Can You Hack Your Supplements?
Is it possible to “hack” your supplements to make them more effective and bioavailable? Here’s what we know so far.
Key Takeaways:
- You can hack your supplements by using these absorption techniques when taking them.
- Find out how we determine the absorption of different supplements and why it matters.
- Learn how to improve supplement absorption to see optimal health-boosting results.
Use this guide to boost your supplements’ effects through biohacking!
Table of Contents:
- Supplement Bioavailability: What Does It Mean?
- What Makes Certain Supplements More Absorbable?
- How to Hack Your Supplements
- Quality of Life: Highly Bioavailable Supplements for Maximum Absorption
Supplement Bioavailability: What Does It Mean?
Bioavailability refers to your body’s ability to absorb and use the compounds in a drug or supplement.
When it comes to proper absorption and efficacy, bioavailability is key. Even if a supplement contains a bunch of healthy ingredients, it won’t work if they aren’t highly bioavailable.
There are ways to increase a particular supplement’s absorption into your bloodstream, where it can then be used to improve your health. It’s important to know the basic chemistry behind supplements and digestion to understand how this works.
What Makes Certain Supplements More Absorbable?
Your body absorbs nutrients through the food and drinks you consume all day, every day. Supplements are no different.
There are, however, more factors in supplement absorption because they are small yet full of beneficial compounds. Several things can impact your body’s absorption of supplements.
Supplement Forms
Supplements can take different forms — capsules, powders, tablets, and more. Each form has unique benefits depending on the substances inside of them.
For some nutrients and supplement formulations, capsules are more easily absorbed than tablets. Your body can absorb more of the contents of the capsules through your digestive tract into your bloodstream.
Chemical Makeup of the Nutrients
No matter what vitamin, mineral, or nutrient you are taking in supplement form, each has a specific chemical formula. The most well-known example of this is vitamin C.
Vitamin C can come in several different forms — ascorbic acid, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, and more.
Depending on your digestive health and other factors, ascorbic acid may not be the best choice for your vitamin C supplements.
This is true for almost all supplements. Absorbability depends on how your body interacts with the supplement’s chemistry.
The Foods You Eat
Many Quality of Life supplements are best absorbed when taken with meals. You might be wondering why that is the case.
Fat-soluble nutrients, like vitamin D, need dietary fats to break down and absorb at optimal levels. As the name suggests, fat-soluble vitamins only break down in the presence of fats, so taking them on an empty stomach won’t be as effective.
Some nutrients in your diet might interfere with the absorption of others. For example, calcium can inhibit the absorption of iron supplements.
Make sure you research the interactions between your supplement ingredients so you can make the most of them!
How to Hack Your Supplements
Hacking your supplements is a lot more beneficial for your health than it sounds. By “hacking” the absorption rate of your supplements, you receive more of their benefits in less time.
Here are some strategies you can use to promote optimal absorption and efficacy from your supplements.
Eat Spicy Foods
If you are a lover of all things spicy and hot, you will benefit from supplements the most. Spicy foods can enhance nutrient absorption by boosting your body’s metabolic rates.
When your stomach receives spicy food, the nutrients generate heat. This heat signals to your body that it needs more resources to digest the food.
When this happens, your metabolic rate increases, so nutrients move faster through your digestive system. This makes vitamin and mineral absorption a lot faster and more effective.
Improve Your Gut Health
Your gut relies on keeping a healthy balance of bacteria to properly break down and digest foods. This includes nutrient absorption, which determines your overall health.
Prebiotics and probiotics are both great tools to improve your gut health. These can be taken as supplements or found naturally in foods and drinks, like yogurt and kombucha.
Probiotics contain the healthy bacteria your digestive tract needs to break down food and absorb nutrients. Prebiotics “feed” the healthy bacteria to allow your digestion to thrive.
When your digestive tract is functioning properly, you are more likely to absorb the beneficial compounds in your supplements.
Take Supplements with Proper Foods
As discussed earlier, fat-soluble vitamins and minerals need dietary fat to properly break down and absorb into your system. You can get ahead of this by eating healthy fats before taking your supplements.
You don’t have to go overboard with dietary fat to make the most of your fat-soluble supplements. Avocado, olive, and coconut oil all contain healthy fats that won’t add to your waistline (when consumed in moderation).
By changing your diet around a bit, you can increase the absorption and efficiency of your favorite supplements.
Research Your Supplements’ Ingredients
Make sure you know which ingredients counteract each other. This knowledge will help you dose your supplements properly to avoid deficiencies and poor interactions.
All Quality of Life supplements are formulated for maximum absorption. This means you don’t have to worry about conflicting ingredients; we have your back!
Consistency Is Key
When it comes to supplement efficacy, remaining consistent is the best thing you can do.
We highly recommend building a supplement regimen that works for you and sticking to it. This consistency will help your body absorb the proper levels of nutrients it needs to function smoothly.
If you have trouble remembering to take your supplements, try setting reminders for yourself around your home or on your phone.
Quality of Life: Highly Bioavailable Supplements for Maximum Absorption
When you take Quality of Life supplements, you get the best formulations possible. We make every supplement as absorbable as possible so you can enjoy the full range of benefits.
Try Quality of Life supplements today to “hack” your health for the better!
