The Basics of Testing Supplements

by Cihan

If you want to know what supplements to take, do experiments with the Intakeroo app.

Test to Learn

Learning is part of health improvement. Without testing rigorously you can't be sure what works and what seems to work. There is a difference!

The only way to learn, is to test.

Exclude Belief

It's easy to fall into the trap of believing that something works. If you believe that a supplement works because someone told you so, you will stop looking for real solutions or better solutions.

That's why it is important that you learn which supplements work for what outcomes, by testing them.

Everyone is Different

Different supplements do different things. But did you know that different supplements do different things in different people?

Everyone is different, which means that no one can tell you what vitamins, minerals, herbs you should or shouldn't take. Only you can find out, and you have to do it yourself.

Only You Know What You Need

If you don't have problems falling asleep, melatonin won't help you improve your health.

Only you can know you.

Determine what you need, and target your areas of interest specifically.

Know Your Supplements

Not all supplements are manufactured the same way or have the same source origin. For example: some forms of creatine are less or more effective.

The differences are more pronounced in things like mushroom supplements and herbal supplements, where harvesting time, soil conditions, cultivar type and geographic region play a big role in active compund concentration and quality.

To find out what form or source of supplement works better or worse than others: test the supplement.

Result Quality & You

The stricter you are with yourself in putting in data into the Intakeroo app, the more accurate the results will be in the charts. 

It's up to you to be as precise and consistent as possible.

Not all of us can work in a laboratory in a university with equipment at their convenient disposal: we will not be as precise and reliable as academic experimentation; but as users of Intakeroo, we can do other parts of the experimentation better than in universities. Like ad-hoc registration at our own convenience. We can do as much tests as we like. And we can start and restart however we like.

Rinse and Repeat

To strengthen the conclusions of your supplement test programs, repeat the same test program at different times. If the results are consistent over time, it means your conclusions will be more reliable than conclusions that you reach over a duration of a single test program. Generally speaking: repeat the tests to increase reliability.