Lifter wanting better performance
Recommended: creatine monohydrate 5g/day, whey protein to fill protein gap, vitamin D if deficient. Skip: pre-workouts (caffeine alone does the job), BCAAs (useless if protein is met), 'test boosters' (no evidence).
Supplement Advisor — Honest, Evidence-Based Stack with AI
Tell us your goal, profile and what you already take. We'll recommend a tiered stack with dosing, timing and interactions.
Try a quick scenario
What to do next
- Get a basic blood panel (vitamin D, B12, ferritin, lipids) before buying anything — you may not need what you think.
- Start with the four with the strongest evidence: vitamin D (if deficient), creatine, omega-3, magnesium.
- Buy from third-party-tested brands (NSF, Informed Sport) — the supplement industry is poorly regulated.
- Reassess every 3 months; drop anything you can't notice when you stop.
Related health & fitness
- Meal Plan GeneratorGenerate a personalised weekly meal plan based on your goal, calories, diet and allergies. Free, instant, with grocery list.
- Diet OptimizerDescribe how you eat today and get a personalised optimisation plan based on your goal — fat loss, muscle, energy or longevity.
- Workout Plan GeneratorGet a personalised weekly workout plan based on your goal, equipment, level and time. Sets, reps and progression included.
- Body Recomposition PlannerGet a personalised plan to lose fat and build muscle at the same time. Calorie & macro targets, training framework, pitfalls.
Examples
Office worker, low energy
Likely culprits: vitamin D deficiency (very common indoors), iron (especially women), B12 (especially vegetarians). Get blood test before supplementing. AI also flags lifestyle issues that no pill fixes.
What it does
Supplement Advisor recommends a tiered supplement stack (essentials, nice-to-have, skip) based on your goal, diet and budget, with dosing, timing and interaction warnings.
When to use it
Use it before spending on supplements, when starting a new goal, or to clean up an existing stack.
Benefits
- Tiered stack — essentials vs hype
- Dosing & timing explained
- Interaction warnings
- Honest skip list to save money
Most supplements don't do much
The supplement industry is enormous (~$160B globally) because it sells hope, not because most products work. Independent meta-analyses consistently find that the vast majority of supplements show no measurable effect on health outcomes in healthy people. Multivitamins don't reduce mortality. Most antioxidants don't extend life. Most 'fat burners' don't burn fat.
A small handful do have strong evidence: creatine for strength and cognition, vitamin D in deficient individuals, omega-3s for cardiovascular health, magnesium for sleep and muscle function, caffeine for performance. The Supplement Advisor focuses on these evidence-backed options and explicitly warns against the marketing-driven products that dominate retail shelves.
Test before you treat
Supplementation without testing is guessing. A simple blood panel — vitamin D (25-OH), B12, ferritin, magnesium, lipid panel, fasting glucose, HbA1c, TSH — costs under €100 in most countries and tells you exactly which deficiencies (if any) are dragging your health down. Many people who 'feel tired all the time' have low ferritin, low vitamin D, or thyroid issues that no supplement can fix without a diagnosis.
If you can't get blood work, the Advisor errs on the side of caution and recommends only supplements with very wide safety margins (vitamin D up to 4,000 IU, omega-3, magnesium glycinate). For anything more aggressive, get tested. Supplements interact with medications and conditions in ways that matter — informed supplementation is safer and far more effective.
Quality and dosing matter more than brand
The supplement industry is regulated under food law in most countries, not drug law. That means manufacturers don't have to prove their product contains what the label says. Independent testing has repeatedly found supplements containing wrong doses, contaminated ingredients, or even undeclared pharmaceuticals. The fix: buy only from brands tested by NSF International, Informed Sport, USP or ConsumerLab.
Dose matters too. The clinically effective dose of creatine is 3–5g/day; many products contain 1g per serving. Effective omega-3 dosing is 1–3g of combined EPA+DHA; many fish-oil capsules contain 300mg of total omega-3. Read the label, not the front of the bottle. The Supplement Advisor specifies effective dosing ranges for everything it recommends.
What to skip
Some supplements are sold heavily despite weak or non-existent evidence. BCAAs add nothing if your protein intake is adequate (which costs much less). 'Test boosters' show no clinically meaningful effects in healthy men. Most 'fat burners' contain caffeine plus stimulants and minor herbs; the caffeine does the work alone. Probiotics for general wellness have weak evidence; specific strains for specific conditions are different.
The Advisor explicitly tells you what to skip and why, alongside what to take. The honest answer is that diet, sleep, training and stress management have far more impact than any supplement stack — supplements are at best a 5–10% optimisation on top of solid fundamentals. Don't supplement to compensate for a broken foundation.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this medical advice?
- No. Always confirm with your doctor before starting anything new, especially with medications.
- Are brands recommended?
- The advisor stays brand-agnostic and focuses on what works.
- Does it work for vegans?
- Yes — list your diet and the stack adapts (B12, omega-3 algae, etc.).