Supplements are a daily wellness habit for many Americans — but experts warn more isn’t always better.

Some common nutritional supplements include zinc for immune function, ashwagandha for stress relief, fish oil for improving heart health and magnesium for better sleep, among others that have gained popularity on social media.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Jim LaValle, a clinical pharmacist and metabolic medicine expert based in Texas, said that supplements should be balanced with other medications and medical conditions.

AMERICANS ARE GIVING UP MULTIVITAMINS FOR A DIFFERENT DAILY HEALTH HABIT, STUDY FINDS

"I've never met a supplement I didn't like under the right circumstances," he said. "There's some evidence around what it's doing in the body."

While supplementing certain nutrients can be beneficial, the health expert warned that overdoing it can be "problematic."

"A lot of people take one of everything and then stack peptides on top of it — and then they're going and doing 18 different things," he said.

It's important to first assess what the body needs from an individualized approach, according to LaValle.

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For example, low magnesium has been associated with the development of metabolic syndrome. In that case, he said, taking a magnesium supplement could help to balance out levels.

"We assume that if you eat healthy, you're going to get those nutrients. But are the foods we're selecting actually rich in those nutrients?" he questioned.

LaValle recommends using supplements to address specific needs, starting with a blood test to pinpoint any deficiencies, rather than blindly treating symptoms.

Low iron and ferritin are common among people complaining of fatigue, LaValle said, yet some may instead turn to supplements like ashwagandha or rhodiola in an effort to boost their energy.

TAKING DAILY SUPPLEMENT MAY HELP PRESERVE MUSCLE AS YOU AGE — EVEN WITHOUT EXERCISE

"They’re buying some kind of stimulant adaptogen to try to get their energy up," he said. "That’s pretty basic — you’re low in iron, and you never got a blood test."

LaValle noted that the number of biomarkers measured is less important than how well the results are interpreted.

After appropriate blood testing, the results can be used to identify "functional highs and lows" and help establish specific health goals, he said.

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"If you're somebody who has a goal to get out there and get after it and do a Hyrox or an LT Games or a Tough Mudder, there could be supplements that would help improve your performance [or] reduce your risk of injury," LaValle said.

"It doesn't mean you [have to] take them all the time."

The expert reiterated that it’s easy to "overdo it," particularly with the influence of online health and wellness advice.

"When people are getting barraged with marketing between social media and friends telling them, 'I did this and it worked,' they'll lean in and go, 'Hey, if two is good, four is better, and why not do 10?'"

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In one example, having low levels of certain nutrients, such as zinc, can disrupt key functions in the body, as zinc plays an important role in immune health, cell growth and metabolism.

But supplementing with too much zinc can cause digestive distress and even copper deficiency, which can lead to anemia and other neurological problems, according to the NIH.

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"So having low zinc is not good, but you can overdo zinc," LaValle said. "You can overdo vitamin A. You can overdo vitamin D easily, and that could be potentially toxic if you're taking too much of it."

People should talk with a doctor or pharmacist before starting or combining supplements, particularly if they take prescription medications or have underlying health conditions. Blood testing may also be appropriate before supplementing certain nutrients, experts advise.

Sofocos, alteraciones del sueño, cambios de humor y dificultades de concentración suelen centrar la conversación sobre la menopausia, pero cuando los ovarios dejan de producir estrógenos y progesterona, hay otra transformación menos conocida que sucede en el cerebro. Una investigación publicada en Nature Communications ha encontrado que durante la menopausia la materia gris, el tejido cerebral que participa en el procesamiento de la información, sigue una trayectoria diferente a la observada en otras dos grandes etapas hormonales, la pubertad y el embarazo.

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• Hormone testing — especially to monitor testosterone levels — is trendy.
• A startup backed by the US military has pioneered a DIY device that requires no needle.
• It costs less than $100 and is quickly becoming a go-to for biohackers and telehealth brands.

Dr. Jonathan Andrews had never checked his testosterone levels until about six weeks ago. Now, he's a convert. He's already repeated the procedure twice.

He didn't go to a lab for his bloodwork, and he didn't use a standard needle or a finger prick. Instead, he attached a big red button to his bicep, then waited about five minutes while it quietly, almost imperceptibly, drew blood out of his skin while he made breakfast.

Andrews said he loves the "foolproof" process.

This quarter-sized pushbutton, called Tasso+, is being hailed as a game changer. Telemedicine companies, including Hims & Hers, Balance My Hormones, and Maximus Health, all offer the same click button as a way for patients to check their "T" levels from the comfort of home.

Testosterone therapy use has risen steadily in recent years alongside the growth of telehealth and direct-to-consumer men’s health services. Among adults, ages 18 to 34, prescriptions have more than doubled since 2018, according to health data company Truveta, even though the treatment can suppress sperm production and affect fertility.

"Hormones are one of the things that you need to continually track, especially if someone does go on treatment," Andrews, a healthcare investor and urgent care doctor who is not affiliated with Tasso, said. "It is one of the markers that you actually want multiple data points."

One of the best times to check testosterone levels is first thing in the morning, when it can be tricky to get to a lab. Some men around the globe are starting to rely on the red plastic Tasso+ button to track hormone levels more regularly at home, without a trained phlebotomist or needle prick.

"This is the future," DJ and record producer Diplo tells the camera in a YouTube video for Rhythm, a blood testing company using the Tasso+ device, where he's a brand ambassador. "Everybody needs to know what's going on in their body."

It isn't a perfect test, but it's the next generation of DIY consumer health, geared toward diagnosing problems without a doctor or medical technician.

Biohackers want to go beyond wearables

Tasso isn't just for men wondering about their testosterone levels. Menopausal women on hormone replacement therapy and Olympians undergoing drug testing have also tried out Tasso's blood-drawing system.

It's being marketed to longevity-conscious consumers, too, as a way to track progress and assess fitness, with data that goes beyond what you could get from a smartwatch, ring, or scale, including tracking of thyroid function, cholesterol status, and hormone health.

It's US Food and Drug Administration-cleared as a Class II medical device, the green light from regulators that this technology actually works. The blood gets collected by regular folks at home, then packed in an envelope and mailed off to a real lab for analysis (so no, this isn't Theranos promising to analyze a single drop of blood in a little mobile lab the size of a printer).

It's taken 14 years, and over $120 million in investment, including an early VC-style Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant from the US military, but suddenly, Tasso+ buttons are showing up across the medical world — and outside it.

"Our goal was to try to make the most patient-friendly blood draw possible," Tasso cofounder Ben Casavant said of the project he started "in a garage" while he was still a biomedical engineering graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012.

The company has grown quickly since it received FDA clearance for Tasso+ in 2022. Three years later, it announced it had shipped 2 million devices. Over the past year, that number has doubled to 4 million, the company told Business Insider.

The race for decent at-home blood testing is on

Telehealth companies are scrambling to adopt easier ways for people to do routine bloodwork, as the market for consumer blood testing explodes, for longevity, cancer tests, colonoscopy alternatives, and more.

Maximus's at-home testosterone test kit is $99 and includes a Tasso+. Another startup called Rythm Health, the service that Diplo promoted, offers a $79 monthly health check based solely on a Tasso+ draw. Billionaire power couple Jesse Itzler and Sarah Blakely — who founded Marquis Jets, which pioneered the prepaid private jet card, and Spanx, the billion-dollar shapewear company, respectively — are also brand ambassadors for Rythm.

The selling point for the San Francisco startup, launched in 2024, is that patients can track levels of key hormones and metabolic markers that biohackers prize, such as testosterone and estrogen, all on their own, receiving results in days via an app.

The category is quickly catching the attention of leading direct-to-consumer subscription health companies. Hims & Hers, which also offers Tasso+, recently bought a Tasso competitor, YourBio Health, for $153 million. Then there's Liam McNamara, the 20-year-old college dropout who moved to Silicon Valley to "replace a $112 billion blood testing industry" with his early-stage longevity startup called Matrix Bio.

These companies are betting on consumers' desire for a more "quantified self" and for preventative, longevity-focused, self-directed healthcare that's both personal and actionable. Investment bankers at Jeffries estimated in September that the global at-home ("point of care") testing category is growing rapidly, at a rate of about 18% annually, and could be worth $67 billion by 2030.

The drawbacks

While convenient, the technology doesn't have exactly the same benefits as getting your blood drawn by a pro. For most routine blood work, Tasso+ performs just as well as a regular blood draw, but in terms of volume, you can't run as many tests as you can with a needle in a vein.

That classic technique has barely changed since 1947, when American Joseph Kleiner invented the "evacutainer" tube, which is essentially what we still use today.

Tasso uses capillary blood drawn from the skin, not the veins. That means it's inherently less painful, but it collects blood more slowly than venipuncture, and the single-use system is unreliable for capturing some more fragile blood measurements, like potassium levels, or testing for specific proteins related to Alzheimer's.

WFH, but make it blood

On Reddit in recent months, users in the /biohacking forum have been sharing their Rythm results with one another like scores from a video game. One user who posted a photo of a sky-high cholesterol reading wrote that they were persuaded to stop taking oral steroids after seeing their Tasso results.

It's also fast becoming a go-to way for researchers and drugmakers to conduct clinical trials without asking participants to come in regularly for lab tests. Today, the product is used by patients with Parkinson's for genetic research and clinical trial participants testing out drugs from major pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly and Pfizer.

"When we founded the company, this seemed like a no-brainer thing, which is: 'Hey, if you can provide an easy, patient-friendly blood draw, that should be adopted in a way that can help people get access to their health data,'" Casavant said. "To see it happening now, it's really exciting."

“Una mano amiga, con la que sabes que puedes contar, después de 50 años, no se paga con dinero ni con nada”, dice Jordi Pons,  a sus 93 años. Considerado uno de los padres de la actual generación de alpinistas de España, Pons ha protagonizado ascensiones a paredes míticas como la cara norte del Eiger, además de expediciones al macizo del Mont Blanc o el Himalaya. Fue integrante de la primera expedición española que consiguió un ochomil: la cima del Annapurna. Además, como cineasta de montaña, ha realizado más de veinte documentales, varios de ellos premiados en festivales internacionales.

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