Boost Fitness and Health with These 5 Supplements!

Author: Ben Greenfield

Boost Fitness and Health with These 5 Supplements!

Because I’m an athlete and am regularly putting my body through considerable amounts of stress, I tend to focus on improving performance, recovery, and longevity. With those goals in mind, I’ve come up with five key nutrients for every fitness enthusiast’s diet. And considering the vast benefits each offers, I wouldn’t think twice about recommending these to any health-conscious individual.

Turmeric is an extremely potent anti-inflammatory. Controlling inflammation is not only important after stressing your muscles and joints through exercise, but inflammation is a huge factor in nearly every disease, including cancer, ulcerative colitis, arthritis, diabetes, and chronic pain. Curcumin is the compound in turmeric responsible for inflammation reduction and, amazingly, research continues to show it as being as effective in reducing inflammation as injectable cortisone and other common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs).

Particularly of interest for athletes, curcumin has been found in clinical trials to decrease joint pain, decrease inflammation, and improve joint mobility and function after eight months of treatment. It has also been proven to lower your risk of heart disease, improve brain function and lower the risk of brain diseases, improve arthritis, fight depression, and improve insulin sensitivity.

You can easily enjoy the benefits of curcumin by using turmeric when cooking, just remember to combine it with a healthy fat, like coconut oil, and black pepper to greatly increase its bioavailability. An easy and relaxing cup of “Golden Milk” is a great option to include more turmeric in your diet. Gently heat two cups of coconut milk or whole milk, add one teaspoon of turmeric, a pinch of black pepper, and any additions such as cinnamon, cayenne, ginger, and honey to your personal taste.

For a stronger effect, use a supplement standardized to 95 percent curcuminoids combined with black pepper extract or piperine.

Phosphatidylserine (PS) is critical to the maintenance of all cellular function as it works synergistically with the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA to form healthy cell membranes. PS is a phospholipid and contains both amino acids and fatty acids.

PS is probably best known for its ability to improve memory and cognitive function, but research shows that it is also important for bone matrix formation, immune system cell repair and removal, heartbeat coordination, testicular function, and for hormone secretion by the adrenal glands.¹ It has also been shown to lower cortisol, something over-exercising can raise to an unhealthy degree.²

PS has been shown to improve athletic performance and decrease muscle damage while improving the endocrine stress response to exercise-induced bodily stress in multiple studies. One notable study found that supplementation with 750 mg of soybean-derived PS significantly improved exercise capacity measured by exercise time to exhaustion in cyclists.³

In supplement form, a standard dose of PS is 100mg, taken 3 times a day, to total 300mg daily.

Protect Your Immune Function and Gut Health with Black Seed Oil & Fish Oil

It’s been established that stress—including stress caused by exercise—can challenge the immune system and lead to gut imbalances. A recent study has found that a combination of black seed oil (500 mg of oil standardized to 3% thymoquinone) and omega-3s (1,500 mg fish oil containing 1,200 mg omega-3 fatty acids) taken daily for three weeks improved immune function and the gut microbiome in endurance runners.¹⁷ Participants who took the supplements reported 62 percent fewer “upper respiratory tract complaints” such as cough, stuffy nose, sore throat, and headaches, and better overall mood. Additionally, these participants had 67 percent higher levels of Streptococcus thermophilus, a strain of beneficial bacteria, and 37 percent lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, both of which are associated with immune competence and mood.

Astaxanthin is a red-pink pigment molecule that is found in certain marine algae and up the food chain in various seafood and birds. It is a carotenoid structurally similar to beta-carotene but is an even more potent antioxidant.

The study of astaxanthin is still in its infancy, but studies have shown that it reduces exercise-induced muscle damage, reduces body fat, body weight, and cholesterol,^4 5 increases aerobic capacity and power output⁶, increases blood flow, and boosts mitochondrial energy delivery in the heart for more power and efficiency. Clearly a powerhouse supplement for any athlete!

Astaxanthin is fat soluble, and should be taken with food. Most studies find favorable effects when consuming 6 to 24mg daily. An enriched salmon or krill oil will provide you with about 6 to 8mg, otherwise you can find pure astaxanthin in supplement form.

Collagen is a protein found in the connective tissues of the body like the skin, bones, muscles, joints, organs, hair, and nails. Your body produces its own collagen, but as you age collagen production declines. Supplementing with collagen helps to counteract this as well as stimulating your body’s own collagen production.

Type II collagen has been shown to support re-growth of joint tissue and relieve joint pain related to strenuous exercise,⁷ help prevent bone loss, reduce wrinkles and improve skin conditions, repair leaky gut, support hair and nail growth, and relieve arthritis.⁸ Glycine, an amino acid found in collagen, naturally increases creatine levels, which increase anaerobic exercise capacity, stimulates the secretion of human growth hormone, which may enhance muscle repair, and is important for the synthesis of hemoglobin and myoglobin, both of which transport oxygen throughout the blood and muscle tissue.

My favorite way to consume collagen is from bone broth, which will also provide vital minerals and vitamins. In supplement form, collagen can be consumed as hydrolyzed collagen, undenatured type II collagen, or gelatin. Note: Collagen does not contain all the essential amino acids and is therefore not a complete protein, nor does it count towards the Daily Value for protein on labels. It should not be relied on as a major protein source.

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body and is crucial for muscle building. It can be converted to glucose when the muscles have higher energy needs, like during heavy exercise, and it also helps replenish glycogen (the storage form of glucose) in the muscles after intense exercise.^{9 10} Intense physical exertion causes the body to release high levels of the catabolic hormone cortisol, which decreases glutamine stores and induces breakdown of muscle. Supplementing with glutamine can help keep the body in an anabolic state—a state of repair and maintenance—making it easier to build and maintain muscle mass.^{11 12} Glutamine is also the preferred source of fuel for certain immune cells, so it is critical for good immune function. This may explain why over-trained athletes are more susceptible to infections. One study found that endurance athletes who supplemented with 5 mg of glutamine after exercise had a significant decrease in infections versus the control group (only 19% of the supplemented athletes got sick compared to 51% of the controls).¹³

Just as immune cells prefer glutamine as a major fuel source, so do the cells that line the digestive tract. Glutamine maintains the structural integrity of the intestinal lining, preserving healthy permeability and also promotes healing of the gut,^{14 15 16} useful for anyone with gastrointestinal issues.

So there you have it, five simple nutrients with a vast amount of benefits nearly anybody—whether you are a serious athlete, a weekend warrior, or just someone who wants to be healthier—can take to improve health and fitness.