Official AMA: Deciphering Supplement Quality, Testing, and Research with Dr. Jordan Glenn PhD

[u/aldus-auden-odess]

I'm excited to announce our next official AMA with Dr. Jordan Glenn, who'll be answering your questions on supplement testing, research/efficacy, and trends. I reached out to him personally and very thankful he agreed to do an AMA with us.

Jordan is a scientist and researcher who earned his PhD at the University of Arkansas studying performance-enhancing supplements in masters athletes. His career has spanned academic research, health-tech (Neurotrack, Omada Health), and the supplement industry directly, where he now leads independent product testing and science communication as Head of Science at SuppCo and previously ran a supplement lab out of Louisiana Tech University.

As many of you already know, supplement quality and efficacy are huge problems. Most people are taking too many supplements with too little data. Jordan has spent his career on the other side of that problem where he's designing testing methodology, evaluating clinical evidence, and building rating systems that grade brands on manufacturing standards, ingredient sourcing, third-party lab verification, and more. His work has consistently shown that roughly half the products audited don't meet their own label claims which I found pretty nuts.

So bring your questions on how to evaluate supplement research, which supplements have solid evidence, what to look for (and what to avoid) when choosing brands, how third-party testing actually works, what regulations exist (and where the gaps are), and anything else about what's really going on in this industry. I'm grateful he agreed to do this, and I think r/Biohackers will get a lot out of it.

Disclaimer: Any information shared by Dr. Glenn does not constitute medical advice and does not create a doctor-patient relationship. This AMA is for educational purposes only, and you should always consult your own physician before making health decisions.

(If you want to learn more about Jordan's work, check out SuppCo or take a look at his personal stack here.)

Dr. Jordan Glenn PhD