What's Up With Supps

A big-picture look at the supplement world: how they work, why the advice is so mixed, and what’s behind the marketing. Just a practical, slightly skeptical guide to making sense of it all.

For wonderings, musings, or just a quick hello, feel free to reach out: [e-mail]

Straight Facts:

Wimalawansa SJ. Enhancing the design of nutrient clinical trials for disease prevention: a focus on vitamin D. Nutrition Reviews. 2025;83(7):e1740–e1781. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuae164

Costello RB, Elin RJ, Rosanoff A, et al. The case for an evidence-based reference interval for serum magnesium. Advances in Nutrition. 2016;7(6):977–993. doi:10.3945/an.116.012765

Touyz RM, de Baaij JHF, Hoenderop JGJ. Magnesium disorders. New England Journal of Medicine. 2024;390(21):1998–2009. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1510603

Lopresti AL. Effects of psychological and environmental stress on micronutrient concentrations. Advances in Nutrition. 2020;11(1):103–112. doi:10.1093/advances/nmz082

Pickering G, Mazur A, Trousselard M, et al. Magnesium status and stress: the vicious circle revisited. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):E3672. doi:10.3390/nu12123672

Arancibia-Hernández YL, Hernández-Cruz EY, Pedraza-Chaverri J. Magnesium deficiency and chronic disease. Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry. 2023;57(S1):1–23. doi:10.33594/000000603

Veatch-Blohm ME, Chicas I, Margolis K, et al. Consistency and contamination in herbal supplements. PLOS ONE. 2021;16(11):e0260463. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0260463

White CM. Continued risk of adulterated dietary supplements. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2022;62(8):928–934. doi:10.1002/jcph.2046

Tucker J, Fischer T, Upjohn L, et al. Unapproved pharmaceutical ingredients in supplements. JAMA Network Open. 2018;1(6):e183337. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.3337

DeLoughery TG, Jackson CS, Ko CW, Rockey DC. Iron deficiency anemia management update. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2024;22(8):1575–1583. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2024.03.046

Fedosov SN. Vitamin B12 uptake and balance. Biochimie. 2025. doi:10.1016/j.biochi.2025.12.002

Dai Q, Zhu X, Manson JE, et al. Magnesium and vitamin D metabolism. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2018;108(6):1249–1258. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqy274

Kuang X, Liu C, Guo X, et al. Vitamin K and D effects on bone. Food & Function. 2020;11(4):3280–3297. doi:10.1039/c9fo03063h

Asher GN, Corbett AH, Hawke RL. Herbal supplement–drug interactions. American Family Physician. 2017;96(2):101–107