The 80/20 of Vitamins

The 4 vitamins that matter. That's it. That's the email.

Author

Jacob Katz
March 05, 2025

I flushed $782 down the toilet last year.

Well, technically I peed it out.

That's what happens when you take the wrong supplements for a year. Expensive pee. đź’°

The supplement industry LOVES people like me (or the old me). Smart enough to care about health, dumb enough to buy whatever Herbalife is selling.

This essay has truths I've never shared before. And it answers the question: "what vitamins do I actually need to take?" (not the 27 bottles the supplement industry wants to sell you)

It starts with a single realization that changed my health.

That realization? I was being scammed.

At the time, I thought I was being smart. My friends were all popping the same pills from their fancy apartment bathrooms.

But then I got my bloodwork done and discovered I'd been taking three things I already had plenty of - and completely missing the two nutrients my body was desperate for.

When my doctor called with the results, she was blunt: "Your vitamin D levels are so low I'm surprised you can even get out of bed in the morning. You're at 11 ng/mL - we want to see at least 40."

I was the guy spending $60 on fancy "athletic performance" supplements while walking around with the immune system of a Victorian-era orphan.

I discovered there are only FOUR supplements that matter... and I bet you're taking NONE of them.

So if you read this essay, you'll learn:

1/ The 80/20 of Vitamins - the four supplements that matter and why the other 50 bottles at the store are mostly BS.

2/ How to Test, Not Guess - the 3-step system I used to figure out exactly what my body needs (with real numbers).

The Vitamin Lie That Everyone Believes

Here's the big lie the $50 billion supplement industry wants you to believe: "More is better, and you need a little bit of everything."

That's why they invented multivitamins - so you could feel virtuous while taking 22 different things in doses too small to actually do anything.

It's the nutritional equivalent of putting a drop of medicine in the ocean and then drinking a cup of seawater.

Taking a multivitamin is like bringing a water gun to a house fire. Technically you're doing something, but it's not gonna help.

The supplement industry is essentially a legal scam. They've figured out how to sell you sugar pills wrapped in health marketing for a 500% markup.

It's the nutritional equivalent of a casino - the house always wins, and you walk out with empty pockets and vague promises.

A 2018 independent testing study found that 26% of fish oil supplements were oxidized beyond recommended limits. Basically, they were rancid before you even opened the bottle. Gross.

The Soil Depletion Crisis

Here's something the food industry doesn't want you thinking about: today's fruits and vegetables contain drastically fewer nutrients than what your grandparents ate.

Your grandpa's carrots packed more nutritional punch than your fancy organic, locally-sourced, sustainably-farmed ones.

A landmark study analyzed nutrient data from 1950 to 1999 and found vegetables have lost up to 38% of certain minerals and vitamins.

A study published in HortScience found significant declines in nutrients in modern produce varieties. To get the same nutrients as your grandparents, you'd need to eat 8 oranges for every 1 they ate. That's the nutritional equivalent of drinking 8 beers to get the buzz of 1 beer from the 1950s.

So what's the solution? Focus only on what moves the needle.

The 80/20 of Vitamins - The Four That Matter

If Pareto's principle applies anywhere, it's with vitamins.

Forget the wall of bottles at Whole Foods promising everything from "cellular rejuvenation" to "balanced chi energy" (whatever mumbo-jumbo that means).

There are only four that deliver 80% of the results:

Vitamin D: The Sunshine Hormone

Vitamin D isn't actually a vitamin—it's a hormone. Your body makes it when sunlight hits your skin, but only when the sun is high enough that your shadow is shorter than your height.

The stats are shocking: About 42% of U.S. adults are vitamin D deficient. In winter months or northern regions, this percentage jumps even higher.

Before supplementing, I had what I call the "3PM existential crisis" - no explanations are needed for common knowledge.

When I started supplementing with 5,000 IU daily, the difference was DRAMATIC. My sleep tracker showed my deep sleep jumped 46% in just 3 weeks.

(And no, added vitamin D in milk isn't going to cut it. You'd need to drink 50 glasses to get what you need. That's like trying to get drunk by sniffing the cork.)

Magnesium: The Master Mineral

About 42-45% of Americans don't consume enough magnesium. This mineral powers over 300 enzyme systems in your body.

Why it matters: The first sign I was low? Those random eye twitches and leg cramps that would wake me up at 3am screaming like I was being murdered.

After supplementing with magnesium glycinate, my sleep deepened dramatically and my stress response calmed. My sleep tracker showed I was getting 22% more deep sleep after just 14 days.

Most magnesium supplements are like buying a car without an engine. They look right on the outside, but they just don't work. The cheap oxide form you find at most stores is basically an expensive laxative.

Vitamin B12: The Energy Factory

B12 is like the spark plugs of your body's engine. Without it, you might still move, but you'll misfire constantly. Your body can't produce B12 on its own, and it's mainly found in animal products (bad news for vegans).

B12 deficiency starts subtly—fatigue, brain fog, numbness and tingling—but can progress to permanent nerve damage. I've experienced the fog myself, and when I started supplementing, it was like my brain's processing speed doubled overnight.

It's especially important if you're:

  • Vegan or vegetarian (obvious risk)

  • Over 50 (stomach acid decreases with age)

  • Taking common meds like metformin or PPIs (Proton Pump Inhibitors - those acid reflux meds)

Think of B12 as the difference between running on a half-charged and fully-charged battery. You might be functional with low levels, but you'll never know what full capacity feels like.

Omega-3s: The Brain Builder

These essential fatty acids are the building blocks of cell membranes and reduce heart-damaging inflammation. Unless you're eating fatty fish 2-3 times weekly, you're likely deficient.

After three months of proper omega-3 supplementation, my inflammatory markers dropped by 18%, and my HDL ("good cholesterol") went up 12 points. The brain fog I didn't even know I had suddenly lifted.

Most people's omega-3 to omega-6 ratio is like having 1 firefighter for every 20 arsonists in your body. Proper supplementation evens the odds.

Oh, and here's a contrarian take: Vitamin C supplements are basically useless for most people. Yeah, I said it. Fight me.

Unless you're literally getting scurvy (spoiler: you're not), your orange juice is probably enough. The billion-dollar vitamin C industry is basically selling you peace of mind at a 10,000% markup.

Your Personal Vitamin Protocol: A 3-Step Framework

Now that you know WHAT matters, here's HOW to do something about it.

Most people's approach to vitamins is like throwing darts blindfolded. They hear Dr. Oz mention some random supplement and add it to their Amazon cart.

That's dumb. Here's what smart looks like:

Step 1: Test, Don't Guess

The gold standard is comprehensive blood testing. Ask specifically for:

  • 25-hydroxy vitamin D (optimal range: 40-60 ng/mL)

  • Serum B12 (optimal range: 500-1,300 pg/mL)

  • RBC magnesium (RBC = Red Blood Cell - not the standard serum test)

  • Omega-3 Index (aim for >8%)

I got my comprehensive testing for free through my healthcare plan (most health insurance covers this) and it took 15 minutes at the lab. Even if you had to pay out of pocket, the $150-300 cost is less than what most of us waste every few months on random supplements that aren't doing a thing.

Can't afford testing yet? Track your food intake rigorously for one week using Cronometer. This free app will show your nutrient gaps with scary accuracy.

Step 2: Food First, Supplements Second

The best sources for our crucial four:

Step 3: Supplement Strategically

If you can't get enough from food (most can't), here's what works (with amazon links):

  • Vitamin D3: 2,000-5,000 IU daily with a fat-containing meal. I use Thorne D3/K2 drops ($35 for 600 servings).

  • Magnesium: 200-400mg of magnesium glycinate before bed. Pure Encapsulations ($29 for 2 months) is worth the premium.

  • B12: 1,000mcg methylcobalamin form. Look for a sublingual from Jarrow ($15 for 3 months).

  • Omega-3: 1-2g combined EPA/DHA from triglyceride-form fish oil. Nordic Naturals is expensive ($30 for 1.5 months) but works while cheaper brands often don't.

Avoid any brand sold at GNC, The Vitamin Shoppe, or with "bodybuilding" in the name. That's like buying your wine at a gas station.

The 80/20 Action Plan

Instead of wasting your money on the latest miracle pill Joe Rogan mentioned, focus on:

  1. Get tested to establish your baseline

  2. Focus first on optimizing vitamin D, magnesium, B12, and omega-3s

  3. Use food as your foundation, supplements to fill gaps

  4. Retest every 6-12 months to track progress

Most people will waste another $700 on useless supplements this year.

But you've got a choice to make in the next 24 hours: keep doing what you've been doing, or run - don't walk - to get your bloodwork done.

When I look back at my supplement journey, I realized something:

The $782 I wasted wasn't the real cost. The real cost was spending a year feeling less than my best.

Your body's renewal doesn't start with more pills. It starts with the right ones.

Test. Optimize. Repeat.

As nutritionist Marion Nestle said: "The supplement industry is built on hope, not science."

Today, I'm giving you science. What you do with it is up to you.

See you at 100%,

-Jacob

P.S. I wrote this entire article while my friend’s dog was getting groomed - he looks great, you saved $782, and we both won today.

P.P.S. After fixing my vitamin deficiencies, I realized something: Sleep is the next frontier of health optimization. So we built The Circadian Pillow - engineered to keep your spine aligned and temperature regulated through the night. It's probably the most important square foot of real estate in your health journey. We're only making 300 in our first batch (yeah, seriously small run). If you want one, just reply with the word "CIRCADIAN" - that's it. I'll personally add you to the waitlist and you'll hear about it before anyone else when we launch in about two weeks. Not putting this on social or anywhere else until our readers get first dibs.