Andy Galpin's Sources

“Nutritional status becomes really critical for the brain. We can deal with poor nutritional status and the brain works just fine early in life, but if you're trying to maximize everything, we know vitamin D, iron status, magnesium, B vitamins, and omega-3s are important.”

“If you want DHA to sit in the synapse, it needs to be attached to some kind of phospholipid, and you need methylation to work. That's where the B vitamins become important. So some of these things are directly structural as well as being functional thinking about energy and mitochondria.”

“When somebody comes to me and says they're healthy and want to improve or maintain brain function, the first thing is to make sure that's true with some simple blood tests. Nutritional status becomes really critical for the brain - vitamin D, iron status, magnesium, B vitamins, omega-3s.”

“In our experience, if homocysteine is above 9 to 10 we're looking very seriously at other things. You'd be surprised how many have an omega-3 index under 5. This is why you see in those folks a little bit of basic multivitamin and omega-3 support and all of a sudden the brain fog is gone, the decline just disappears from these people really quickly.”

“If you've had issues with sleep or stress long term, then there are interesting things like theanine and ashwagandha KSM-66. They seem to improve stress and also cognitive function in those settings.”

“If you've had issues with sleep or stress long term, then there are interesting things like theanine and ashwagandha KSM-66. They seem to improve stress and also cognitive function in those settings.”

“There was a recent paper that showed that after one night of sleep deprivation, creatine can overcome some of those cognitive deficits. That was also shown a few years ago with skill-specific tasks in rugby players, where they gave them either creatine or caffeine and saw similar improvements compared to placebo.”

“You need nutrients to build and maintain the structures of the brain, and Omega-3s and B vitamins are critical components.”

“You need nutrients to build and maintain the structures of the brain, and Omega-3s and B vitamins are critical components.”

“Creatine can acutely provide an energetic buffer that allows you to maintain cognitive function in the face of increasing metabolic pressure to sleep.”

“I've certainly found that in myself, if I take creatine after my workouts I don't sleep as well, but if I take it first thing in the morning it's fine.”

“If I take creatine after my workouts I don't sleep as well, but if I take it first thing in the morning it's fine because I've separated it away.”

“Creatine seems to help stabilize and regulate calcium handling in mitochondria, which is related to acute injuries but also to long-term mitochondrial function which then supports long-term cell function in the brain.”

“Ketones can bypass some of the dysfunctional mitochondria and seem to be more energetically efficient in terms of generating ATP. In the setting of acute brain injury, even a small effect may be enough to help minimize injury.”

“Both lactate and ketones have a whole range of anti-inflammatory and neurotrophic effects. Ketones seem to help drive an increase in production of BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which could help recovery.”

“I know that a reasonably high percentage of people will get really nauseous or have GI distress from B vitamins, and so for those folks potentially maybe creatine is a little bit of an alternative option.”

“Just giving calcium on its own, I don't think I've ever recommended it. Not in performance enhancement with athletes, not in my practice as a medical doctor.”

“...99% of the calcium in your body will be stored in your bones. If you're in a situation in which your intake or absorption of calcium is low, your body will recognize this and start pulling it out of bone.”

“If you don't have enough vitamin D, you'll get about a quarter of the calcium absorption through your gut that you would if vitamin D is sufficient. Your bone cells actually directly have vitamin D receptors on them, so there's a direct action there as well.”

“In the case of low calcium status, your body will secrete a bunch of parathyroid hormone, which then leads to more calcium being put back into the blood. This is fine if you have enough in bone or your parathyroid isn't going crazy.”

“I think most of us would agree at this point that copious amounts, excessive amounts of caffeine particularly in kids is not good for bone health.”

“From a micronutrient perspective, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, and copper are highly associated with poor bone health if they don't come in sufficient amounts.”

“From a micronutrient perspective, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, and copper are highly associated with poor bone health if they don't come in sufficient amounts.”

“From a micronutrient perspective, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, and copper are highly associated with poor bone health if they don't come in sufficient amounts.”

“From a micronutrient perspective, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, and copper are highly associated with poor bone health if they don't come in sufficient amounts.”

“From a micronutrient perspective, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, and copper are highly associated with poor bone health if they don't come in sufficient amounts.”

“A really bad omega-6 to omega-3 ratio will have a pronounced impact on bone health. Making sure that ratio is reasonable and not making sure the omega-6s get really high, especially in the presence of low omega-3s.”

“As long as your calcium intake is sufficient, around 800 to 1,000 milligrams per day, you tend to be fine. Adding a calcium supplement on top of that doesn't seem to have much of an impact on overall bone health. You're probably just going to excrete most of that back out.”

“I would differentiate the impact of calcium supplements based upon kids and adults. For the most part, adults don't see much of an impact. The data are very mixed to not impressive.”

“There's a really cool paper from 2019, dietary protein and bone health across the life course, an updated systematic review and meta analysis over 40 years. Protein intake may enhance bone health by improving calcium absorption, increasing IGF-1, and by increasing lean body mass. It accounts for about 2 to 4% of the overall variance in bone mineral density.”

“They do not realize the impact protein intake has on bone health. It may enhance bone health by improving calcium absorption, increasing IGF-1, and by increasing lean body mass. It accounts for about 2 to 4% of the overall variance in bone mineral density.”

“There's a lot of really good research on animals for fish oil and bone health. In humans it's more mixed, some have been really impressive, others not as much. It's likely very dose and condition dependent. But like protein, there's so many documented benefits of fish oil, it's almost a no risk potential reward scenario.”

“There have been randomized control trials in postmenopausal women looking at specific collagen peptides, and in general it seems to be pretty positive. Bone mineral density in the spine and femoral neck increased significantly with collagen intake at just five grams per day. You're talking about 4 to 7% increases in bone mineral density over a 12-month span.”

“Five grams of collagen per day is a really low amount. The fact that they saw benefits in two very important sites in bone mineral density with 5 grams per day of collagen is really impactful and I think monumental.”

“In a study of kids aged 1 to 18 with severe TBIs, they gave them 0.4 grams per kilogram of body weight within 4 hours post-injury for 6 months. They found improvements in everything from amnesia to length of stay in the ICU, improvements in communication, locomotion, and social skills.”

“Creatine monohydrate often improves cognitive function in both brain injury and normal healthy aging folks. It's not the world's most powerful nootropic, but it is effective and has been shown in many models and many studies across many laboratories.”

“Regarding TBI and brain injuries, there's an argument for preventative use. Creatine has been shown to reduce cortical damage following a TBI by anywhere between 35 to 50 percent.”

“The biggest potential risk is GI distress. Some people have gas or bloating or stomach cramps at even five grams a day, so taking them to 20 or 30 may cause some serious issues. It's not that frequently reported but it is a real thing.”

“Most of the data on creatine monohydrate for brain injuries uses dosages of about 20 grams per day. That's four times the typical dose you'll see for performance benefits. Often the protocol is five grams administered four times per day.”

“When I do that, it is hard to choke down 20 grams at once. We will often try to get 5 to 10 grams in the morning, 5 to 10 grams at night, and split up the dosages throughout the day.”

“Omega-3s modulate inflammation post-injury by regulating reactive oxygen species. They interact with all kinds of cytokines like interleukin-1 and TNF-alpha, and affect gene expression of inflammatory things, so it kind of cuts off inflammation at the genetic level.”

“I personally take a lot more than four grams for other benefits. The available evidence on brain health and injury pretty consistently shows the effect happens at about two or so grams, and studies that have looked at higher dosages don't see any additional benefit.”

“The dosage for brain-related injuries is somewhere between 2 to 4 grams per day. The timing of the day is honestly totally irrelevant. You would certainly want to be taking it before the injury as well as after.”

“The standard American diet is typically about 100 milligrams of omega-3s per day and we need you to get to two grams. You're going to have to up your intake. It's totally possible but most people just don't do enough of it.”

“Choline is helpful in preserving the blood-brain barrier because it wards off membrane breakdown. It is the primary precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and it is a precursor to the important antioxidant glutathione.”

“There's a lot of evidence to suggest if you go into a brain injury with better omega-3 levels, the brain injury will be less significant. Our starting place here is to actually not go into the injury with a problem.”

“Caffeine is probably pretty bad news when trying to heal from a brain injury. It causes neurovascular constriction and leads to less blood flow. Caffeine consumers are more susceptible to diminished emotional health, bad sleep quality, depression, and somatic symptoms with brain injuries. My recommendation would be do not over consume caffeine if you've experienced a brain injury.”

“You probably want to take something like 500 milligrams per day as a daily dosage prophylactically. However, if you've had a direct head injury, this might be the time to ramp up to 1 to 2 grams. These generally do have a nootropic effect, so you would want to take these earlier in the day so you don't have any problems cognitively or with sleep later on.”

“There are all kinds of forms like magnesium threonate, bisglycinate, and malate. Right now I don't know of any compelling evidence to suggest one of those forms is any better than another. Magnesium threonate has become more popular recently and that may turn out to be more effective, but there's just not enough data for us to have an answer at this point.”

“Alpha GPC is immediately metabolized into phosphatidylcholine once you orally ingest it. Dosages are usually 300 to 400 milligrams per serving, so you need to take about three of those to get to this dosage level.”

“We looked at caffeine at 300 milligrams, a known effective dose. The most effective one we had of all of those was straight caffeine. It beat teacrine at 300, it beat the combo, it beat the placebo. The outcomes were specifically for perceived energy, focus, and motivation to exercise with that dose.”

“If you're looking at muscle, I wouldn't use collagen for muscle. The amino acid profile isn't there.”

“Over nine months of time we had subjective improvements in joint pain. Ten grams did better than twenty, and it was most helpful if you exercised for greater than 180 minutes per week.”

“We started seeing differences around six months and then they were sustained around nine months. In the people that exercise the most, we saw these benefits for joint pain.”

“...50 milligrams is the general dosage for the activation. The collagen needs to be actually absorbed and utilized and vitamin C is an important co-actor in that process.”

“If you're not exercising a lot, don't do it. If you have knee pain and you're not active, I wouldn't do it.”

“The original doses we were doing were 50 milligrams per kilogram body weight. And then by the time we started the firefighter study, we decided to give a standard three grams for everybody, not based on body weight.”

“You start getting past 300 milligrams, you start getting in the negative. There's a down slope with too much caffeine with performance.”

“A lot of folks would probably say they don't even take creatine for performance anymore. Really, it's just a good side effect. By percentage, more people are taking it for non-performance-based things like brain health.”

“Betaine basically helps as an osmolyte and as a cellular hydration factor. Water follows it into the cell and perhaps it keeps your cell hydrated longer. It also has some properties that show it might protect proteins from degrading in hot temperatures.”

“Creatine is stored in the brain so that it can be used as a very quick fuel source. One of the primary issues we have with TBIs is the energy demand problem, and the fastest way any of our tissues can make energy is through creatine monohydrate.”

“Me personally, based on the work that I've read, I think 5 to 10 grams per day is probably plenty for most people as a prophylactic. Seven days or so prior to a high-risk situation, a competition, a race, we're going to up that dose to 20 to 30 grams for those seven days.”

“The downstream TBI effects have also been documented. Sleep, cognition, and actual mood seem to be enhanced with creatine.”

“In this study with kids taking creatine for six months, there were no signs of any kidney, liver, or heart side effects. Overall we would deem creatine as a pretty strong chance of success with a very low likelihood of injury or adverse effects.”

“Most of the data on creatine monohydrate for brain injuries typically uses dosages of about 20 grams per day. That's four times the typical dose you'll see for performance benefits. Typical protocols are 5 grams administered four times per day.”

“You'll see typical protocols instead of taking 20 grams at once are things like 5 grams administered four times per day.”

“A 2024 paper suggested that a very high dose of creatine was enough to attenuate the drop in cognitive performance after sleep deprivation. The benefits started at about 3 and a half hours and lasted up to 9 hours.”

“This is what I do for my athletes: seven days or so prior to a high-risk situation, a competition, a race or an event, we're going to up that dose to 20 to 30 grams for that seven days.”

“We will often try to get 5 to 10 grams in the morning, 5 to 10 grams at night, and split up the dosages throughout the day.”

“We know vitamin D, iron status, magnesium, B vitamins, Omega-3s — some of these become really critical for the brain. We can deal with poor nutritional status and the brain works just fine early in life, but if you're trying to maximize everything, these need to be buttoned up.”

“If you want DHA, the long chain omega-3 fatty acid, to sit in the synapse where you want it to help communication between two neurons, it needs to first get into the brain, and that requires usually healthy insulin sensitivity and energy regulation.”

“In those folks, a little bit of basic multivitamin and omega-3 support and all of a sudden the brain fog is gone, the decline just disappears from these people really quickly.”

“In those folks, a little bit of basic multivitamin and omega-3 support and all of a sudden the brain fog is gone, the decline just disappears from these people really quickly.”

“You'd be surprised how many are under five. This is why you see in those folks a little bit of basic multivitamin and omega-3 support and all of a sudden the brain fog is gone, the decline just disappears from these people really quickly.”

“A little bit of basic multivitamin and omega-3 support and all of a sudden the brain fog is gone, the decline just disappears from these people really quickly, which is really of no surprise.”

“I personally use the Citrus and watermelon flavors a ton to pre-hydrate before heading out on a full day of training or long hike or a hunt since I know I'll be losing a bunch of fluid and won't have many opportunities to take things with me.”

“Up to 25% of endurance athletes have low or insufficient zinc status. It's involved in a lot of things that you would care about like protein synthesis, cell function, glucose regulation, endocrine function, immunity, healing, and so on. So you really want to pay attention to overall zinc status.”

“Most people on average eat around 1 to 2 grams of potassium a day where the need is probably more like 5 to 6 grams. It is a significantly underconsumed nutrient. This is why I actually like supplements or electrolytes that come with decent amounts of potassium.”

“It is not crazy to see people above 1.35 milligrams per deciliter for creatinine, especially people with lots of muscle and those that lift weights and or take creatine. If you're concerned about kidney issues and your creatinine numbers are high, just go check cystatin C and that'll tell you.”

“You might look at markers like your cortisol to DHEA ratio. In those cases those markers will be off and that will indicate why you're having fatigue. However, you don't want to go take more of those supplements. These are a response to something else — systemic whole body fatigue. Those markers will resolve themselves without even taking any additional DHEA.”

“Caffeine, green tea extract, and nicotine all also affect satiety, so they're appetite suppressants. Whether the real benefit is in the elevation of resting metabolic rate or if it helps you just not feel as hungry and not overeat, that's probably the real win.”

“Green tea or green tea extract has a similar effect as caffeine but in the 4 to 5% range for about the same length and duration. It also affects satiety, so it's an appetite suppressant.”

“They gave them three grams per day of EPA and DHA for a total of 12 weeks. The net result was about a 14% increase in resting metabolic rate, they saw an increase in energy expenditure during exercise by about 10%, and the fat oxidation rate both at rest and exercise increased about 19 and 27% respectively.”

“By simply taking three grams per day of fish oil, not a high dose at all, you saw a chronic elevation in resting metabolic rate that had a functional and practical outcome of a 4% increase in lean mass compared to olive oil.”

“Fish oil at 3 grams per day is one of the four main components for chronically boosting your resting metabolic rate over time.”

“It modulates inflammation post injury by regulating reactive oxygen species. It interacts with cytokines like interleukin-1 and TNF-alpha, and it affects gene expression of inflammatory things, so it cuts off inflammation at the genetic level.”

“Higher Omega-3 intake is associated with a bigger hippocampal volume. A dosage of about 2.2 grams per day is associated with bigger hippocampus, therefore potential to improve or enhance our learning and memory.”

“The dosage for brain related injuries is somewhere between 2 to 4 grams per day, though there's really little risk. The only adverse issue you're going to typically have here is potentially some loose stool.”

“I personally will be totally honest, I take a lot more than four grams for other benefits.”

“Vegans and vegetarians really should honestly strongly consider supplementation here. The standard American diet is typically about 100 milligrams of Omega-3s per day and we need you to get to two grams.”

“You can generally expect something between like a 3 to 11% increase in resting metabolic rate that's going to last somewhere between an hour to three hours. This is very well documented. It's a stimulant, it's going to rev up energy, it's going to tell your body to expect energy output.”

“Green tea or green tea extract has a similar effect as caffeine but in the 4 to 5% range for about the same length and duration. One thing that has been documented pretty consistently with caffeine, nicotine, and green tea is they all also affect satiety, so they're appetite suppressants.”

“They gave them three grams per day of EPA and DHA for a total of 12 weeks. The net result was about a 14% increase in resting metabolic rate, they saw an increase in energy expenditure during exercise by about 10%, and the fat oxidation rate both at rest and exercise were increased about 19 and 27% respectively.”

“They saw an increase in lean mass by about 4%. By simply taking three grams per day of fish oil, not a high dose at all, you saw a chronic elevation in resting metabolic rate that had a functional and practical outcome of a 4% increase in lean mass compared to olive oil.”