
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So, you're tired of searching for answers, but you're not sure how to begin solving your
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health issues, go to the link in the podcast show notes to learn more about the Functional
00:06:39
Medicine Starter System.
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Because once you have clarity, you can finally start to feel like yourself again.
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Now, let's get back to the episode.
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Now, supplement number two, and this pairs perfectly with omega threes, is actually
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vitamin D three plus K two, and I'll get to that in a minute.
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So vitamin d is often called a vitamin, but physiologically, it actually behaves more like
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a hormone.
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We've spoken on this in the past in episodes about how it is actually essential for the
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expression of over thousands of genes in the human body.
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And so, when we're deficient in vitamin D, our body is operating at a suboptimal level.
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Because vitamin D strongly influences your immune system, your bone metabolism, hormone
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production, inflammation control, strength, and your mood.
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Yet, vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common things we see because modern lifestyle
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is limiting sun exposure.
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How much sunscreen can we put on wearing long sleeves when we're outside?
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People have grown to be fearful of getting adequate sunlight.
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Now, there's a fine line there.
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You don't want to go sit outside with no, you know, cover or anything on you for hours at a
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time.
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You can get sunburn which can then lead to its own issues.
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However, go outside and get some non protected sun exposure for thirty to forty minutes on a
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daily basis is going to be beneficial for your body.
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And so, the reason it's beneficial is because low vitamin D levels are directly linked to
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autoimmune disease, things like osteoporosis, body's not having enough bone mineral density,
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cardiovascular disease, mood disorders like depression, as well as metabolic dysfunction.
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Now, I spoke on K2, here's where vitamin K2 comes in and you often see nowadays the D three
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paired with the K two because vitamin K two helps direct calcium into the bones and teeth
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rather than into your arteries.
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And so without K two, calcium can accumulate in blood vessels and can contribute to vascular
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calcification or hardening of the arteries.
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So the combination of D3 plus K2 will support bone health, cardiovascular health, and immune
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health.
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For most adults, a typical dose of vitamin D3 would be about two thousand to five thousand
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IUs or international units daily, paired with vitamin K2 around ninety to two hundred
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micrograms daily.
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Now, when you are sick, maybe you're going through a stressful time or more recovery is
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necessary, you can bump that up.
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Oftentimes, we will triple or quadruple that dosage on an acute phase for patients when
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we're working through something like healing the gut or healing some autoimmune condition,
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we're gonna bump that up.
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However, testing the blood should tell you, right?
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So, monitoring through blood testing will find that a healthy range is typically somewhere
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between fifty to seventy nanograms per milliliter.
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That's where a functional healthy range would be.
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Now supplement number three, magnesium.
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Magnesium is awesome.
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This is one of the most underrated nutrients in modern health.
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Magnesium is responsible for participating in over 300 biochemical reactions in your body.
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It's involved in muscle contraction and relaxation, nerve signaling, blood sugar
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regulation, blood pressure control, energy production, and sleep.
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Yet, many adults are deficient.
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And why is this happening?
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Because magnesium levels are often affected by stress, consumption of caffeine and alcohol,
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processed foods, and the fact that our agricultural system is depleted of nutrition.
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When you have low magnesium levels, people often find they have poor sleep, they get kind
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of crampy and headaches, anxiety, these things can kind of build up, as well as insulin
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resistance.
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This is a big piece when it comes to resetting someone who has like a metabolic syndrome.
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Magnesium essentially acts as a nervous system stabilizer.
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It's going to help calm the body's stress response and help the body to manage and
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adequately do what it needs to do with that stress response.
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Because stress is not always a bad thing.
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We use things like exercise as a positive stress.
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Breath work can be a positive stress.
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Sometimes stress is good in general for our body to adapt and grow.
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However, it's important to regulate chronic versus acute stress.
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Now, there's different forms of magnesium and this is one that I get asked all the time.
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And so, some of the main ones we're going to use are like magnesium glycinate.
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This one is more optimized for that stress reduction, magnesium malate, and then magnesium
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three and eight is great for brain support.
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Oftentimes, I recommend just kind of a broad spectrum magnesium that has a few of the
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different forms in it so people can get those different forms of magnesium for those usages.
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Typical dosing is gonna range somewhere from three to four hundred milligrams daily.
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Many people will take it in the evening because it's gonna help improve sleep quality.
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And sometimes in an acute situation of say constipation or gut distress, people will use
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it for that like a magnesium citrate to help expedite and increase motility in the stool.
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Now, the next supplement, and this is one that is probably gonna surprise a lot of people
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because they think of it as like the bodybuilder or the athlete supplement, it's
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creatine.
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But the reality is that creatine is one of the most researched supplements in all of science.
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And creatine this major important function within the body which is to help produce ATP.
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ATP is adenosine triphosphate, which is your primary energy currency of your cells.
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Without ATP, we don't live.
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It's especially important for tissues with a high energy demand like muscles and the brain.
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These are both high energy utilizing systems in your body.
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As we age, naturally, people are gonna lose muscle and the process is called sarcopenia.
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You know, I would push back on that that this is not a natural thing if we maintain a level
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of activity.
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The body shouldn't just start losing muscle.
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You know, it does decline over time because of that.
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However, it shouldn't be to the extent of what see.
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And what we find is sarcopenia is a predictor, is a major predictor of things like frailty,
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people who fall have a major injury from just a fall and then, you know, lose quality of life
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from that.
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Metabolic disease is a major, major thing when people have sarcopenia, as well as that loss of
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independence later in life, unable to walk on their own and do things on their own.
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And so creatine comes in because it can help support muscle strength, power output, exercise
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performance, recovery, and brain energy.
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And so, there's a lot of emerging research suggesting the benefits for cognitive health
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and neuroprotection as well.
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Now, the standard dose for creatine is going to be somewhere between three to five grams daily
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of creatine monohydrate.
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Some people can get away with doing more.
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For example, myself, I take five grams daily, however, on days where I'm going to be training
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really hard, I might take five or ten grams in the morning and then another five or ten after.
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Or days where I've had a really heavy stressful, mentally stressful day, I've done a
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lot of patient notes, patient appointments, and my brain feels fried out.
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I'm going to take a little bit extra that day, maybe ten or fifteen grams.
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They've shown some really cool research on post concussion people taking creatine to help boost
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the brain's energy back up for healing.
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It's amazing.
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And so, don't need to load it.
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That's the old school methodology where people would load creatine, you know, twenty, thirty
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grams a day for a week and then, you know, really build up saturation in the body.
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It's been shown to be unnecessary.
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You can just take the standard dose.
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And despite the outdated myths, creatine has actually been shown to be extremely safe in
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healthy individuals.
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So always consult with a doctor or functional medicine doctor if you've had anything like
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kidney issues or gut issues, making sure creatine's okay to take.
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However, it has been shown to be extremely safe.
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And let me just make a quick side note to all of this that don't ever just start taking
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something because you heard it on a podcast, because I said it, because someone else told
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you to.
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Do your homework, test your blood, find out what your body actually needs, and make
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educated decisions.
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You should be autonomous and you should be an advocate for yourself with your health.
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Now, getting back to the show here, supplement number five on the list that I have is
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prebiotic and probiotic support.
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So, moving into the gut, your microbiome is an ecosystem.
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It's home to trillions of bacteria.
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These microbes are going to influence a lot of functions in the body such as your immune
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system, inflammation, how well your body absorbs nutrients and nutrition, as well as
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hormone metabolism.
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That's also responsible for production of neurotransmitters, which are cellular signals
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that go to the brain to control mood, appetite, energy, a lot of other things.
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And so, 90% of serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter, is produced in your gut.
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And so, when the microbiome becomes imbalanced, it can contribute to mood disorders, metabolic
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disorders, autoimmune, digestive problems.
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It's really a whole host of things.
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We find that the gut is at the base of most chronic issues.
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And so, probiotics are going to provide beneficial bacteria to rebuild that ecosystem
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and the prebiotics are the fiber that feed those bacteria.
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Together, they're going to help maintain balance because you want an adequate number of
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specific strains of bacteria.
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It can get pretty complex at times.
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So a typical probiotic that someone might take is gonna be anywhere from ten to fifteen
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billion CFUs which is called colony forming units.
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And so, again, this is very dependent on the person.
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If someone is dealing with things like bloating, SIBO, dysbiosis, a probiotic is not
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often the best step.
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Now, somebody who has a healthy gut, has maybe healed their gut, or is just wanting general
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wellness, they know they don't have any of those issues, something like a fifty billion
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CFU probiotic is going to do them a lot of benefits.
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And prebiotic fibers such as inulin resistant starches, they support the growth of the
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probiotics.
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So, the gut however is very highly individualized and some people were actually
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feel worse with certain probiotics, this means that there's something wrong with their gut.
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There's some imbalance that then is triggering symptoms, which is where advanced gut testing
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such as like our gut zoomer test that we run is very valuable.
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And so, if that's something that you think you may have or you've dealt with, Oh, I tried a
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probiotic and it actually made me feel worse even though my friends told me to take it, that
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requires more insight and data and actually testing.
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So, that's something that we help a lot of our patients with.
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Now, supplement number six, this is an awesome one and again, one that's maybe a bit more
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nuanced but essential amino acids.
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And I put this on the list because essential amino acids are just that, they are essential.
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They are proteins, basically, pieces of protein.
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The next supplement that we're gonna get into is essential amino acids.
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Now, this one is a bit more nuanced, but essential amino acids are exactly that.
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They are essential for the body.
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So, what are they?
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Basically, proteins are made of amino acids and there are nine essential amino acids that the
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body cannot produce on its own.
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These must come from either your diet or supplementation.
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Now, amino acids are very much important and responsible for muscle repair, your immune
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system, hormone production, and neurotransmitter synthesis.
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However, one of the biggest challenges in aging is declining muscle protein synthesis.
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And this isn't just loss of muscle, this is the body's ability to utilize protein to create
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muscle.
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And so even if someone's eating enough protein, their body becomes less efficient at utilizing
00:19:09
it.
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This is where essential amino acid supplementation can help because it's going to
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stimulate muscle protein synthesis especially when paired with resistance training.
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It does the work of giving you the raw ingredients of the amino acids without your
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body having to break down the protein first.
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And so, a typical dosing for someone could be about five to ten grams per day.
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I prefer during or around workouts and between meals to help provide that anabolic stimulus
00:19:37
while we don't have food or nutrition coming in.
00:19:42
Now, the final one on the list, and this is something I will take forever, I love this
00:19:47
supplement, this is collagen.
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And so collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body.
00:19:53
It provides structural integrity for your joints, tendons, ligaments, skin, connective
00:19:59
tissue.
00:20:00
Unfortunately, what we see is that collagen production begins to decline as early as our
00:20:05
late 20s, which then contributes to joint degeneration and tendon injuries, skin aging,
00:20:12
and cartilage breakdown.
00:20:14
And so, supplementing with collagen can provide the specific amino acids like glycine and
00:20:19
proline, which are gonna support connective tissue repair.
00:20:24
Now, that's where people see that collagen can help improve that joint comfort.
00:20:28
It's going to make the skin more elastic and the tendons are going have more resilience.
00:20:32
A typical dose of collagen is probably going to be somewhere from ten to twenty grams per day.
00:20:38
It's one of those things that it's tough to overdo.
00:20:41
You could do twice that amount and be okay.
00:20:44
And collagen synthesis is often enhanced and this is something I do is paired with vitamin
00:20:49
C.
00:20:50
That's going to help with the production of collagen.
00:20:53
Vitamin C is very important for that.
00:20:56
And so, in closing here, these were seven supplements that I believe, and this is just my
00:21:02
opinion, take that or leave it, but that are very important if not essential for healthy
00:21:08
aging and aging well, giving your body the support it needs as things tend to naturally
00:21:13
decline with aging.
00:21:15
Now, not all supplements are created equal.
00:21:18
Okay?
00:21:19
Quality is very important, Bioavailability is even more important and purity.
00:21:24
But more important than any of that is that not every body is the same.
00:21:28
You are not the same as your spouse, as your brother, as your sister.
00:21:32
And so the future of medicine is moving toward a more personalized nutrition and what we call
00:21:38
nutrigenetic type of approach, where we're able to test someone's genetic influence on how
00:21:44
their body processes vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, detox, and inflammation, which means it
00:21:51
works perfectly because one person might not be the same as the other.
00:21:55
And so, they require a different approach and different dosages and amounts and types of
00:22:01
vitamins and minerals.
00:22:02
And this is where testing and personalization are really becoming the foundation of modern
00:22:07
functional medicine.
00:22:09
The goal is not just take supplements and try to cover all your bases, that's 1990s, 2000s
00:22:14
stuff.
00:22:15
The goal now is to support your physiology intelligently without taking a bunch of things
00:22:21
that aren't helping you.
00:22:23
And so, in closing here, if we zoom out, the seven supplements we talked about today, right?
00:22:28
The omega-three fatty acids, vitamin D three with the K two, magnesium, creatine, pre and
00:22:35
probiotics for the gut, as well as essential amino acids, and collagen.
00:22:40
These are gonna help support inflammation control, muscle preservation, mitochondrial
00:22:46
energy, connective tissue health, gut balance, and cognitive resilience.
00:22:52
Because healthy aging isn't just something that happens.
00:22:55
It's not just, Oh, that guy happened to age well and this one didn't.
00:22:58
It's a result of supporting your body and consistently over time and it starts now.
00:23:04
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago.
00:23:06
What's the second best time?
00:23:08
It's right now.
00:23:09
And so, to learn more about how we personalize nutrition, especially using our Nutri Pro
00:23:14
genetic test, go to alessifunctionalhealth.com.
00:23:17
You can schedule a consultation with me or one of my other providers and we can create a
00:23:22
personalized plan for lifelong health.
00:23:25
Listeners of this podcast, make sure you mention us because you're always going to get
00:23:28
exclusive discounts and price reductions on all protocols, tests, and just be sure to mention
00:23:35
that you heard about us on the show.
00:23:37
As always, I I'm gonna ask you a favor.
00:23:40
If you found value in today's show, please like the show.
00:23:43
Please follow us.
00:23:44
Subscribe, and and share this with someone who needs to hear it.
00:23:48
Everybody has a friend who has something they're struggling with and and doesn't take
00:23:52
action on.
00:23:53
So if we can help grow this message, can help change more people's lives.
00:23:57
Now, if you wanna get in touch with us or if you wanna be featured on an episode, we just
00:24:01
did a q and a last week.
00:24:02
Email us your questions to ask at Alessi f x health dot com.
00:24:08
You can also visit alessifunctionalhealth.com, sign up for our newsletter, and make sure you
00:24:12
check out our resources page to learn more about our approach to nutrition and cutting
00:24:17
edge therapies.
00:24:18
I wanna thank you again for tuning in to Health Decoded.
00:24:21
I'm doctor Lessie, and I'll see you on the next one.
00:24:28
Thank you for tuning in to Health Decoded, where we break down the truth about all things
00:24:32
health and empower you to take charge of your well-being.
00:24:36
If you found value in today's episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with
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