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Evidence over hype.
Writing on supplements, performance nutrition, and the research behind what actually works — by Nelson Marques, RD, CSSD.
July 7, 2026
Taurine: 1 g Does Nothing, and the Research Dose Starts at 3 g
Almost every taurine capsule on the market ships at 500 mg or 1,000 mg and treats a single-capsule serving as an implicit target. It is not. 500 mg is a rounding error against endogenous synthesis, 1 g is below the threshold of most trials that have found a signal, and the modern research on cardiovascular support, endurance-exercise performance, aging biomarkers, and blood-pressure runs at 3 to 6 g per day. Here is what the trial dose actually looks like, why the energy-drink 'taurine' label is a marketing shape rather than a functional dose, why NAC and glycine are neighboring conversations, and how to read a taurine bottle without paying twice for the same 1 g.
#taurine#amino-acids#cardiovascular#endurance#dosing#labels#supplement-scienceJuly 2, 2026
NAC: 600 mg Is the Floor, Not the Target
Almost every N-acetylcysteine bottle on the market ships in 600 mg capsules and lets you assume that number is the effective dose. It is not — 600 mg is the historical mucolytic starting point, and the modern research on glutathione support, liver load, mood, and PCOS runs at 1,200 to 2,400 mg per day. Here is what the trial-validated NAC dose actually is, why the sulfur smell tells you the form is intact, why glycine belongs in the same conversation, and how to read an NAC label without paying twice for the same 600 mg twice a day.
#nac#n-acetylcysteine#glutathione#dosing#labels#supplement-scienceJune 30, 2026
Folate Is Not Folic Acid: Methylfolate, Folinic Acid, and Why the 400 mcg DFE on Your Multivitamin Label Is Probably the Wrong Form for the People Who Need It Most
Pick up four multivitamins off the same shelf. The first lists 'folic acid, 400 mcg DFE.' The second lists 'folate, 400 mcg DFE (as L-methylfolate).' The third lists 'folate complex, 800 mcg DFE' with no form disclosed. The fourth — a prenatal — lists 'folic acid 800 mcg DFE.' None of the four labels gives the buyer enough information to know whether the form in the bottle is the right form for the person taking it. Folate is not folic acid. Methylfolate is not folate. Folinic acid is not methylfolate. The four forms have different absorption, different conversion requirements, different dose-response curves, and different relevance depending on whether the buyer carries one of the common MTHFR polymorphisms, is pregnancy-trying, is on a folate-interfering medication, or is in the B12-masking-risk window. The DFE convention on the label collapses all of this into one number. Here is the form-and-conversion math, the MTHFR question (overstated for the general population, real for the subset where the form choice matters), the 1 mg masking issue most labels do not warn about, and the label patterns that separate a real folate product from a folic-acid product wearing a marketing label.
#folate#methylfolate#MTHFR#multivitamin#labels#transparency#dosingJune 25, 2026
Inositol Is Not One Ingredient: Myo vs D-Chiro, the 40:1 Ratio Most Labels Get Wrong, and the 4 g Dose-Response Curve
Walk down the supplement aisle and pick up three bottles labeled 'inositol.' One says '500 mg inositol' with no form specified. One says 'inositol blend, myo and d-chiro, 600 mg.' One says 'myo-inositol 2,000 mg' on the front and adds 'with d-chiro inositol' in the supplement-facts box at an unspecified dose. None of the three is at the trial-validated dose-response signal for the conditions the inositol literature actually supports. The well-trialed protocol for insulin sensitivity, PCOS, and metabolic-syndrome endpoints is 4 g per day of myo-inositol combined with 100 mg per day of d-chiro-inositol — a 40:1 ratio that approximates the body's natural intracellular distribution. Most retail products run 10-30% of the myo dose, the wrong ratio (often 1:1 or worse), and underdose the d-chiro at therapeutic-irrelevant amounts. Here is the dose-response math, the 40:1 ratio physiology, the form-and-label patterns that separate a real product from the inositol-blend marketing posture, and the use cases where the protocol has signal and the ones where it does not.
#inositol#PCOS#insulin sensitivity#dosing#labels#transparencyJune 23, 2026
Melatonin Is a 0.3 mg Supplement, Not a 10 mg One: The Dose-Response Curve the Industry Walked Past
Pick up a bottle of melatonin off the shelf and it almost always says 3 mg, 5 mg, or 10 mg. The dose that the original human-trial work showed produces a clean physiologic sleep signal — restoring nighttime melatonin to the levels a healthy 20-year-old produces endogenously — is around 0.3 mg. The 5-10 mg dose the market settled on raises plasma melatonin to 10-40x physiologic concentrations, persists into the next morning, blunts core-temperature regulation, produces next-day grogginess, and over time produces a measurable downregulation of melatonin receptor sensitivity. The industry standardized on the wrong end of the dose-response curve because more milligrams looked like more product. Here is the dose-response math, the supraphysiologic-overshoot problem, the trial doses that actually moved sleep onset and quality, and the label-and-form patterns that distinguish a physiologic-dose product from the 10 mg gummies that dominate the aisle.
#melatonin#sleep#dosing#labels#transparencyJune 18, 2026
Vitamin K2 MK-4 vs MK-7: Why the Form and the Dose on the Label Are Both Doing Less Than You Think
Most vitamin K2 products on the shelf are 100 mcg of MK-7 stamped on a label and called a day. The two main forms of K2 — MK-4 and MK-7 — have wildly different doses in the research, wildly different half-lives, and almost nothing in common except the K2 marketing band on the front of the bottle. Here is how to read a K2 label, what the doses actually are in the clinical literature, and why a stack of D3 + K2 from a single bundle is often shorting both.
#vitamin-k2#mk-4#mk-7#labels#supplement-scienceJune 16, 2026
Iron Supplement Forms: Ferrous Sulfate, Bisglycinate, and Heme — Elemental Iron Yield, Bioavailability, and Why the Label Number Means Three Different Things
Pick up three iron supplements off the same shelf. The first is ferrous sulfate at 325 mg per tablet. The second is iron bisglycinate at 30 mg per capsule. The third is heme iron polypeptide at 11 mg per capsule. The bottles look like three different doses of the same ingredient. They are not. The label number is the salt weight, not the elemental iron yield; the bioavailability ranges from 5% to 35% depending on form; the GI tolerability gap between forms is large enough that the form choice often decides whether the supplement gets taken at all. Here is the iron-form math by yield, bioavailability, dose, GI tolerability, and the label patterns that distinguish a usable iron product from one that gets abandoned in a drawer.
#iron#ferrous-sulfate#bisglycinate#labels#dosingJune 11, 2026
Choline Forms: Alpha-GPC, CDP-Choline, and Bitartrate — Why the Label Number Lies
Choline is one of the most label-distorted ingredients in the cognitive-supplement aisle. A bottle says "choline 500 mg" on the front and means three completely different things depending on which form is in the capsule. Choline bitartrate delivers about 41% choline by weight, alpha-GPC delivers about 40% choline by weight but crosses the blood-brain barrier reliably, and CDP-choline (citicoline) delivers about 18% choline by weight but carries a cytidine fragment that converts to uridine and does its own pharmacological work. Here is the choline-yield math by form, the bioavailability question the bottle does not answer, the dose ranges the human trials actually used, and the label patterns that distinguish a useful choline product from a cheaper-by-weight sub-threshold one.
#choline#alpha-gpc#cdp-choline#labels#dosingJune 9, 2026
Berberine: Why 1,500 mg/Day Split Three Times Is the Real Dose, and Why Most Bottles on the Shelf Are Sub-Threshold
Berberine is one of the few natural compounds with a clean, replicated human-trial signal on blood glucose and lipid metabolism — comparable to metformin in the head-to-head trials. The trials all used 1,500 mg/day split into three 500 mg doses with meals. The bottle on the shelf next to you almost certainly suggests 500 mg once daily, which is one-third of the clinical dose and below the threshold most of the human trials report as effective. Here is the dose math, the half-life that explains the three-times-daily structure, the bioavailability problem most labels ignore, and the label patterns that distinguish a clinical dose from a sub-threshold one.
#berberine#dosing#labels#bioavailability#supplement-scienceJune 4, 2026
Curcumin Bioavailability: Why a 500 mg Turmeric Capsule Is Mostly a Placebo Without the Right Form
Plain turmeric powder and standard curcumin extract are absorbed at maybe 1% of the labeled dose. The 500 mg on the front of the bottle is not the dose your bloodstream sees. Here is the bioavailability problem in numbers, the four delivery forms that actually solve it (piperine, liposomal, phytosome, micellar), and the label distinctions that decide whether the bottle is medicine or oat-colored sawdust.
#curcumin#turmeric#bioavailability#labels#supplement-scienceJune 2, 2026
Lion's Mane Fruiting Body vs Mycelium on Grain: The Label Distinction That Decides Whether the Bottle Is Mushroom or Filler
Most lion's mane bottles list a milligram dose and a vague 'mushroom complex' line. The label distinction that actually determines whether you are paying for mushroom or oat-flour filler — fruiting body vs mycelium on grain — is usually buried or absent. Here is how to read the label, what the research actually used, and where the cheap bottles cut corners.
#lions-mane#mushrooms#labels#nootropics#supplement-scienceMay 28, 2026
Rhodiola's Standardization Number: Why 3% Rosavins and 1% Salidroside Is the Dose That Matters, Not the Milligrams
Most rhodiola labels list a milligram dose and stop there. The numbers that actually predict whether the supplement works — rosavin percentage and salidroside percentage — are usually missing or buried. Here is how to read the label, what the clinical-trial extracts actually deliver, and where the cheap bottles cut corners.
#rhodiola#adaptogens#labels#extract-standardization#dosing#supplement-scienceMay 28, 2026
ZMA Doesn't Raise Testosterone: The SNAC Study, the Failed Replications, and What Actually Moves T
ZMA built its T-booster reputation on one 1999 study funded by the company selling it. Independent replications failed. The 2018 systematic review found no testosterone effect in iron-replete subjects. Here is the literature timeline, what's actually in the bottle, and which interventions do move T.
#zma#testosterone#zinc#magnesium#supplement-research#label-claimsMay 26, 2026
L-Theanine's 100 mg Problem: Why Most 'Calm Focus' Products Are Below the Research Dose
L-theanine works at 200 mg. Most products carry 50–100 mg. The gap between what the research uses and what the label delivers is the reason most 'calm focus' stacks underperform — here is the dose math and the label pattern that gives it away.
#l-theanine#labels#dosing#nootropics#supplement-scienceMay 21, 2026
CoQ10 vs Ubiquinol: The Form Question the Front of the Bottle Won't Answer
Two products on the same shelf, both labeled 100 mg, can deliver very different amounts of usable coenzyme Q10. The difference is the form — ubiquinone or ubiquinol — and a few details the front of the bottle never mentions. Here is how to read a CoQ10 label and what the research actually doses.
#coq10#ubiquinol#labels#forms#bioavailability#supplement-scienceMay 20, 2026
Zinc Forms Are Not Equal: Bisglycinate, Picolinate, Oxide, and What the Label Hides
A '50 mg zinc' label hides two things — which form of zinc is in the bottle, and how much of that number is elemental zinc the body can actually use. Here is how to read a zinc label, why form matters more than the front-of-bottle number, and what the research actually doses.
#zinc#labels#forms#dosing#supplement-science#researchMay 19, 2026
Ashwagandha's Withanolide Number: Why 600 mg of Generic Extract Isn't 600 mg of KSM-66
Most ashwagandha labels list a milligram dose and stop there. The number that actually predicts whether the supplement works — withanolide percentage — is usually missing or buried. Here is how to read the label, what the research-grade extracts actually deliver, and where the cheap bottles cut corners.
#ashwagandha#labels#extract-standardization#dosing#supplement-scienceMay 12, 2026
Citrulline Malate's 2:1 Trick: How Brands Show "8g" That's Really 5.3g Citrulline
Citrulline malate panels usually list a single big number — 6g, 8g, sometimes 10g. The research dosed pure L-citrulline. The two are not the same, and the gap between them is roughly 33%. Here is how to read the label and what the actual dose should be.
#citrulline#labels#dosing#transparency#supplement-scienceMay 11, 2026
Vitamin D3: Why 1,000 IU Falls Short for Most Adults
Most adult vitamin D supplements sit at 1,000 or 2,000 IU per serving — doses set decades ago and never updated against current serum-level research. Here is what the labels say, what the research actually uses, and how to read a vitamin D bottle in 30 seconds.
#vitamin-d#dosing#labels#supplement-science#researchMay 7, 2026
Fish Oil Labels Hide the EPA and DHA Dose
A '1,000 mg fish oil' softgel is rarely 1,000 mg of omega-3. Here is how to read a fish oil label, why concentration ratio matters more than total weight, and what the research actually doses.
#fish-oil#omega-3#epa-dha#labels#supplement-scienceMay 4, 2026
How to Read a Supplement Label in 60 Seconds
A supplement label tells you most of what you need to know about a product before you spend a dollar — if you know which lines actually matter. Here is the 60-second scan we use ourselves.
#labels#transparency#consumer-education#supplement-scienceApril 30, 2026
Electrolyte Powders Underdose Sodium: Why 200 mg Per Serving Isn't Doing What You Think
Most flavored electrolyte powders carry 100–300 mg of sodium per serving. The research target for hot exercise is 300–1,200 mg per hour. Here is how to read an electrolyte label, and why the gap between marketing and dose is structural, not accidental.
#electrolytes#sodium#labels#hydration#supplement-scienceApril 28, 2026
Beta-Alanine Is a Loading Supplement, Not a Pre-Workout
Beta-alanine works, but not the way the pre-workout label implies. Here is the loading math, the per-serving dose the research actually uses, and why the tingle is a skin signal — not a performance signal.
#beta-alanine#labels#dosing#supplement-science#researchApril 23, 2026
Magnesium Is Not One Ingredient: A Label-Literacy Guide to Forms and Doses
Most magnesium supplements list a number on the front of the bottle that is not the number that matters. Here is how to read a magnesium label — forms, elemental content, absorption, and what the research actually uses.
#magnesium#labels#transparency#supplement-science#researchApril 21, 2026
Collagen for Tendons: The 15g + Vitamin C Protocol
Collagen supplementation for tendon and ligament health is one of the few areas in sports nutrition where the research is both clear and specific — and where most products on the shelf are built to ignore it.
#collagen#labels#research#tendon-health#supplement-scienceApril 20, 2026
Proprietary Blends Are Where Underdosing Hides
Proprietary blends let brands list impressive-sounding ingredients without disclosing how much of each is actually in the product. Here is why we don't use them — and what to look for on a label that respects you.
#labels#transparency#supplement-scienceApril 15, 2026
How Much Creatine Actually Works
The clinical research on creatine monohydrate dosing — and why most products underdose it.
#creatine#performance#research