Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2650: Top 7 Underrated Supplements

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

Top 7 Underrated Supplements Top 7 Underrated Supplements. (1:11) #1 - Vitamin D. (50%) take 2000-4000iu. (2:01) #2 - Vitamin k2. (97%) 100micrograms a day. (8:48) #3 - NAC. 600-1800mgs a day. (11:52) #4 - Berberine. 500mgs 3x day w/food. (13:23) #5 - Glycine. Take before bed on an empty stomach. (15:34) #6 - Choline. 500-2000mgs a day. (17:04) #7 - Grape seed extract. 100-300mgs daily. (21:18) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit MASSZYMES by biOptimizers for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Code MINDPUMP10 at checkout for 10% off any order. ** July Special: MAPS Split or Anabolic Metabolism Bundle 50% off! ** Code JULY50 at checkout ** Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Pathological Complete Response in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Randomized Clinical Trial Vitamin D and Calcium for the Prevention of Fracture: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of stratified aggregate data Effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength, gait and balance in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis Efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in major depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Impact of vitamin D supplementation on C-reactive protein; a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials 97% of Americans are Low In Vitamin K2 Influence of N-acetylcysteine on chronic bronchitis or COPD exacerbations: a meta-analysis Mind Pump #2060: Maximize Fat Loss With Continuous Glucose Monitors: Kara Collier Efficacy of Berberine in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes - PMC The Effects of Glycine on Subjective Daytime Performance in Partially Sleep-Restricted Healthy Volunteers 6 Warning Signs of Choline Deficiency You Must Watch For The impact of grape seed extract treatment on blood pressure changes Visit Legion Athletics for the exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Code MINDPUMP for 20% off your first order (new customers) and double rewards points for existing customers. ** Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources  

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind pump with your hosts, Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health, and entertainment podcast in the history of podcasts. You guessed it. This is Mind Pumped. Today's episode, we talk about the most underrated supplements you probably should be taking. This episode is brought to you by Masszymes. Masszymes by Bioptimizers. These are digestive enzymes that break down your

foods into proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. In other words, you take these digestive enzymes, eat your food, and the food gets broken down easier. Better digestion, better health, better performance, go try them out. By the way, these are the best digestive enzymes for those of you eat a high protein diet. Go to Masszymes.com, that's M-A-S-S-Z-Y-M-E-S.com forward slash mind pump, use the code MINDPUMP10, get 10% off your order. We also have a sale this month on some programs, MAPS split in the anabolic metabolism bundle, it's all 50% off. Just head over to MAPSFITNESSabolic metabolism bundle. It's all 50% off.

Just head over to MAPSfitnessproducts.com and then use the code July 50 for that discount. Back to the show. Supplements, oftentimes people place way too much value on them, but sometimes, other times, they can actually be game changers. Now in today's episode, we're not gonna talk about the supplements you probably already heard about, like Creightighten for example, it's a real popular one.

We're going to talk about the most underrated supplements, ones that people just don't consider but should probably take and this is based on data and it shows, the data shows many people benefit. Let's get it. The overlooked class. I bet most people couldn't or wouldn't guess even two of these Yeah, yeah one of them Maybe one of them. Yeah, but the rest of them I wouldn't have seen you putting on this list

so this will be interesting to watch you explain each of these because And are you gonna go in order because the very first one to me is is the is the one and only one? Yeah, this is the vitamin leader vitamin is very first one to me is the one and only. It's the only one, yeah. I would say familiar. This is the vitamin D. Vitamin D is the first one. And is it underrated? Maybe still, but it's moving close to, people understand its value. But we should talk about it still.

It's an inexpensive supplement. You can buy it. A lot of people are deficient in it too. Oh, probably 50%. Some studies will show 50% of people are deficient in it too. Oh, you know, probably 50%. Some studies will show 50% of people are deficient. But if we include people that don't have what is now showing to be optimal vitamin D levels, so when you get your blood tests done, vitamin D,

I think the cutoff is like 30 nanograms per deciliter, I believe is the number, right? So under that is deficient. And if you're deficient in vitamin D, that's not good. No, you feel that. This is like warning zone, like a much higher risk of disease, depression, pain, low energy, hormone production, by the way, vitamin D is actually, some people classify it as a hormone

because of the way it acts in the body. So that's like warning, okay? If you're below that, you're gonna get prescription vitamin D, or your doctor's gonna say you have to take it. But most people are not what would be considered optimal. And the studies on vitamin D and bringing them to optimal levels

are now compiling to the point where you should probably supplement with it. You should probably take vitamin D. My favorite news about vitamin D that I did not know until just recently was the fact that I could Stack it or I could load it. I Carry you. Yeah, I was under the impression that you yeah, you take five maybe ten thousand I use a day and that's the most you would want to take or could take

But I didn't know that I could Load up on it and and say 50,000 and then not take it for two or three days versus. Or 10 days, right? Because that would be 5,000 a day. Yeah, and so this for someone like me who has a hard time with being consistent with taking any supplements

and taking this little tiny vitamin D pill all the time is just one of those things that I'm inconsistent with. Where now I just, I have it in my bathroom and you know I do I forget a few days and then oh I remember and so I'll take you know three days worth and then I'll forget and then I'll take three or four days worth again and so I become way more consistent with taking my vitamin D because of that. Yeah if you go in fact if you get prescription vitamin D because they have prescription vitamin D for people who are deficient, they'll typically do that.

They'll give you one pill once a week or something like that to get your D levels up quickly. It's fat soluble, that's why. It's stored in the body. I'll read to you guys a recent study, and they just keep compiling. This was a study on post-menopausal women with breast cancer.

Here's what they found. 2,000 IUs a day, which by the way, most people, 2,000, 4,000 IUs will probably be adequate, although getting a blood test would be best so you can know how much you need to take. But these women took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D a day during chemo. This raised complete tumor clearance from the body.

Okay, so you're your own chemo, the idea with chemo is get the cancer out. It increased the rate of clearance or complete clearance of the body from between 24 to 43%. Wow. Just by taking 2,000 IUs of vitamin D a day. And the reason why I love vitamin D,

besides its benefits, which I'll go through some of these, some other studies, is that it's cheap. Vitamin D3 is dirt cheap. It is one of the least expensive supplements that you'll find and it probably belongs, most likely belongs in your supplement regimen. And here's the interesting thing about vitamin D, you could get a lot of sunlight, but if you have, like me, I'm a little darker complexed, it might still not be enough. I always use the story of my father,

because this one really shocked me. I mean, obviously I'm same complexion as my father, so we're Sicilian, so darker skin. And my dad was never what I put my dad in the category of someone who's inside too much. He's always outside. He's outside in his backyard, he's always doing work, he's out in the sun all day long. I mean my dad's old world, like getting him to do nothing is so difficult. He's always outside and he had all these strange symptoms of most of them were pain and

low energy but a lot of pain. He thought it was due to the hard labor that he's done most of his life. And it's like my back's hurting, my knees are hurting, my hips are hurting, I don't know what's going on, taking pain medications, getting CT scans and all kinds of stuff. Finally did a blood test. Oh, your vitamin D's painfully low,

which I wouldn't have guessed as someone who works in it. No, I would have thought the opposite. I totally would have never guessed it. He took, I think it was 50,000 IUs, you know, right out the gates, and then started taking that, I think, once a week, something like that. And his pain dropped significantly, which is crazy.

Here's some of the studies that we find that we see with vitamin D. 2019 meta-analysis found that vitamin D supplementation with calcium reduced fracture risk by 15 to 20% in older adults. 15 to 20% just taking a cheap supplement. They didn't do anything else. No strength training, no, none of that stuff. Just that. Another study showed, another meta analysis showed vitamin D supplementation reduced acute respiratory infections by 10 to 25%. Another study, this is another meta-analysis,

found that 800 to 1,000 IUs a day improved muscle strength and balance in older adults, reducing falls by 19%. So just took vitamin D, again, cheap, easy, you're not even exercising, and you reduce your risk of falling by 19%. I feel like respiratory issues are very much on the rise after COVID and everything else,

but I just hear so many cases of pneumonia and lots of respiratory issues people are dealing with. Yes, here's another one. 2018 meta-analysis found 1,000 to 3,000 IUs a day improve depressive symptoms in deficient adults, which is, again, 50% of you probably are. Another one showed that 4,000 IUs a day reduced C-reactive protein by 20% in obese individuals.

Easy supplement to take, underrated, I think it's underrated still because I think it is. I think, I know a lot of health, like fitness fanatics. It's very protective. They don't consider it, especially if they go outside all the time. They're like, I'm okay.

But again, the data seems to show now about 50 nanograms per deciliter in your blood is ideal and most people fall below that, even if they're not deficient. Now can you flip your second one and your third one because the third one kind of pairs with this one and that's something that I think that not a lot of people talk about is Taking these together and the benefits of that correct. Yes vitamin k2 Which is interesting. So this is it's it directs calcium to bones reduces arterial calcification Okay, so that means less risk of heart disease and heart attack In fact back in the do you remember the push in the 80s and 90s

for women to take calcium? Oh yeah. And what they ended up finding was calcium deposits in the arteries. Yeah too much right? Yeah and what it was was they they weren't taking, they didn't have enough vitamins. They were so worried about osteoporosis back in the day. So how does it work again with, like everyone says if you take that with vitamin D you should also, is it because of the uptake? Is that what? They're synergistic. Yes, they work together in the body. And K2, again, it's one of those,

it's one of those underrated, I don't know, do you know anybody that takes vitamin K2? I don't. Yeah, I take it with my vitamin D, it actually comes together. That's Mike's Legion, Legion does. So his vitamin D pill actually comes with, you know, I think the ideal ratio of

vitamin D to K ratio. Now here's the number of people that are probably, a recent study in 2017 found older adults, the percentage of older adults that were deficient in vitamin K, 97%. 97%. You know where you find vitamin K, the kind that you absorb by the way because they'll say oh you get vitamin K and leafy greens You don't absorb it very well. Mm-hmm. You normally will get vitamin K from organ meats and fermented foods your gut Will produce it with the microbiome will produce vitamin K organ meats is another one. Nobody's organ meats So this is it's a it's another super cheap. So vitamin K helps direct the calcium directly to the bones and teeth.

That's right. Okay. That's right. This is one good advice Liver King had. Yeah. So. It's. Hey, you don't want to get me.

Oh, he's in prison right now, right? Yeah, he is. Yeah. Wow, he looks bad right now. This is crazy. Another topic. So again. Save that one.

Fermented dairy, organ meats. Now K1 is abundant in leafy greens, but you just don't absorb nearly enough, typically. I didn't realize that 97% of older adults was deficient in vitamin K. And these are like, when you talk about vitamins and minerals, these are essential for the body. So if you're deficient, your body is dysfunctional.

So it's not like other supplements that can give you some benefits, some health benefits, an herb or something like that. There's no ginseng deficiency. Yeah, you'd find this in a multivitamin. I was just gonna say, typically in a good multivitamin, you have this, you have both of these. Yes yes but you have to look for that I'm sure and it's got to be a good hundred micrograms a day is what you typically want

sometimes what multi vitamins do is a little bit of everything not very much they'll have a lot of like B a lot of C a lot of and then you'll look at K2 and it's like well they'll do like the 20 micro they'll do like the minimum reg RDA versus the optimal dose there are certain things like vitamin D, for example, there's an optimal dose and then there's like the baseline. So knowing the difference is probably important. Yes, another one that a lot of people don't take

is NAC N-Acetylcysteine. This is a precursor to glutathione. It supports detoxification, lung health, and mood regulation. There was a 2015 meta-analysis that showed 600 to 1200 milligrams a day reduced depressive symptoms and aided in thinning the mucus for respiratory health. Now, because it's a precursor to glutathione, do you get the same

benefits if I just take glutathione? Yes. But the problem with glutathione, it's not typically well-absorbed. So people inject glutathione. Well, hopefully we have the liposomal. You do liposomal. That helps, that definitely helps. NAC is cheap. It's gross but worth it. Yeah it's got great liver support and mental health benefits with you know by taking NAC and I believe was NAC,

what was the supplement they tried to ban Doug when, during COVID? Yeah, it was NAC. So here's the deal. So we talked about respiratory illness, okay. During COVID, NAC, because it raised glutathione and helped with lung health, there were some studies showing that it really improved outcomes. Suddenly, regulatory agencies came on NAC, made Amazon, stop selling it.

NAC and glutathione, well, I guess glutathione wasn't shut out, but that was what they found later. It was like, oh my God, yeah, if we raise our glutathione. Yes, and NAC was a supplement for like 20 or 30 years. It was funny they tried to shut it down, which is a little conspiracy theory for ya. But for health, but for health, it's a good thing. I don't even know what this next one is.

Berberine? Yeah. Yeah, berberine is interesting. Of all the supplements that can improve or that are touted to improve. Sounds like some kind of plaid. Blood sugar. It's like the brand.

Say what? The brand. Yeah. No, not, not. Berberine. No, you're not talking about that. Berberine. Sorry.

So of all the supplements that tout the ability to improve insulin sensitivity or lower your fasting glucose, burberry is the only one in the data to show actually. I'm assuming that's in all those. Well, they better have it in there. What's the popular carb? There's a carb supplement. I forget what it's called.

Oh, god. I think you're talking about ones that try to block, they try to convert it to this. Yes, yes, would it most likely have this? It should if you're looking at, okay so we've had, so continual glucose monitors have now been available to the average person for a little while and I remember when we had, we had, I forgot who it was, it was on our an expert. There were dietician that used these with their patients. And everything. Oh, the girl from the glucose monitor company, right?

Yeah, yeah, I can't remember the name. I know, it's slipping me right now. NutriSense. NutriSense. Yeah, what was her name though? Heather or? Maybe, yeah, let's get that, Doug. What was it?

Kara. Kara. Kara. So what they found when I asked her, is there any supplements that you notice that'll change somebody's fasting glucose? She was like, not really, berberine is the only one. So here's what studies will show. 500 milligrams three times a day with food

will reduce fasting glucose, this is in studies, by 7% in type two diabetes. You don't find many natural compounds that'll do that. So explain who this is most beneficial to then and in what cases? If it improves your insulin sensitivity everybody benefits from it. Everybody's gonna benefit from it. If you're somebody with fasting glucose that is starting to get in that pre-diabetes you know stage and you're like oh then then use it then you should use it on regular basis. So Doug you brought up a cinnamon

Yeah, it's shown to help reduce fasting glucose But berberine is is like seems to be the gold standard when it comes to that. So next we have glycine. This is an amino acid That is high. I know in like certain proteins. I think collagen protein if I'm not mistaken I know in like certain proteins, I think collagen protein if I'm not mistaken Glycine on an empty stomach before bed the data is showing has really really beneficial effects for sleep Which is yeah, which is really really cool. There was a 2017 study that found that glycine improved sleep latency and reduced daytime fatigue And again, there's very few supplements you can take that help with sleep that don't also simultaneously maybe either make you groggy or you wake up not feeling so great. So interesting.

I actually did find it interesting that you didn't put this under underrated and maybe that's because it is talked a little bit more about it. I thought magnesium would have made it to this list. Yeah, it could. I don't know if it's still considered underrated, although I think it's kind of popular now. And interesting that so Mellow doesn't have glycine, does it? Because I don't think that would be a great pair with the magnesium.

I know they have GABA and they have magnesium. I'm not sure if they have glycine. I take glycine with whatever I take before I go to bed. Oh, okay. It's cheap. That's something I would love to try. Yeah, it's super cheap, by the way. Yeah, actually Bioptimizers has it in their sleep formula.

They have glycine and theanine, as well as some other things. And it works great. I wonder if I combine that with my taking my mellow I would get like a. That's what I do. Really? Yeah, I take three grams. I'm going to try that. Super inexpensive supplement on an empty stomach you want to take it. Okay. If you take it with food then the other amino acids change. It would be most likely two hours at your

dinner. That's empty stomach. Okay. Yeah, that'll totally work. Next up we have choline. Choline is, you know, I've heard experts say that choline should be reclassified as an essential nutrient because of its effects on cognition and brain health.

So when you look at studies with like babies. Improves your IQ, right, within kids. Yes, when you look at studies with like babies. Improves your IQ, right? With kids. Yes. When you look at studies with children and they show them eating eggs, whole eggs, and there's an improvement in their cognitive function. That's what they're measuring. I remember that study. There's a study that they did that, right? They showed a huge improvement with one egg a day or something. Was it something like that? Yes. Was it a study? Yes. And choline, 500 to 2,000 milligrams a day

is what you want to take. By the way, the studies show that about 90% of people don't get enough choline. So a vast majority of people won't get enough choline. Now is that, okay, what if you were somebody that eats quite a bit of eggs or eggs every day? You'd probably get enough. Doug, how much choline is in one egg?

Let's look at that. This is really promoted with pregnancy, right? Like, like they're trying to steer. Yeah. That's in the, um, prenatal. I think it's not calling. Usually not. No, they'll, they'll, they'll have other things. 147 milligrams, 147. Yeah. So if you wait, quite a bit, if you wait like four eggs a day, you're a minimum of four eggs a day. Yeah. Yeah. You want to be eating at least four eggs a day, you're great. A minimum of four eggs a day. Yeah, you want to be eating at least four eggs a day. Whole eggs, not egg whites.

Right, four whole eggs a day in order to get the kind of bear. Because you're saying 500 to 2,000 milligrams. That's right. So you would need at least four, and you could do with more even. Yes, yes. Doug, find other sources of choline. If I'm not mistaken, organ meats, I believe are high in choline.

Choline's interesting too, because it can be considered a cognitive boosting supplement. Like if you combine choline with, a lot of people take it with caffeine. Creatine maybe? No, they'll take it with caffeine. Like caffeine, theanine, and choline is like a great stack for something like that.

What does it say for food, Doug? Yeah, eggs obviously the first one, legumes, such as beans and peas, vegetables, cruciferous ones like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, et cetera. Canned tuna and salmon. Yeah, okay, but here's the deal. How many legumes would you need to eat to get, whenever they, by the way,

whenever they mention a plant source of a nutrient, it's high in the context of other plants. You need to eat like this whole room amount. Yeah, like I'd like to see like how much, Doug, look up how much choline is in, whatever bean they need. Yeah, I bet four eggs is double or triple what, you know, a pound of beans are.

Let's see, because I know there's certain vegetables, like this is a high protein vegetable. It's like, well, you have to eat 3,000 calories a day. You have to go through All the gastro distress. Yeah, to get all of that. So I'd like to see what that says with choline. But I do know that the data on cognitive function and brain health in choline is pretty remarkable.

Okay, so a cup of cooked kidney beans contains 54. 54. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. So you have to eat 10 cups of these. You have to have 10 cups to do what four eggs would do. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So you eat 10 cups. You have to have 10 cups to do four to would do what four eggs would do. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay. You're eating 10 cups of kidney beans. So this is just

across the board, by the way. Nice turbo boost. Plants have phytonutrients and antioxidants, which are amazing. In certain in certain cases. But when you're talking about nutrients, like vitamins and minerals in particular, plants, either A, you get a version of it that is not as absorbable or bioavailable. For example, vitamin D, you can get a form of vitamin D in mushrooms, but it's not nearly as bioavailable as vitamin D like you would get in like, let's say, like cod liver,

for example. And this is true for a lot of different types of nutrients. So when they say, here's some sources of choline and you see plants, keep in mind that those are typically in the context of other plants, not in the context of where you would actually get a decent dose of that particular nutrient.

Same thing with like omega-3 fatty acids, flax seed oil. Yeah, that's great, but your body has to convert that to the usable form, which means a big chunk of it isn't being used versus like fish oil, which gives it to you. And then we have grape seed extract. This actually improves blood pressure and blood flow. There's a 2016 meta-analysis found that grape seed extract alone lowers systolic blood pressure by six. So... And I'm assuming that's the only place you get it. Is where? From grape seeds. Yes. Okay. That's interesting because when you

think about a lot of the other nutrients that we talked about, there tends to be multiple sources that you can get this specific nutrient. This happens to be something that you have to take that extract and there's nothing else that replaces that. Yeah, and I know there's other uses for grape seed extract. I know it's got anti-inflammatory effects. I know it has but again, it's like... They tend to put steroids with it. No, yes, not grape seed. Grape seed oil. it has but again it's like they tend to put steroids with it no yes not grapes yes is not oil now I do you know and again I I picked these supplements because I bet you most listeners of ours take supplements most of them probably take creatine and if you don't I don't know what's wrong with you.

Probably take protein powder. Maybe fish oil. They might take vitamin D. I don't think they take any of these other supplements. I don't think so. They're all backed by D. I'd use Legion's vitamin D. So it has the K2.

So I do take that one. But all the rest of them, I'm most interested. I mean, this has been a fun conversation because I do want to play with the glycine. I would love to try that little stack. I'm always looking for cool little bedtime to help me like go to sleep or calm down and stuff like that, so that'd be interesting.

And do you, a certain amount of time before bed, you like take it, is it okay? No, right before bed. Like right before? Yeah, just right before bed. You can wait 30 minutes or whatever, but just right before bed. Is there any, is it bad if I do it like, because sometimes I'll take mellow kind of early like meaning like seven

o'clock or like that to just like mellow me out to head into the night. You need any drawbacks to me? I don't know good question. I know in the studies they take it. You know sometimes things like if you take like that. Like they melatonin. Yeah and then it passes and then it's almost like it's worse because you. I don't know I don't know that's a good question. I know in the studies they'll give glycine to people about 30 minutes before bed typically okay I just keep it next to my bed on my bed bed stand no nightstand I should say is it powder or pill form you're taking capsule capsule yeah 3,000 milligrams I think I think I take like

see this is perfect I can take I could like you take that I make like now I make a little shot of the mellow yeah and then and then shoot it with a few capsules with it Okay, and I'll report back and you're totally done. Yeah. Look if you like the show come find us on Instagram come check us out It's at mind pump media. We'll see you there Thank you for listening to mind pump if your goal is to build and shape your body dramatically improve your health and energy and Maximize your overall performance check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes maps anabolic, maps performance, and maps aesthetic.

Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources

at mindpumpmedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a 5-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing MindPump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is MindPump.