#340 - AMA #69: Scrutinizing supplements: creatine, fish oil, vitamin D, and more—a framework for understanding effectiveness, quality, and individual need

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.7 • 7.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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In this "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) episode, Peter explores the complex world of supplements by introducing a practical framework for evaluating their effectiveness and relevance to individual health needs. Rather than providing a simple list of recommendations, Peter aims to equip listeners with the tools to critically assess supplements on their own. He then applies this framework to discuss research on several popular supplements, including creatine, fish oil, vitamin D, B vitamins, and ashwagandha. Additionally, he covers key factors in assessing supplement quality, helping listeners develop a deeper understanding of how to make informed decisions based on their personal health goals.

If you’re not a subscriber and are listening on a podcast player, you’ll only be able to hear a preview of the AMA. If you’re a subscriber, you can now listen to this full episode on your private RSS feed or our website at the AMA #69 show notes page. If you are not a subscriber, you can learn more about the subscriber benefits here.

We discuss:

Overview of episode topics [1:45];
How Peter evaluates patients’ supplement regimens, and common misconceptions about supplements vs. pharmaceuticals [3:00];
A framework for evaluating supplements [6:15];
Evaluating creatine: purpose of supplementation, dosing, and mechanism of action [10:00];
Creatine: proven benefits for muscle performance, potential cognitive benefits, and why women may benefit more [15:15];
Creatine: risk vs. reward, kidney concerns, and choosing the right supplement [18:45];
Evaluating fish oil: its primary purpose as a supplement and how to track levels [20:45];
Fish oil: how omega-3s impact inflammation, heart health, and brain function, and the strengths and limitations of current research [26:30];
Fish oil: the risks of supplementation, guidance on selecting high-quality products, and how to determine whether supplementation is appropriate [37:30];
Evaluating vitamin D: understanding deficiency and optimal levels [45:15];
Vitamin D: role in bone health, immune function, potential longevity impact, and biomarker limitations [51:15];
Vitamin D: efficacy, safety, and balancing risk vs. reward [58:15];
Evaluating B vitamins: function, consequences of deficiency, and key biomarkers to assess whether supplementation is necessary [1:02:15];
B vitamins: risks for CVD and dementia associated with deficiency, and limited evidence for general population supplementation [1:07:15];
Evaluating ashwagandha: background, uses, and mechanism of action [1:15:30];
Ashwagandha: current evidence for its effects on sleep, stress, and anxiety [1:19:15];
Ashwagandha: evaluating supplement quality, safety profile, and the risk-reward balance [1:22:15];
The importance of using a structured evaluation framework to assess any supplement [1:26:30]; and
More.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone. Welcome to a sneak peek, Ask Me Anything, or AMA episode of the Drive podcast. I'm your host, Peter Attia. At the end of this short episode, I'll explain how you can access the
0:21.0	AMA episodes in full, along with a ton of other membership benefits we've created. Or you can learn
0:26.4	more now by going to Peter Atiyahmd.com forward slash subscribe. So without further delay,
0:32.8	here's today's sneak peek of the Ask Me Anything episode.
0:43.8	Welcome to Ask Me Anything AMA episode number 69.
0:46.5	In today's episode, we cover supplements.
0:52.2	As this is a very complex topic, we wanted to approach it first by proposing a framework that you can use to evaluate supplements that we can't make
0:56.5	blanket recommendations on since everyone has their own individual health circumstances.
1:01.2	To me, the framework is very important here because if I were to just dive into this podcast
1:05.9	and give you my point of view on a random collection of supplements, it would be akin to giving you a bunch
1:11.8	of fish when in reality what I want to do is make sure you, of course, know how to fish. But not
1:17.5	just giving you the framework, we also want to give you a few fish. And so we want to use the framework
1:21.9	to cover a handful of studies for some popular supplements. We covered creatine, fish oil, vitamin D,
1:30.0	vitamin B, or many of the vitamin Bs, and Ashwaganda. We also talk about how to look at
1:35.3	supplement quality, and we hope that this episode gives you an ability to take said framework
1:41.0	and apply it to any supplement you encounter in the future. If you're a
1:45.4	subscriber and you want to watch the full video of this podcast, you can find it on the show
1:49.0	notes page. If you're not a subscriber, you can watch the sneak peek on our YouTube page. So without
1:54.5	further delay, I hope you'll enjoy AMA 69.
2:03.3	Peter, welcome to another AMA.
2:05.6	How you doing?
2:06.3	Great.
	...

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