Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 349: My top 24 supplements for 2024

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

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Hey, everybody, welcome in to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matrenga. And in today's episode, I'm going to be going over 24 of my favorite supplements for 2024. These are supplements that I believe have a pretty considerable amount of evidence backing up their usage for general population performance, uh, muscularity, metabolic health, immunity, uh, relaxation, et cetera. I am not recommending that you go out and buy all of these. However, I will tell you my favorite sources of all of them and just kind of give you my two cents on why these are the supplements worth spending your money on. And I'll be honest, it was hard to get to 24 because on most days I'm only taking like

maybe three to four different supplements. And I do think a lot of you probably take too many, but these are the ones that I find the most interesting. And I'll give you the use case timing and dosages that I like for most of them. Enjoy the episode. This episode is brought to you in part thanks to some of our amazing partners like LMNT. LMNT makes the best electrolyte product on the market. In fact, I've actually started drinking my LMNT each and every morning before I have coffee so as to optimize my circadian biology, make sure that I'm hydrated, and make sure that I'm getting ahead on my water intake throughout the day and not reliant on stimulants, but instead being somebody who's

reliant on hydration and the proper balance of minerals and electrolytes. If you want to feel your best all day, mentally and physically, it's imperative that you stay hydrated. LMNT provides a balanced ratio of sodium, potassium, and magnesium to support brain and body hydration. This combination of electrolytes improves health, performance, body and brain performance, mind you, helps to reduce cramps and soreness and get you more hydrated. There's no sugar. LMNT is sweetened with stevia. It's perfect for exercise and perfect for the sauna because the flavors are natural, tasty, delicious, and not overpowering. And if you're like me, you'll use them multiple times a day across your training sessions to get hydrated early,

to replenish after sauna use. And again, it's not just me. LMNT is the official sports drink of Team USA Weightlifting, and it's used by athletes in the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, as well as athletes like you and I looking to take your fitness to the next level. My favorite flavors are definitely the raspberry and citrus. When I put a box together, I try to load up on raspberry and citrus. And when you put your box together, you can get a free sample pack containing all of Elements' amazing flavors like mango chili, citrus, raspberry, orange, and more. To get access to this free gift with purchase, scroll down to the show notes and check out using the special link for Dynamic dynamic dialogue listeners.

Okay, so starting things off with my absolute favorite supplement. And for many of you, this is more of a food. I know for me, this is more of a food in that I take it every day and I often replace meals with it. It has to be whey protein, specifically whey protein isolate. I don't think there's a better protein on planet earth than whey protein isolate when it comes to supplemental forms of protein. Whey protein concentrate is pretty good too, but the reason I love whey protein is it's very easy to digest. It mixes super easily. It's not too difficult to flavor and make taste good or make it more favorably textured. And the amino acid profile of dairy protein, specifically whey, is awesome. It's loaded with muscle-building leucine. And what really upsets me most about whey protein in the public consensus is the amount of people who do not have a dairy sensitivity

who avoid it because they know it comes from dairy. This is why it's crazy to avoid whey protein if you aren't sensitive to dairy. Number one, it is loaded with nutrients. It's good for immunity. It's good for muscle growth. It's loaded with leucine. And number two, much of the whey protein products on the market have the lactose removed through the process of creating the whey protein to begin with. Most whey protein isolates don't even have lactose. So if you're avoiding whey protein because you feel that you are sensitive to dairy and you don't know for a fact that you're lactose intolerant or you've heard some things about dairy maybe being quote unquote inflammatory or bad for you, odds are you're missing out on probably the best form of supplemental protein on the market. I'm a huge fan of dairy. I think it

improves fat loss and muscle growth, specifically fat loss because of the satiety impact that it has. Even as a supplement, whey protein can be very filling. It's loaded with those essential amino acids and regular supplementation of whey protein has been linked to lowered blood pressure, probably due to increased contractile tissue. The second supplement I love is creatine monohydrate. I take two to five grams of creatine monohydrate a day. I take it around my workout. Circling back to whey, I take about 40 grams of whey in the morning upon waking up as my first meal. But creatine has been shown to enhance strength, power, and performance during high-intensity

exercise. It's going to aid in muscular hydration, aid in muscular recovery, reduce time to fatigue. It's going to support cognitive function, and it may even have potential benefits for certain neurological conditions. We see this more in older adults than younger. It is the most studied supplement, creatine monohydrate being the form that is the most studied. And it has been shown to make small increases or increase, I should say, gains in muscle mass in training. Now, I wouldn't take creatine with the explicit goal of like gaining a ton of mass.

It's not great for that, but it is great for sports and cognitive performance. And two to five grams daily around my workout. And if I don't work out, just two to five grams with food has been really, really helpful for me. The third supplement I recommend is electrolytes, specifically LMNT. That is my favorite brand.

There are plenty of good brands. I like LMNT just because it's salt-based. I like the flavor. And I actually find that the dosages of sodium, potassium, and magnesium are so generous that I only take about a half of one packet. So if you were to buy like the bundle or even a single box, one packet. So if you were to buy like the bundle or even a single box, you could multiply the serving size out by two. If you're like me and you only take a half of a serving, I typically take these in the morning when I train fasted, whenever I have an endurance session or whenever I'm in the sauna. And we'll talk a lot about magnesium when we reach magnesium as an individual supplement, but sodium, potassium, and magnesium in electrolyte form are great for maintaining proper fluid balance, for facilitating nerve function and muscle contraction. They're valuable for hydration and water retention, especially when

training in a fasted state, and they can be very helpful for cardiovascular health when doing extreme endurance training. Another supplement I love, the next three are all in my pre-workout. I don't necessarily recommend taking pre-workout, but many of you do. So if you're going to take pre-workout, look for the following three ingredients. The first of which is betaine. Betaine, I'm quite a fan of because it's been shown to increase exercise performance and power output. It supports liver function and aids in fat metabolism. It has some potential cardioprotective effects, and there are benefits that show it can enhance muscle protein synthesis. Betaine is not something that is included in most pre-workouts

because it is relatively expensive to produce, but betaine hydrochloride is the best form. 650 milligrams all the way up to two grams is an effective dose. But again, it's been shown to increase digestion or improve digestion, improve heart health, and increase exercise performance. Betaine is an osmolite, so it works to kind of regulate fluid balance, which is very, very important. And it is a hydrocarbon, so it is a organic compound. It's not something that is inorganic. It's not something to be particularly concerned with. And it is featured in some pre-workout products, but not in a ton. Another supplement that I like that you might find in your pre-workout product

is L-citrulline. L-citrulline is converted to L-arginine in the gut, and L-citrulline and L-arginine act as vasodilators. They boost the production of nitric oxide, enhance blood flow, and can improve exercise performance. It's also been shown to reduce fatigue and enhance aerobic capacity and endurance, interestingly enough. And because of the effect that we see from vasodilation, we can say that L-citrulline may well be cardioprotective in many ways. It is a non-essential amino acid, which means you're not going to get it from food. You can almost only get it from supplemental forms or strange foods. Interestingly, like watermelon tends to be very rich in citrulline, which is something that I found to be rather surprising. You've probably heard of L-arginine. We'll talk about a form of L-arginine

I like a little bit more. But again, L-arginine and L-citrulline have been shown to increase physical performance. L-citrulline has been shown to improve heart health. It's been shown to increase erectile strength and give you greater assistance in that particular avenue, which might be of particular interest to men. It reduces free radical damage as well, which some of you may well be interested in. The third thing I look for in a pre-workout is beta alanine. Beta alanine is specifically good for increasing muscular levels of L-carnosine and buffering acidity that accumulates during high intensity exercise, particularly endurance. It also gives the feeling of paresthesia or tingles, which many people like prior to exercise, given that it can be like semi-ritualistic.

It reduces fatigue, repeated like bouts of high output exercise like sprints. That's something where you would really feel the benefits of beta alanine. Again, beta alanine is an amino acid. So it's one of those things that just like L-citrulline is non-essential, but your body uses beta alanine to form a compound known as L-carnosine in the muscle. And this is done by combining and binding that beta alanine with the amino acid L-carnosine in the muscle. And this is done by combining and binding that beta-alanine with the amino acid L-histidine. Carnosine's main role in the muscle is actually regulation of acidity. So it can really help if you feel yourself creating a ton of acidity, holding onto a ton of hydrogen and just getting burning sensations when you're training.

and just getting burning sensations when you're training. As for betaine, L-citrulline, and beta alanine, how much of each you want depends on your size, but you're looking for like 600 milligrams to two grams of betaine up to six grams of L-citrulline and as much as 4.8 milligrams. I'm sorry, make that 4.8 grams of beta alanine in pre-workout supplements. Many supplement forms of pre-workout contain approximately half of these dosages across a single serving, and they can reach these dosages across a two scoop serving. My favorite pre-workout is Legion's non-stim or stim-free pre-workout because I can get all of these without incurring a huge dosage of caffeine. Number seven on the list is a simple one. It's a multivitamin. I think multivitamins can be effective if they are dosed with high quality forms of vitamins and they aren't chintzy on

the stuff that really matters, specifically in the mineral subcomponent. A good multivitamin is rather expensive, So we will talk about single ingredient if you would rather take a sniper than a shotgun approach to filling the gaps. But you can certainly reduce the risk of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. You may see enhanced immune function and you may see enhanced metabolic function from filling the gaps. There are multiple good multivitamin supplements filling the gaps. There are multiple good multivitamin supplements on the market. The lowest cost option is probably going to be the Kirkland multivitamin, which is USP tested and quite good. And a more premium option would be one from Legion

or Thorne. These are companies that I believe make a high quality multivitamin. Interestingly, making the list here early on is one that I have been taking for quite some time that many people have probably heard about from mushroom coffee supplements, and that is reishi mushroom. Reishi is interesting in that it exhibits immune modulating effect. It can enhance immune function, has tumor suppressive effects, anti-inflammatory effects, antioxidant properties, stress reduction and improved sleep properties, and some evidence supports it could be cardioproductive. There's plenty of evidence, seven studies in fact, that I can find that show it has immune modulating effects. I can find about the same number of studies showing it has

anti-cancer effects. The immune modulating effects are more sparse, but present. There's also some increase in HDL and decreases in triglycerides associated with supplementation of reishi. Interestingly enough, when you think of mushrooms, you don't probably think of blood lipid regulation, but when you combine all of these things with the fact that you're probably not going to be able to get high doses of Lingji Ganoderma, uh, there's various names for this mushroom, um, from your diet supplementing with it makes sense. And I get three grams a day in my Legion green supplement, which objectively is not the best tasting thing in the

world, but I am quite a fan of getting that much reishi mushroom. And if you are just buying it from many of the mushroom manufacturing companies, I have found that you get a very good value taking it in Legion's green powder. Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method. More specifically, our app-based training. We partnered with Train Heroic to bring app-based training to you using the best technology and best user interface possible. You can join either my Home Heroes team, or you can train from home with bands and dumbbells, elite physique, which is a female bodybuilding focused program where you can train at the gym with equipments designed specifically

to help you develop strength as well as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and back. I have more teams coming planned for a variety of different fitness levels. But what's cool about this is when you join these programs, you get programming that's updated every single week, the sets to do the reps to do exercise tutorials filmed by me with me and my team. So you'll get my exact coaching expertise as to how to perform the movement, whether you're training at home or you're training in the gym. And again, these teams are somewhat specific. So you'll find other members of those communities looking to pursue similar goals at similar fitness levels. You can chat, ask questions,

upload form for form review, ask for substitutions. It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the core coaching collective, my app-based training community. Back to the show. The next one on the list is spirulina. This is one that I've been taking for quite some time. It's actually a phytobacteria. It's a blue-green algae. Spirulina uses photosynthesis to generate energy and stay alive, and it grows in freshwater lakes and ponds. So it is a non-saltwater algae. It is a freshwater algae. Okay. It is quite bluish green. It's very fascinating.

It was a popular source of protein for the Aztec and African populations. And chemical analysis shows that it is loaded with micro and macro nutrients, including protein, amino acids, vitamins, and EFAs, essential fatty acids. Spirulina contains several other compounds that have been isolated to show that they can improve health. The main one being phycocyanobilin. Whenever you hear cyano, you can think of blue, but these are things that are present in many blue foods. And about 1% of spirulina by weight is this compound, phycocyanobilin. And these are all uniquely beneficial things, right? Like the

amino acid profile, the unique flavonoids, the EFAs, et cetera. But when you think of spirulina, think of nutrient density, antioxidants, relatively low cost, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects, improvements in lipid profile and reduced blood pressure and potential better regulation of blood pressure. This is also something that I get from Legion's Genesis or green supplement. It's highly dosed in there. Many people enjoy things like simply adding spirulina to water, adding spirulina to smoothies. You can buy it individually. I think if it weren't so expensive, it would probably be one of the better ways to get plant based protein. I'm not exactly sure where we're going to, where we land on like spirulina's amino

acid breakdown, like some of the amino acids in it. I don't know if you're getting enough leucine, acid breakdown, like some of the amino acids in it. I don't know if you're getting enough leucine, but again, glucose control, increase in HDL, improved immune system response, kidney protective properties, anti-cancer properties, reduction in DNA damage, oxidative damage, inhibits the creation of new fat cells, liver protective, lots of unique and cool benefits to spirulina. The next one on the list is omega-3, which you can get from fish oil or algae if you're vegan. Omega-3 is great because it's something that's going to help keep your omega-6, omega-3 ratio in balance. And if you hear a lot of people freak out about seed oils, they're really just freaking out about high dosages of omega-6 in

the diet. So supplemental omega-3, if you don't eat a lot of cold water fatty fish, can help bring those things into balance. Omega-3 has been shown to be heavily anti-inflammatory. In fact, so much so that if you take fish oil, given the blood thinning effect of fish oil, a lot of times before girls get lip injections, they're told by nurses, hey, don't take a bunch of fish oil because it will make it hard for clotting to occur. It's been shown to increase brain capacity, cognitive function, reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease, improve hypertrophy, support immune function, tons of studies, tons of evidence, tons of data. The next one on the list is magnesium. Big fan of the following three for sleep. Magnesium is great. It is essential for

muscle and nerve function. It's something that we get from whole grains, dark chocolate, leafy greens, avocado. People tend to be more deficient in this nutrient than many others. So knowing that magnesium again helps with muscle and nerve function, supports bone health and bone density, regulates blood pressure, plays a role in cardiovascular health. It's something that I would definitely recommend supplementing with. Reishi mushrooms, one I like at two to three grams a day. Spirulina, again, three to five grams a day. Omega-3, I look for 200 to 400 milligrams a day. And magnesium, right there in the same range, 200 to 400 milligrams a day. L-theanine is another interesting compound. It's one that is found in

tea. It's unique in that it promotes relaxation without causing sedation. It's not a bad idea to pair L-theanine with coffee if coffee makes you jittery. And this is a big reason why tea makes people feel so different than coffee. L-theanine has anti-anxiety effects, which means it's an anxiolytic and it may have neuroprotective properties. And it is part of the Andrew Huberman sleep stack that so many of my clients swear by of magnesium L-threonate. This glycinate is another good form of magnesium, by the way, I would avoid citrate. L-theanine around around 100 to 200 milligrams, and another interesting compound known as apigenin. Apigenin makes the list in the form of 50 milligram tablets as well as chamomile tea. Apigenin I quite like because it is a GABA modulator. We talked about it recently

on a sleep-specific podcast. It's also an anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anxiolytic, and it can support cellular health. Again, you can get that in apigen and tablets, maybe 50 milligrams, or just enjoy a warm chamomile tea. You might get some specific benefits from the warm beverage. One that I also quite like this time of year that is unfortunately one that I can only find in syrups and gummies. So with that, you're going to get some small caloric intake, but that's not such a big deal. and gummies. So with that, you're going to get some small caloric intake, but that's not such a big deal. And that is Sambucus or elderberry. Elderberry is one of the few supplements that I actually find does enhance my immune modulation. Many of these I think work well, but elderberry is one I really notice. It's rich in antioxidants. It may reduce the duration and severity of colds

and flus. It exhibits some unique anti-inflammatory effects, and it may be cardio protective. Again, you're probably only going to get this from gummies and syrups. The next one is one that I love for skin and immune modulation, and that is zinc. Whenever I take zinc, the prevalence of acne, pimples, eczema, et cetera, all seem to reduce, and my immune system seems to boost quite a bit. It's also one that is vital for the synthesis of testosterone. Zinc is essential for wound healing. It is powerful in the driving of DNA synthesis and cell division. It may have anti-inflammatory effects and it plays a role in maintaining skin health, which I kind of touched on a little bit.

Getting into some more speculative ones that I don't necessarily love, but they might be worth including, are plant-based protein blends, specifically blends of pea and brown rice that have a complete amino acid profile that is aligned with high quality development of muscle. Typically, you need to blend plant proteins to get full spectrums of amino acids, but pea and brown rice proteins can be good for vegans and people who are dairy sensitive. Again, you might want 20 to 400, you might want 20 to 40 grams there with the Sambucus. I don't have the dosing specifically with the zinc. I keep it on the low end. I like the form of zinc picolinate, but I don't like too much zinc. If I take too much, it makes me really, really nauseous. Another speculative one, this would be for skin and joint benefits,

would be collagen protein. Now there's collagen powder, which may be good. And then there's undenatured type two collagen powder, which is much more expensive and probably more effective in smaller dosages. But collagen protein may be good for your skin, may be good for your hair. It may be good for your joints, could improve skin elasticity and hydration, might result in decreased joint pain and decreased osteoarthritic symptoms. And it could help with overall connective tissue health. It's also not all that expensive. Another one that I have quite liked and have found to be rather interesting is astragalus. This is one that made the list more recently. It's a unique compound, specifically an immune modulating compound. The plant itself is known as milk

fetch and astragalus is unique in that it comes from a flower. It's been shown to exhibit immune enhancing effects, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, could support cardiovascular health. And much like reishi mushroom, this is a plant-based medicine. There's a fairly exhaustive list of the potential beneficial compounds in astragalus. Um, but it's one that I might consider for cardioprotective benefits, brain benefits, stroke benefits, kidney benefits. It's fairly interesting, but it's not too high on the list for that reason specifically. Uh, one that's also making the list here without a specific dosage because it's new, I've just been playing with it in Legion's new pumped product is nitrogensine.

Nitrogensine is a unique form of arginine and it's been shown to improve erectile dysfunction. It's been shown to improve erectile dysfunction. It's been shown to improve pumps in the gym. It can support performance and vasodilation. It is a unique form of L-arginine that might pair well with L-citrulline. Nothing crazy here. Another interesting one that I quite like that's been around for a long time is ashwagandha, specifically KSM-66 ashwagandha.

That is an adaptogenic herb that's been used for quite some time in Ayurvedic medicine. It brings things that are out of balance into balance, and it may specifically be good for adrenal function, hormonal function, and anxiety-reducing effects. Probiotic is one that I like. If it's a good probiotic, Legion has a good one called Biome seed has a really good one But most of these do suck if you're going to get a probiotic get a good one and make sure that you ingest it with some prebiotic fiber Probiotics have been shown to enhance immune function and they may support a healthier microbiome although that is speculative at best if the

actual Product isn't that great. Another one I love for muscle soreness, although the injectable form is fairly popular for fat loss, and that is L-carnitine, which is a rate limiter in fat loss. It is used to transport fatty acids into cells. So if you don't have enough L-carnitine, you might not be able to optimally transport fatty acids into cells for metabolism of energy, which would be important in a fat loss phase. It's definitely, definitely going to improve soreness, markers of soreness. It may have some cardioprotective and neuroprotective benefits. heavy meals. And that is just a papaya enzyme or digestive enzyme blend of amylase, proteases, and lipases to just help with the breakdown of heavy meals. Specifically, if they are high calorie meals that include a lot of fiber, a lot of fat, a lot of protein, where I know the rate

of digestion will be slow. All right, folks, there it is. 24 supplements for 2024. Whey protein, creatine, electrolytes, betaine, citrulline, beta alanine, multivitamins, reishi mushrooms, spirulina, omega-3, l-theanine, apigenin, sambucus, zinc, plant protein blends of pea and brown rice, collagen, astragalus, nitroglycine, ashwagandha, probiotic, L-carnitine, and a papaya enzyme. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode of kind of the rapid fire supplement list I have going into 2024. Thanks for tuning in and I'll catch you on the next one.