Supplements
Creatine, caffeine, vitamin D — the supplements with strong evidence and the ones the marketing oversells. With a separate buy guide for product picks.
SupplementsAshwagandha for Stress: What the Trial Evidence Actually Supports
300-600 mg daily of standardised root extract produces 30-50% reductions in perceived stress scores and 15-30% cortisol drops over 8-12 week…
SupplementsAshwagandha: What the Evidence Shows
The cortisol-and-stress data are real but modest. The strength and recovery claims are narrower than the marketing suggests. Honest dosing, …
SupplementsBeetroot Juice as a Natural Pre-Workout
One of the few ‘natural pre-workouts’ with peer-reviewed performance data. Dose, timing, and who benefits most.
SupplementsBeta-Alanine: The Buffering Supplement That Works for 1-4 Minute Efforts
Beta-alanine raises muscle carnosine 60-80% over 4-12 weeks, producing 2-3% performance improvement in 1-4 minute high-intensity exercise. N…
SupplementsCaffeine for Performance and Health: What 21 Meta-Analyses Show
The most-used psychoactive substance on earth and the most-studied performance supplement in sport. The 2020 Grgic umbrella review pooled 21…
SupplementsCaffeine for Performance: What Tolerance Actually Does to the Ergogenic Effect
Caffeine reliably produces 2-7% endurance, 5-12% muscle endurance, and 1-3% strength improvements at 3-6 mg/kg. The tolerance effect from da…
SupplementsCreatine for Women: What the Evidence Actually Shows
The same 3-5 g/day dose. No hair-thinning signal in the trials. Sometimes larger effects than men. The 2021 lifespan-review evidence on crea…
SupplementsCreatine for Women: What the Female-Specific Evidence Actually Shows
Most creatine research was conducted in male athletes, creating a perception that it’s a male supplement. The female-specific trial ev…
SupplementsCreatine in Week One: What Actually Happens
Day-by-day what to expect from your first 7 days on creatine. The myths, the water shift, and the unspectacular truth.
SupplementsCreatine — The Most-Studied Supplement Ever
Over a thousand peer-reviewed trials and 30 years of research show creatine monohydrate is safe, cheap, and broadly beneficial — for muscle,…
SupplementsCurcumin Absorption: Why Plain Turmeric Doesn’t Work and the Three Strategies That Do
Plain curcumin is under 1% bioavailable - almost nothing gets in. Piperine (20×), phospholipid formulations (7-30×), and fat-con…
SupplementsFish Oil for Athletes: What Works, What Doesn’t, and How to Buy Quality
2-3g daily combined EPA+DHA produces measurable reductions in DOMS, faster recovery, and modest hypertrophy benefits in resistance training.…
SupplementsIron Deficiency in Female Athletes: Why Haemoglobin Misses the Problem
The standard haemoglobin test misses the early stages of iron deficiency - ferritin falls first, and the sports-medicine consensus now treat…
SupplementsMagnesium Glycinate vs Bisglycinate: Why the Label Lies
The North American supplement market sells “magnesium glycinate” and “bisglycinate” interchangeably. The molecular c…
SupplementsMagnesium Glycinate vs. Citrate vs. Oxide: The Forms Ranked by Evidence
Magnesium form determines whether the supplement works. Glycinate, citrate, malate, threonate absorb 30-50%; oxide absorbs 4-10%. Plus the e…
SupplementsMelatonin vs. Wind-Down Routines
Melatonin is a timing signal, not a sedative. The dose, the use cases, and the wind-down protocol that beats supplements for ordinary sleep …
SupplementsTart Cherry Juice: The Evidence on Sleep, DOMS, and the Hypertrophy Trade-Off
Montmorency tart cherry juice has real published evidence: 25 minutes more sleep at 240 mL twice daily, 25-50% DOMS reduction at 480 mL arou…
SupplementsThe 2026 Cyber Monday supplement audit — 12 picks with the strongest research
Cyber Monday is when supplement discounts hit deepest. This is the 12-supplement audit that distinguishes the picks with real RCT support fr…
SupplementsThe 2026 evidence-backed Black Friday fitness gift guide — 20 picks that pass peer review
Most Black Friday lists chase trends. This one chases evidence. Twenty products that hold up under the same standard we apply to supplement …
SupplementsThe Placebo Effect in Sports Supplements
If you believe it works, does it? The peer-reviewed evidence shows yes - with effect sizes up to 3% in endurance, comparable to real caffein…
SupplementsThe Truth About BCAA Supplements
BCAAs sold a CAD$3 billion category on muscle-building claims. The peer-reviewed evidence shows they don’t outperform placebo in adult…
SupplementsVitamin C + Collagen: The Pre-Exercise Stack That Works for Tendons and Joints
Collagen alone doesn’t do much. Exercise alone doesn’t do much. But 15g of hydrolysed collagen + 50mg of vitamin C consumed 30-6…
SupplementsVitamin D in a Canadian Winter: Dose, Food, Testing
Above 44 degrees latitude - that’s all of Canada and most of the northern US - your skin makes almost no vitamin D from October through Apri…
SupplementsVitamin D: Who Actually Needs to Supplement, and How Much
The only nutrient your skin can manufacture from sunlight — and at Canadian latitudes, that mechanism shuts down for half the year. The peer…
SupplementsVitamin K2 + D3 for Bone Density: Why D3 Alone Isn’t Enough
D3 increases calcium absorption; K2 directs that calcium to bone rather than soft tissue. The published trial evidence supports the combinat…
SupplementsWhen to start vitamin D supplementation in Ontario — the September threshold
Above the 43rd parallel, UVB-driven vitamin D synthesis approaches zero from October through March. The Health Canada 600 IU recommendation …
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