I created a website that might be helpful to some of you.

I’ve been taking supplements for a few years now, and every time I started something new I’d write down notes about how I felt or whether I noticed any benefits. After a while, those notes became a complete mess.

So I vibecoded a simple web app called Signals.
The idea is simple: instead of guessing whether a supplement is actually doing anything, you can run a personal experiment. You pick a supplement, track a few things that matter to you (like energy, sleep, focus, recovery, etc.) with a quick daily check-in, and after 30, 60, or 90 days you get a summary of your own data.

It’s not trying to tell you that a supplement works or doesn’t work. It just helps you answer the question:
“Did I actually notice a meaningful difference while taking it?”

I realized I spend hundreds (probably thousands) of euros on supplements every year, but if someone asked me which ones genuinely made a noticeable difference for me, I’d struggle to answer anything besides magnesium.
That’s exactly the problem I’m trying to solve.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Is this something you’d actually use? What features would make it genuinely useful for you?

It’s completely free so feel free to test it:
https://signalslab.app

I know I’ve seen some folks mention having some bad experiences but I’ve also seen others say it’s great, so I just wanna get some more feedback before I spend $200 on supplements from them lol

i was taking zinc about 30 mg daily to 45 mg daily for a year and it knocked my manganese and copper down. do i need to supplement iron? i am too broke to afford another test im a male btw.

I take creatine already, and I’m not a fan of beta alanine… I was also thinking about adding baking soda but the last time I tried it, it upset my stomach.

WSJ ran a piece on people who used GLP-1s for weight loss and later ended up in treatment for anorexia:

 https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/glp1-anorexia-wegovy-mounjaro-1bf4035c

Worth reading alongside the primary literature from the past few months, because the reporting is no longer just anecdotal.

A JAMA Psychiatry survey published this summer (Levinson and colleagues) recruited 436 people with diagnosed eating disorders in 2025 and asked about GLP-1 use. Just over 32% reported having ever used one, and 22% reported current use. Broken out by diagnosis, a little over 50% of participants with binge eating disorder reported use, about 42% of those with atypical anorexia nervosa, roughly 30% of those with ARFID, over 25% of those with bulimia, and about 11% of those with anorexia nervosa. Roughly 10% obtained them through online providers prescribing compounded formulations. Over 10% reported misuse, defined as taking more or less than prescribed, using longer than prescribed, tampering with injection equipment, or sharing without a prescription.

The authors described the weight loss market as a rapidly evolving risk environment for this population.

Summary of the findings:

 https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/many-eating-disorder-patients-using-glp-1s-2026a1000lym

In April, NEJM published a perspective by Amanda Banks raising the same concern from the prescribing side. She noted the share of GLP-1 prescriptions written for people who were not diabetic, obese, or overweight rose from 4.5% in 2018 to 17% in 2023, and argued for consensus recommendations to protect people with existing or emerging eating disorders. A 2023 FDA analysis found misuse reports for semaglutide were roughly four times higher than for other GLP-1 drugs.

NEJM perspective:

 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2600300

Clinician-side reporting describes the same pattern from treatment centers, including patients presenting at very low BMI while still dosing.

NPR, February 2026: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-5677633/glp-1-obesity-wegovy-zepbound-eating-disorders-anorexia-bulimia

Washington Post, May 2026: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/05/23/weight-loss-drugs-pose-dangers-people-with-eating-disorders/

MindSite News, May 2026: https://mindsitenews.org/2026/05/29/glp-1-access-a-problem-for-people-with-eating-disorders/

The mechanism cuts both ways, which is part of why this is hard to legislate around. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis found GLP-1 agonists reduced Binge Eating Scale scores by about 8 points, though the pooled sample was only 182 participants across five studies and heterogeneity was high. WSJ also covered that side on July 13 in a piece on clinicians treating certain eating disorders with these drugs. The same appetite and reward suppression that helps in binge-type presentations appears to reinforce restriction in people with a restrictive history. Same drug class, opposite clinical valence depending on phenotype.

Meta-analysis: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40519-025-01720-9

Penn Medicine's eating disorder program has said outright that no protocol exists to screen for eating disorders before prescribing GLP-1 receptor agonists. That gap widens with telehealth and disappears entirely outside a clinical relationship.

Penn Medicine:

 https://www.pennmedicine.org/physicians-hub/physician-article/implications-of-glp-1-medications-for-eating-disorder-care

ANAD clinical guidance:

 https://anad.org/learning-library/glp-1-medications-eating-disorders/

More stories at r/PeptideTides

How do we feel about protein powder as a supplement in 2026? Mostly asking due to how damn expensive the stuff has become due to shortages

So I'm an Aussie in Sydney; back in 2018 the company I bought from was about $130(AUD) for 5 kg of whey isolate, so about $180(AUD) in today's money

I just stocked up from them again for a whopping $390(AUD)! (Yes, there were some for around $350; however, they do not taste nearly as good, you're stuck with a single flavour, don't get reward points, and the quality is not as good, so the $40 is well worth it for me )

I'm thinking if this is the last time I buy protein powder for a while, if by the time I run out and have to buy again(roughly 6 months) the prices haven't gone down - or at the least only have protein powder when I need it rather than my current daily scoop - I am aware I can get protein naturally but everyone knows powder makes it easier.

How does everyone else feel? I personally feel whey protein has gone from a fairly cheap supplement to a luxury one now.

Trying to keep things simple but still have effective. Any tips are appreciated!

So I am 17 and currently bulking, I try to eat in surplus every day but most of the time i am not able to achieve the daily calories target. I was thinking to buy the beast life mass gainer to consume on daily basis. I know mass gainers have very bad reputation but this seems to have a little better reviews. I am opting for mass gainer to carry it in school and just add water in it in the break, that's obviously not possible with banana shake.

So yaa should I do this or is there any better alt?

I’m curious because magnesium is one of those supplements where the effects can be quite subtle. It’s not usually something where you suddenly feel a dramatic change when you start taking it.

For those who have taken a break from magnesium glycinate, did you notice anything was different, or did you feel pretty much the same without it?

Is there anything I can take that will prevent my glycogen from dropping so quickly without having to eat so many carbs? My muscles get so flat when I reduce my carb intake just for a couple days. It's like I have to continuously eat carbs to make my muscles look full.

Went to order more on Amazon, and the price is insane. What is a good alternative brand protein powder?

Garlic is working better for me than any supplement I have tried so far and its mood boosting effects are insane. A piece of garlic is more effective than my multivitamin wtf????

However, there is wone problem I have it's the smell/ body odor it can cause if I eat too much. What can I do to eliminate the smell from my pores??

going to sleep is not an issue, it's a very distressed, low quality sleep that is the problem because of severe nightmares nightly. L-Theanine did absolutely nothing but make me drowsy but didn't remove the problem of nightmares.

If anyone has a suggestion for supplements for nightmares, that would be really appreciated.

Make 29 675 test

Supplement
Daily dosage:

every other day mornings specially for test+ libido:
Tongkat Ali
400 mg

Fenugreek
675 mg

Shilajit
500 mg

Boron
10 mg

Some of these servings are a little over what listed because of the serving sizes the brands I got offer.
Most of these are form nutricost or a third party test brand.

General health/performance: daily

Vitamin D3 + K2
2,000–5,000 IU vitamin D3

Omega-3
1,650 mg combined EPA + DHA

Multivitamin ( beef liver/beef organ caps
Half a serving each.

Creatine
7.5 g

Magnesium glycinate
500 mg

Zinc
15–30 mg elemental zinc

KSM-66 ashwagandha
700 mg



Hi all

I've been a long-time consumer of Thorne's Advanced Nutrients formula. Whenever I ordered it in the past, I would get this box for which the suggested dose was between 4 and 8 pills.

However, I recently ordered the new box and the dose is strictly 4 pills. I am not actually sure of whether they changed the real formulation inside, but that's what it seems to me. I don't have the old packaging to compare the ingredients, but it does feel different.

I am wondering, has anyone noticed this? Why do they just do this change overnight, I almost feel I had a dependence on the supplement, changing it can be really disruptive lol.

​

I've seen a lot of people say you need to drink a lot of water while taking creatine, but I'm confused about how much is actually necessary.

Is there a minimum amount of water you should drink per day for creatine to be effective?

I'm a pharmacist, and the caffeine + L-theanine stack comes up constantly for studying and deep work. It does have real controlled-trial support — but two things get glossed over: the effect is modest, and how you time and ratio it changes whether it works at all.

**The evidence (honestly)**

- A 2014 systematic review + meta-analysis (Camfield et al., Nutrition Reviews) found moderate effect sizes for the combination in the first ~2 hours, mainly for alertness and attention-switching accuracy.

- Owen et al. 2008: 50 mg caffeine + 100 mg L-theanine improved switch-task accuracy and reduced distraction.

- Haskell et al. 2008: 150 mg caffeine + 250 mg L-theanine improved attention and alertness.

- BUT Dodd et al. 2015: at 75 mg caffeine + 50 mg L-theanine, adding L-theanine did not reproduce caffeine's cognitive gains (and appeared to blunt some of its behavioral effects). So a low L-theanine:caffeine ratio may not help.

Net: a modest, calm-focus benefit shows up fairly consistently when L-theanine is at or above the caffeine dose, and less so when it's below.

**The timing (the part you control)**

- Caffeine peaks in the blood within about an hour of a dose (varies by person; reported range ~15–120 min). Take the stack ~30–45 min BEFORE the session so the peak lands during the work, not after.

- Caffeine half-life is ~5 h. A controlled study (Drake et al. 2013) found 400 mg even 6 h before bed measurably cut sleep. Keep caffeine to the morning/early afternoon and set a personal cutoff.

**Practical starting point**

Modest caffeine (40–150 mg) with L-theanine at ~1:1 to 2:1 (theanine:caffeine), ~30–45 min before you start, mornings only if you're sleep-sensitive. Treat it as a small edge, not a shortcut — and it doesn't replace sleep.

**Safety:** FDA cites ~400 mg caffeine/day as generally fine for healthy adults, with wide individual variation. Less or none if pregnant, breastfeeding, anxious, or with a heart-rhythm issue.

Disclosure: I run a supplement brand that makes low-dose caffeine oral dissolving strips, so I'm biased toward the "precise dose, right time" framing — but that's what the pharmacology supports. Posting the science, happy to share references.

I want to start Creatine for all the benefits, but I’m nervous about the weight gain and bloating. I understand that it’s all water weight, but I think I would struggle with this. How does everyone deal with this?

Do the benefits outweigh the downsides? Does the water weight eventually go away after your body adjusts, or is it only after you stop taking it?

Thank you!

All of this data is from meta-analyses focused on general healthy population adults, the people diagrams are mine, but I think they are reasonably in the spirit of Cochrane's guidance¹:

Page 1

Creatine monohydrate
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39519498/

Protein supplementation
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28698222/

Caffeine
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32551869/

Beta-alanine
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27797728/

Page 2

Dietary nitrate / beetroot
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35580578/

Dietary nitrate / beetroot, muscular performance
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33554654/

Sodium bicarbonate
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34794476/

Citrulline malate, repetitions to failure
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34010809/

Citrulline malate, maximum strength
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34176406/

¹15.5.3.3, “Re-expressing SMDs through dichotomization and transformation to relative and absolute measures.”

Any Canadians find a supplement tracker that works in Canada w Canadian brand? So far, the one I’ve tried are all stupid beyond belief - limited databases - and won’t even let you even add the product.

How to get to the optimal ranges that are typically 30--50 ng/mL which supplements would work and what dosage.

I've been reading more about caffeine and L-theanine since they seem to be one of the more researched nootropic combinations. A lot of people say the combo gives you the alertness from caffeine with fewer jitters but the recommended ratios seem to vary.
I recently came across Neuro gum which uses caffeine and L-theanine in gum instead of a capsule or drink and it got me wondering about the science behind it rather than the product itself.
Questions for people who know this stuff better:
Is there an ideal caffeine to L-theanine ratio based on the research?
Have you noticed any real difference between caffeine + L-theanine and plain coffee?