LONGECITY

Stats:

Age: 20
Weight: Around 85kg (guess I could be thinner, and some of it is muscle)
Height: 184-185cm

Right now I'm having a cold, but usually I try to exercise around 3 times a week.

What I'm using right now:

Morning:
1200mg Calcium

Super Antioxidants from Now, containing:
Green Tea Extract 200mg
Milk Thistle Extract 100mg
Curcumin Extract 100mg
Quercetin 100mg
Bromelain 100mg
Cranberry Powder 100mg
Rosemary Extract 100mg
Grapeseed Extract 100mg
Ginko Biloba Extract 30mg
Ginger Root 30mg
Hawthorn Berry Extract 30mg
Bilberry Extract 20mg

MultiVitamin
Glutamine x 2
Magnesium pills



Through the day I'm taking whey protein.


Before bed:
Melatonin 3mg
Omega 3
ZMA
Calcium pills
Ginko Biloba
Vitamin C

What I'm going to order:
Reservatrol
Beta Glucan
Protandim
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Resveratrol
L-acetyl-carnitine
CoQ10

Goals:
longevity
Muscle
"Better" brain
Alpha GPC (brains)

Critique all you want:)
Edited by Barksdale, 16 March 2009 - 10:25 AM.

Stats:

Age: 20
Weight: Around 85kg (guess I could be thinner, and some of it is muscle)
Height: 184-185cm

Right now I'm having a cold, but usually I try to exercise around 3 times a week.

What I'm using right now:

Morning:
1200mg Calcium

Super Antioxidants from Now, containing:
Green Tea Extract 200mg
Milk Thistle Extract 100mg
Curcumin Extract 100mg
Quercetin 100mg
Bromelain 100mg
Cranberry Powder 100mg
Rosemary Extract 100mg
Grapeseed Extract 100mg
Ginko Biloba Extract 30mg
Ginger Root 30mg
Hawthorn Berry Extract 30mg
Bilberry Extract 20mg

MultiVitamin
Glutamine x 2
Magnesium pills



Through the day I'm taking whey protein.


Before bed:
Melatonin 3mg
Omega 3
ZMA
Calcium pills
Ginko Biloba
Vitamin C

What I'm going to order:
Reservatrol
Beta Glucan
Protandim
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Resveratrol
L-acetyl-carnitine
CoQ10

Goals:
longevity
Muscle
"Better" brain
Alpha GPC (brains)

Critique all you want:)

I think the antioxidants are ok to take at your ripe young age. I am a bit jealous actually. I was drinking copious amounts of alcohol at that point in my life, and at other times many years later unfortunately. I'm not so sure you want to be taking melatonin right now. And, 3 mgs may be high even for someone like me who is 36. If you don't have any sleep problems, I would hold off on the melatonin for a while. You don't want to start messing with hormones that your body naturally produces in abundance at such a young age.

I would not waste your money on Protandim. Check out the ingredients, if you really want to take those things you can save money and buy them separately. Don't buy into all of their hype, no pun intended. Besides, you are soooooo young! I thinks its good to get an early start and I wish I had, at least by 29 or thirty. You may be getting a bit obsessed with taking many supplements that simply may not be necessary at this young an age. Dude, if you just took a great multi, worked out properly 5 days a week, eliminated drugs, moderate alcohol, avoid getting sunburned, eat really well, drink plenty of good water, avoid prolonged periods of second hand smoke exposure, avoid stress, laugh and have as much fun as possible, keep your mind stimulated in a good way(not by excessive porn on the net), take care of your mental health(I believe that everyone could benefit from psychotherapy), maintaing quality relationships(this is wear the mental health and psychotherapy may help a ton), Hang out with friends and have fun with them!, and avoid all other potentially toxic crap in our modern environment(shit I don't even swim in indoor pools anymore, chlorine baaad), you will stay very young for a very long time! A good, quality, simple, supplement regimen is good for now. As you get older, you can add more when it is appropriate.

Not sure about Ginko either. Do you workout? And are your workouts intense? Quality exercise that you enjoy is one of the best things for your brain. You will increase and and maintain healthy blood flow, which ginko supposedly does, and, you will induce neurogenesis, which ginko does not do. I you have issues with depression and are looking for a natural antidepressant, ginko may help as it has been shown to inhibit MAO enzymes that breakdown serotonin, norepinepherine, and dopamine. Then again, you could just exercise a whole lot! It is great for depression!

If you want to take something that is good for your brain at any age, take plenty of fish oil, 3 or 4 1000 mg pills a day. CostCo has the cheapest. Get the enteric coating. I saw that you take omega 3s at nite. Is it fish oil? You want to take more EPA than DHA. Fish oil pills usually contain a ration of about 2:1, EPA:DHA.
I have heard that a 4:1 ratio is best. Not sure why. Supposedly, If our mommies had known better, their consumption of fish oil prior to pregnancy may actually help to raise I.Q. Fish oil contributes to brain development, I believe that is why it may be beneficial for the lucky children of pregnant women taking it. Instead, my mom was puffing away at cigarettes! And then, she smoked in the house for ten years after her and my dad split! Daaaaaamit!

I would do more research on quercetin as well, unless you have really bad airborne allergies, it may be unnecessary. Just start eating alot of frozen wild blueberries or some other fruit or food that is high in quercetin. I eat Wyman's frozen blueberries everyday, mix it in my plain Erivan yogurt with Back to Nature apple blueberry granola..Delicious! Blueberries not only have quercetin but are a very powerful source of antioxidants and they may be the best food for your brain.

ZMA? I'm guessing you take this for a testosterone boost? I know it can help with sleep as well. BARKSDALE! DUDE! YOU ARE 20 FREAKIN YEARS OLD BRO! Unless you are competing in bodybuilding contests or have some testosterone deficiency, you really don't need to take anything for testosterone. You definitely don't need anything for HGH. One of the best ways to increase testosterone naturally is to do leg workouts. Squats, squats, and more squats. You are young enough that you can do one heavy leg workout and one lighter leg workout per week. I think doing fast high rep light weight squats before you do upper body may increas testosterone for you upper body workout. Whatever you do, find a really good leg lifting routine. Lunges are great as well. If you want a buff upper body, you most definitely should work out your legs properly. If you want to naturally increase GH, do interval sprint workouts, not only will they increase GH, but they with increase your lung capacity and get you into ridiculous cardiovascular shape. Google sprint 8. Also, google CrossFit and check it out on you tube. CrossFit is amazing. If you want to become ripped and toned, check and see if there is a bikram yoga near you. Bikram is expensive so you may want to wait on that.

CoQ10? You may also be too young for this. Your levels don't start dropping off until later in your late 20s or early 30s, I believe.

If you take ALA, you want to take Na-R-Lipoic acid. This may be another thing you do not necessarily need or may not really benefit from at a young age. I guess if you want to take it along with ACLAR to boost your brain, it may be a good idea. You probably need fairly low doses of both. Maybe, 50mgs NaRALA and 250mgs ACLAR first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, 15 to 30 minutes before breakfast. And, take your fish oil in the morning with this as it may help with absorption and sustained release. You want to take fish oil in the morning anyway. Also take it in the evening, but if you want to notice the benefits of it during the day, take fish oil in the morning. You also may want to consider some borage or black current oil to get a healthy balance of good omega 6 and 9 in the form of gamma linolenic acid and oleic acid to go along with the omega 3s from fish oil.

Why glutamine? I heard of people taking it for stomach issues

I know it is a pain in the arsh to take a lot of pills, but you may be able to save money and replace your NOW antioxidant blend with individual bottles of each of those antioxidants. I just go to the Vitamin Shoppe or order from them online. They seem to have the best prices. You can't get all high quality supplements from them, but the ones you can get should be of reliable quality and very affordable. There is a buy one get one half price deal running this this month.

Bottom line, do your research, don't wast unnecessary money, and good god you are young! Like I said before, focus more on exercise, diet, and lifestyle right now. Stay away from running microwaves(this may be hard as they are pretty fast, at least the ones chasing you after a bad trip are), hold your cell phone away from your ear on speaker, and keep x rays and cat scans at a minimum! And, do your research and find out what supplements you will benefit from now and what supplements you won't. Like melatonin for instance, you may be throwing off your natural production of melatonin by taking the synthetic version at your age. Exercise and meditate and eat right if you want better sleep. Oh yeah, and as far as magnesium goes, look for a supplement that has the right ration of magnesium and calcium in it. They should be taken together at the right ratio. I take Country Life, calcium magnesium complex. Taking this before bed may help with sleep as well. You can find a whole slew of information reading through the imminst forums if you want to see other people's educated opinions and research about supplements.

Again, If you start doing all of the right things now, I am jealous...Good luck!

Stats:

Age: 20
Weight: Around 85kg (guess I could be thinner, and some of it is muscle)
Height: 184-185cm

Right now I'm having a cold, but usually I try to exercise around 3 times a week.

What I'm using right now:

Morning:
1200mg Calcium

Super Antioxidants from Now, containing:
Green Tea Extract 200mg
Milk Thistle Extract 100mg
Curcumin Extract 100mg
Quercetin 100mg
Bromelain 100mg
Cranberry Powder 100mg
Rosemary Extract 100mg
Grapeseed Extract 100mg
Ginko Biloba Extract 30mg
Ginger Root 30mg
Hawthorn Berry Extract 30mg
Bilberry Extract 20mg

MultiVitamin
Glutamine x 2
Magnesium pills



Through the day I'm taking whey protein.


Before bed:
Melatonin 3mg
Omega 3
ZMA
Calcium pills
Ginko Biloba
Vitamin C

What I'm going to order:
Reservatrol
Beta Glucan
Protandim
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Resveratrol
L-acetyl-carnitine
CoQ10

Goals:
longevity
Muscle
"Better" brain
Alpha GPC (brains)

Critique all you want:)

I think the antioxidants are ok to take at your ripe young age. I am a bit jealous actually. I was drinking copious amounts of alcohol at that point in my life, and at other times many years later unfortunately. I'm not so sure you want to be taking melatonin right now. And, 3 mgs may be high even for someone like me who is 36. If you don't have any sleep problems, I would hold off on the melatonin for a while. You don't want to start messing with hormones that your body naturally produces in abundance at such a young age.

I would not waste your money on Protandim. Check out the ingredients, if you really want to take those things you can save money and buy them separately. Don't buy into all of their hype, no pun intended. Besides, you are soooooo young! I thinks its good to get an early start and I wish I had, at least by 29 or thirty. You may be getting a bit obsessed with taking many supplements that simply may not be necessary at this young an age. Dude, if you just took a great multi, worked out properly 5 days a week, eliminated drugs, moderate alcohol, avoid getting sunburned, eat really well, drink plenty of good water, avoid prolonged periods of second hand smoke exposure, avoid stress, laugh and have as much fun as possible, keep your mind stimulated in a good way(not by excessive porn on the net), take care of your mental health(I believe that everyone could benefit from psychotherapy), maintaing quality relationships(this is wear the mental health and psychotherapy may help a ton), Hang out with friends and have fun with them!, and avoid all other potentially toxic crap in our modern environment(shit I don't even swim in indoor pools anymore, chlorine baaad), you will stay very young for a very long time! A good, quality, simple, supplement regimen is good for now. As you get older, you can add more when it is appropriate.

Not sure about Ginko either. Do you workout? And are your workouts intense? Quality exercise that you enjoy is one of the best things for your brain. You will increase and and maintain healthy blood flow, which ginko supposedly does, and, you will induce neurogenesis, which ginko does not do. I you have issues with depression and are looking for a natural antidepressant, ginko may help as it has been shown to inhibit MAO enzymes that breakdown serotonin, norepinepherine, and dopamine. Then again, you could just exercise a whole lot! It is great for depression!

If you want to take something that is good for your brain at any age, take plenty of fish oil, 3 or 4 1000 mg pills a day. CostCo has the cheapest. Get the enteric coating. I saw that you take omega 3s at nite. Is it fish oil? You want to take more EPA than DHA. Fish oil pills usually contain a ration of about 2:1, EPA:DHA.
I have heard that a 4:1 ratio is best. Not sure why. Supposedly, If our mommies had known better, their consumption of fish oil prior to pregnancy may actually help to raise I.Q. Fish oil contributes to brain development, I believe that is why it may be beneficial for the lucky children of pregnant women taking it. Instead, my mom was puffing away at cigarettes! And then, she smoked in the house for ten years after her and my dad split! Daaaaaamit!

I would do more research on quercetin as well, unless you have really bad airborne allergies, it may be unnecessary. Just start eating alot of frozen wild blueberries or some other fruit or food that is high in quercetin. I eat Wyman's frozen blueberries everyday, mix it in my plain Erivan yogurt with Back to Nature apple blueberry granola..Delicious! Blueberries not only have quercetin but are a very powerful source of antioxidants and they may be the best food for your brain.

ZMA? I'm guessing you take this for a testosterone boost? I know it can help with sleep as well. BARKSDALE! DUDE! YOU ARE 20 FREAKIN YEARS OLD BRO! Unless you are competing in bodybuilding contests or have some testosterone deficiency, you really don't need to take anything for testosterone. You definitely don't need anything for HGH. One of the best ways to increase testosterone naturally is to do leg workouts. Squats, squats, and more squats. You are young enough that you can do one heavy leg workout and one lighter leg workout per week. I think doing fast high rep light weight squats before you do upper body may increas testosterone for you upper body workout. Whatever you do, find a really good leg lifting routine. Lunges are great as well. If you want a buff upper body, you most definitely should work out your legs properly. If you want to naturally increase GH, do interval sprint workouts, not only will they increase GH, but they with increase your lung capacity and get you into ridiculous cardiovascular shape. Google sprint 8. Also, google CrossFit and check it out on you tube. CrossFit is amazing. If you want to become ripped and toned, check and see if there is a bikram yoga near you. Bikram is expensive so you may want to wait on that.

CoQ10? You may also be too young for this. Your levels don't start dropping off until later in your late 20s or early 30s, I believe.

If you take ALA, you want to take Na-R-Lipoic acid. This may be another thing you do not necessarily need or may not really benefit from at a young age. I guess if you want to take it along with ACLAR to boost your brain, it may be a good idea. You probably need fairly low doses of both. Maybe, 50mgs NaRALA and 250mgs ACLAR first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, 15 to 30 minutes before breakfast. And, take your fish oil in the morning with this as it may help with absorption and sustained release. You want to take fish oil in the morning anyway. Also take it in the evening, but if you want to notice the benefits of it during the day, take fish oil in the morning. You also may want to consider some borage or black current oil to get a healthy balance of good omega 6 and 9 in the form of gamma linolenic acid and oleic acid to go along with the omega 3s from fish oil.

Why glutamine? I heard of people taking it for stomach issues

I know it is a pain in the arsh to take a lot of pills, but you may be able to save money and replace your NOW antioxidant blend with individual bottles of each of those antioxidants. I just go to the Vitamin Shoppe or order from them online. They seem to have the best prices. You can't get all high quality supplements from them, but the ones you can get should be of reliable quality and very affordable. There is a buy one get one half price deal running this this month.

Bottom line, do your research, don't wast unnecessary money, and good god you are young! Like I said before, focus more on exercise, diet, and lifestyle right now. Stay away from running microwaves(this may be hard as they are pretty fast, at least the ones chasing you after a bad trip are), hold your cell phone away from your ear on speaker, and keep x rays and cat scans at a minimum! And, do your research and find out what supplements you will benefit from now and what supplements you won't. Like melatonin for instance, you may be throwing off your natural production of melatonin by taking the synthetic version at your age. Exercise and meditate and eat right if you want better sleep. Oh yeah, and as far as magnesium goes, look for a supplement that has the right ration of magnesium and calcium in it. They should be taken together at the right ratio. I take Country Life, calcium magnesium complex. Taking this before bed may help with sleep as well. You can find a whole slew of information reading through the imminst forums if you want to see other people's educated opinions and research about supplements.

Again, If you start doing all of the right things now, I am jealous...Good luck!

I also wanted to add that you have the advantage of being young and being able to wait 6 or 7 years to see if some of the supplements and doses being taken right now are really what we need for anti aging. If you don't need to take it yet, don't take it. You may find that it was better that you didn't. Though, most of the research on many of the supplements people take for anti aging indicates that supplementation at the right dose is probably safe. But if it isn't, why even bother taking that risk at your age if your really don't need to yet. I think all of the antioxidants at a low dose are just fine right now. Just don't get too obsessed with all of this anti aging hoopla and take really good care of yourself. You may fall in love and get your heart broken and go through a stressful or depressed period, it is almost impossible to avoid. Unless, you don't take any risks and don't ever make yourself vulnerable to someone else, which would be pretty lame and not worth living life as far as I'm concerned. When those stressful/traumatic times in your life do arise, maybe consider talking to someone. Always keep a good support system surrounding you. Friends and family(if they are good to you, some are not good for us unfortunately) are key to living a long healthy life. Human intimacy on many levels is crucial. Stay away from self medicating with cigarettes and alcohol and use intense exercise as your coping mechanism. Remember, always stretch!

I also wanted to add that you have the advantage of being young and being able to wait 6 or 7 years to see if some of the supplements and doses being taken right now are really what we need for anti aging. If you don't need to take it yet, don't take it.

Yes!

You may find that it was better that you didn't. Though, most of the research on many of the supplements people take for anti aging indicates that supplementation at the right dose is probably safe.

Safe as in "no known acute toxicity". Long term efficacy and long term safety of most supplements and drugs you can imagine has not been established.

I'd propose to scrap your regimen and start from the beginning, but that's just me.

Which of your supplements gives you noticeable benefits? Which of them is backed up by the most research? Why don't you give us more information about dosing?
Why calcium? Why that dose? BMD? Polyp prevention? Why no Vitamin D? Why no MK-7?
Why magnesium? Why that dose?
Why vitamin C? Why that dose? I'm still looking for studies in support of vitamin C supplementation...
ZMA? How much B6 does it contain anyway? Are you aware of the neurotoxicity associated with intakes of >100mg? Why do you take the inferior B6 instead of P5P or pyridoxamine?

Did you get my PM?
Edited by kismet, 16 April 2009 - 09:57 PM.

I'm still looking for studies in support of vitamin C supplementation...

Epidemiology says taking C supplements for over 10 years will reduce the risk of cataract. The highest intake showing an additional benefit is around 500 mg/day. (PMID: 1985409)

Surprisingly, a 3 year trial with 750 mg/day found some benefit. I don't recommend duplicating the study's beta carotene and vitamin E dosages, because they have so many negative effects in other diseases.

Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2002 Feb;9(1):49-80.
The Roche European American Cataract Trial (REACT): a randomized clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of an oral antioxidant micronutrient mixture to slow progression of age-related cataract.
Chylack LT Jr, Brown NP, Bron A, Hurst M, Köpcke W, Thien U, Schalch W.
Center for Ophthalmic Research, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. ltchylack@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

CONTEXT: Funding surgery worldwide for age-related cataract (ARC), a leading cause of blindness, is a huge economic burden. Non-surgical means of slowing ARC progression could benefit patients and reduce this burden. OBJECTIVE: To determine if a mixture of oral antioxidant micronutrients [mg/day] (beta-carotene [18], vitamin C [750], and vitamin E [600]) would modify progression of ARC. DESIGN: REACT was a multi-centered, prospective, double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled, 3-year trial. SETTING: Consecutive adult American and English outpatients with early ARC were recruited. PATIENTS: Four-hundred-and-forty-five patients were eligible; 297 were randomized; 231 (78%) were followed for two years; 158 (53%) were followed for three years; 36 (12%) were followed for four years. Twelve patients died during the trial (9 on vitamins; 3 on placebo (p = 0.07)). There were no serious safety issues. INTERVENTION: After a three-month placebo run-in, patients were randomized by clinical center to the vitamin or placebo groups and followed every four months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Cataract severity was documented with serial digital retroillumination imagery of the lens; progression was quantified by image analysis assessing increased area of opacity. This measure of area, 'increase % pixels opaque' (IPO), was the main outcome measure. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment groups at baseline. The characteristics of dropouts and the mean follow-up times by treatment group were the same. After two years of treatment, there was a small positive treatment effect in U.S. patients (p = 0.0001); after three years a positive effect was apparent (p = 0.048) in both the U.S. and the U.K. groups. The positive effect in the U.S. group was even greater after three years: (IPO = 0.389 (vitamin) vs. IPO = 2.517 (placebo); p = 0.0001). There was no statistically significant benefit of treatment in the U.K. group. In spite of nearly perfect randomization into treatment groups, the U.S. and U.K. cohorts differed significantly. CONCLUSION: Daily use of the afore-mentioned micronutrients for three years produced a small deceleration in progression of ARC.

PMID: 11815895

Ah, you're right. There's also data indicating that antioxidants may slow down AMD progression (but not prevent AMD). Apparently antioxidants are only good for eye health and possibly fracture risk at moderate doses (~260mg/d vit C).

I'm not sure if that makes mega-dosing (or even taking more than twice the RDA) worthwhile if it could potentially negate hormetic effects and/or the effects of resistance training if taken at the wrong time.

Ah, you're right. There's also data indicating that antioxidants may slow down AMD progression (but not prevent AMD). Apparently antioxidants are only good for eye health and possibly fracture risk at moderate doses (~260mg/d vit C).

You also have studies like this one:
Vitamin C treatment reduces elevated C-reactive protein.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18952164

But there are still questions if supplementing on people with already reduced C-reactive protein is helpful, or if there is a long term benefit from reducing C-reactive protein via C supplementation. Seems worthwhile though if a person does have elevated C-reactive protein to give vitamin C a try.

I think when you're young, THIS is the time to supplement intelligently to prevent problems when you're older. I wish I would have found magnesium when I was 20. Have you thought of doing a hair mineral analysis?

I think when you're young, THIS is the time to supplement intelligently to prevent problems when you're older. I wish I would have found magnesium when I was 20. Have you thought of doing a hair mineral analysis?

Now I haven't, where can I get it? I'm also planning on testing my Vitamin D levels.

Yes, Kismet I did get your mail:)


Btw, I understand that taking supplements such as Reservatrol and MK-7 is a risk for young people, but different kinds of anti-oxidants would be fine right? Right now, I'm taking Coq10, Vitamin C, Betacaroten, Beta Glucan etc, but I'm also considering on taking some more ones.
Edited by Barksdale, 18 April 2009 - 10:46 AM.

I've seen that people are scared of vitamin D and K toxicity from taking too much, but then i hear others saying that rubbish?

thoughts, im also figuring out how much of each i should be incorporating into my regimen. I already take raw one for men multi

is that enough?

I've seen that people are scared of vitamin D and K toxicity from taking too much, but then i hear others saying that rubbish?

thoughts, im also figuring out how much of each i should be incorporating into my regimen. I already take raw one for men multi

is that enough?

The people who say that's rubbish are wrong. Too much is too much. Every vitamin and mineral has a U-shaped mortality/morbidity curve- if you don't get enough you get sick, if you take too much you get sick. The exact dimensions and parameters of that curve will vary depending on the substance and the person, which is why we have things like the RDA at the low end and the UL (or Internet lore, if you aren't into evidence-based medicine) at the high end. In many cases, you can benefit from going beyond the RDA, but you can't go to infinity. For vitamin D, get your 25-OH-vitamin level tested. I'd shoot for 30-50ng/ml. Others recommend more, sometimes substantially so. Levels over about 35 are associated with slightly more all-cause mortality when measured over large populations (Melamed et al.). This might be due to an association with prostate cancer at higher levels. Since I have a family history for that, I shoot for 30ng/ml. Women or men without a history may want to aim for a higher level. For vitamin K2, 45-90 ug/day is reasonable.

I've seen that people are scared of vitamin D and K toxicity from taking too much, but then i hear others saying that rubbish?

thoughts, im also figuring out how much of each i should be incorporating into my regimen. I already take raw one for men multi

is that enough?

The people who say that's rubbish are wrong. Too much is too much. Every vitamin and mineral has a U-shaped mortality/morbidity curve- if you don't get enough you get sick, if you take too much you get sick. The exact dimensions and parameters of that curve will vary depending on the substance and the person, which is why we have things like the RDA at the low end and the UL (or Internet lore, if you aren't into evidence-based medicine) at the high end. In many cases, you can benefit from going beyond the RDA, but you can't go to infinity. For vitamin D, get your 25-OH-vitamin level tested. I'd shoot for 30-50ng/ml. Others recommend more, sometimes substantially so. Levels over about 35 are associated with slightly more all-cause mortality when measured over large populations (Melamed et al.). This might be due to an association with prostate cancer at higher levels. Since I have a family history for that, I shoot for 30ng/ml. Women or men without a history may want to aim for a higher level. For vitamin K2, 45-90 ug/day is reasonable.

where or how do i test for 25-OH-vitamin level? do i have to go to a doctor?

and to clarify no need to test for k2 levels, just the 45-90 ug per day will suffice, is there some general guidlines, for needing the higher vs lower end, for example males need more than females or vice versa, or those with age need more/less than younger?

If you're not eating a lot of long-leaf salads already (e.g. Kale, think Lutein), consider Astaxanthin (4 to 6mg once daily) for long-term eye-health. Take it with the omega-3 as it's a lipophilic supplement. It is an excellent antioxidant, should help to prevent A2E build up that leads to macula.
I think there was nothing in your stack especially for that purpose. I thought about including milk thistle but it seems to inhibit telomerase, so it's good against prostate cancer but at a young age it may do more harm then good. Hope to hear some comments on that.
Edited by DorianGrey, 12 May 2013 - 11:53 PM.

I thought about including milk thistle but it seems to inhibit telomerase, so it's good against prostate cancer but at a young age it may do more harm then good. Hope to hear some comments on that.

Silymarin, a major component of milk thistle, activates telomerase, at least in vitro. Whether it works in vivo is anyone's guess, but I'm casting mine as "No", based on concentration response seen in vitro. Is there evidence that milk thistle is a telomerase inhibitor? In vivo?

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/15076315
I looked at Silymarin and mainly because of these findings I haven't added it. Do you know any solid studies it does some good in vivo in healthy subjects or at least in vitro at reasonable concentrations?

http://pubmedcentral...les/PMC3251731/
Refer to table one for a brief overview (opens in new window). Note Resveratrol is listed as an inhibitor and inducer! The other activator is Genistein, TAT2 is discussed in the text.

Probably this has been discussed in the forum, it's very interesting as a first screening:
http://www.productb4...PATENTSCOPE.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/15076315
I looked at Silymarin and mainly because of these findings I haven't added it. Do you know any solid studies it does some good in vivo in healthy subjects or at least in vitro at reasonable concentrations?

I wouldn't worry about this. It's a very specific case of DHT dependent telomerase activity in a particular prostate cancer cell line. This is not normal telomerase. It's not at all clear that this translates to any other cell, and in fact silymarin was the biggest natural product hit (other than the astragenol-related compounds) in Sierra Sciences' hTERT activation assay.

I don't think there's any in vivo evidence that silymarin will activate telomerase, and considering its bioavailability and activity in the assay, I kind of doubt there ever will be. I'm pretty sure there is some evidence that it's useful for hepatoprotection in certain circumstances.

The last link I've posted was on Sierra's hTERT assay and indeed identified Silymarin as a key player for telomerase activation. It's know to have a couple of other effects, e.g. liver health. A problem seems to be the low solubility and in consequence, low bioavailability. Lecithin seems to help. This is a special commercial complex, the graphs are impressive: http://www.phytosome...ic/siliphos.asp

I propose we continue the discussion here, if needed: http://www.longecity...lymarin-thread/