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I'm going to share the five key supplements I would take if I was starting over at 40. You've probably got a cupboard full of supplements. The problem isn't that you're not taking enough, it's probably that you don't know why you have half of them.

If I could start over again knowing everything that I now know about longevity, women's hormones and healthy ageing, there are five key supplements that I would take. Number one is so important that if I had to give up every other supplement tomorrow, it's the one I'd keep. And at the end of this video, I'm going to show you where you can get my longevity supplement masterclass and guide completely free.

And I'll also tell you about three advanced mitochondrial supplements that I use once these foundations are in place. So make sure you stick around until the end. Quick disclaimer first, this isn't personalised medical advice and supplements should always be discussed with your healthcare practitioner, particularly if you're on medication or have medical conditions.

Now, if I removed every other supplement except one, I'd keep magnesium. Magnesium isn't just one supplement, there are multiple forms that you can buy and each one has different strengths. So if your priority is brain health and cognitive function, I generally recommend magnesium L-threonate because it's the one of the few forms that readily crosses the blood brain barrier.

If you're looking to support relaxation, stress, resiliency, and sleep, magnesium glycinate is an excellent choice because it's gentle on the stomach and the glycine it's bound to has calming properties. For cardiovascular health, magnesium taurate combines magnesium with taurine, an amino acid that also supports heart function. Personally, I use a blend of different magnesium forms in the evening and take magnesium threonate separately in the morning for additional brain support.

As a general guide, based on the scientific studies, I recommend aiming for around 450 to 550 milligrammes of elemental magnesium per day, although the right dose is going to vary depending on your diet, medication, and individual needs. Magnesium is inexpensive, it's incredibly well researched, and so if you're going to build one supplement habit, magnesium is where I would personally start. The second supplement is one of the most powerful tools we have for reducing inflammation, and that's omega-3.

But omega-3 does much more than that. EPA and DHA are actually built into the membranes of every cell in your body, particularly your brain, your eyes, and even your skin. Healthier cell membranes mean better communication between cells, healthier tissues, and better overall function.

Omega-3s also play an important role in brain health and mood by supporting healthy neurotransmitter function, including serotonin pathways. They help maintain the skin barrier, reducing water loss, and supporting hydration from the inside out, so they can make a real difference if you struggle with dry skin. As we move through perimenopause and beyond, inflammation naturally increases, making adequate omega-3 intake even more important.

And one of the best ways to know whether you're getting enough is to measure omega-3 index rather than guessing. I always say test rather than guess because your blood levels are far more informative than simply knowing how many capsules you're taking. Ideally, you want your omega-3 index to be between 8% and 12%, which is associated with better cardiovascular and overall health outcomes.

For most women, around 1.5 to 2 grammes of combined EPA and DHA per day is a good starting point, although your ideal dose should always be guided by testing. Omega-3 fatty acids help support a healthy inflammatory response, protect the brain, eyes, and cardiovascular system, and they're particularly important during and after pregnancy because your body donates large amounts of DHA to support your baby's brain and eye development. If you're taking an omega-3 supplement, take it with a meal containing some healthy fat to maximise absorption.

It's one of the best research supplements we have, and alongside magnesium, it forms a cornerstone of any evidence-based longevity strategy. The third supplement is with K2, and I always recommend thinking of these as a team rather than taking vitamin D on its own. Vitamin D is much more than a bone vitamin.

It plays a vital role in your immune system, muscle function, brain health, cardiovascular health, and healthy ageing. It's also associated with maintaining normal cell growth and division, which is one of the reasons researchers are so interested in its role in long-term disease prevention. But despite its importance, vitamin D deficiency is incredibly common, particularly if you live in the northern hemisphere where sunlight simply isn't strong enough for much of the year to produce adequate vitamin D in your skin.

So that's why I always recommend testing your levels rather than guessing. Most people need somewhere between 1,000 and 4,000 IUs per day, depending on their baseline blood levels and individual circumstances. I generally aim for a blood level of around 100 to 150 nanomoles per litre, although the right target should always be discussed with your healthcare practitioner.

Now here's why vitamin K is also so important. Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium, but vitamin K helps make sure that calcium ends up in the right place. It activates proteins that direct calcium into your bones and teeth where you want it, rather than allowing it to accumulate in soft tissues such as your arteries.

That's why I always recommend taking vitamin D3 and K2 together. Because they're fat-soluble vitamins, take them with a meal containing healthy fats to maximise absorption. The fourth supplement is creatine monohydrate, and if you're thinking that's only for bodybuilders, think again.

Creatine is one of the most researched supplements in the world, and it's one of the few that benefits almost every woman as she gets older. Although we naturally get some creatine from foods like red meat and fish, you'd need to eat around two kilos of red meat every day to get the equivalent of a typical five gramme serving, which simply isn't realistic. Most people associate creatine with building muscle, and it certainly does help increase strength, preserve lean muscle mass, and improve recovery, but that's only part of the story.

Your muscles aren't the only tissues that need energy, your brain does too, and creatine helps your cells rapidly regenerate ATP, the energy currency of the cell, making it important for both physical and cognitive performance. Emerging research also suggests it may support brain health and could play a role in healthy cognitive ageing, including reducing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, although research here is ongoing. For muscle health, three to five grammes of creatine monohydrate per day is sufficient for most people, but if your goal is to support bone health, some studies have used eight to twelve grammes per day, particularly when combined with resistance training.

I recommend choosing creatine monohydrate, ideally a high quality product such as Creapure, which is extensively tested for purity. One thing that often worries people is a small increase in body weight when they first start taking creatine, but that's actually a good thing. Creatine draws water into your muscle cells, increasing intracellular hydration, not causing bloating under the skin.

Think of it as hydrating your muscles from the inside out, which is one of the reasons it supports both performance and recovery. Just make sure that you're drinking enough water throughout the day. The fifth and final supplement is probably the most underrated on this list, and that is glycine.

Glycine is an amino acid that your body can make, but not in sufficient quantities to meet all of your needs, especially as you get older. It's one of the main building blocks of collagen, so it's important for healthy skin, joints, bones, tendons, and connective tissue. It's also required to produce glutathione, often called the body's master antioxidant, which plays a critical role in detoxification, reducing oxidative stress, and supporting healthy ageing.

Most of us don't eat the nose-to-tail diets that our grandparents did, so we're getting far less glycine than we used to. And although your body produces around three grammes a day, many experts believe we benefit from significantly more, typically around 10 to 15 grammes per day. Ideally, you can take this in a powdered form because it's much more cost-effective than capsules.

One of the reasons I love glycine is it also supports sleep. It helps lower your core body temperature, which is one of the natural signals your body uses to initiate sleep, making it easier to fall asleep and improving sleep quality throughout the night. And because it's naturally slightly sweet, it's easy to stir into a protein shake, chamomile tea, or even just water in the evening.

For me, glycine is one of those supplements that supports multiple aspects of healthy ageing without getting the attention it deserves. So, let's quickly recap. If I was building a supplement routine from scratch, I'd start with magnesium, omega-3, vitamin D3 and K2, creatine monohydrate, and glycine.

Together, these five form the foundation of an evidence-based longevity strategy. If you'd like my complete supplement protocol, including the brands that I personally use, dosing, timing guidelines, and how to personalise your supplementation routine, you can download my free Longevity Supplement Masterclass and Longevity Supplement Guide using the link in the description below. They're completely free and help you put everything we've covered today into a practical evidence-based plan.

But before you go off and buy supplements, I do want to remind you that supplements are supplemental. They're designed to fill gaps, not to replace a healthy diet and lifestyle. In fact, some of the research on biological ageing has shown that people taking huge numbers of supplements don't necessarily age more slowly.

In some cases, they actually age faster, whether through over-supplementation or by focussing on biohacking while neglecting the fundamentals. Whole foods provide thousands of compounds that work together in ways we still don't fully understand. When you eat oily fish, you're not just getting omega-3s.

When you eat protein-rich foods, you're not just getting amino acids. You're getting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and countless other compounds that are working together in what we call the food matrix. Supplements simply can't replicate that complexity.

That's why my philosophy is always food first, testing second, and supplements third. Build your diet around high quality protein, colourful plants, healthy fats, and minimally processed foods. Prioritise sleep, strength training, and stress management, and then test your biomarkers to identify genuine deficiencies rather than guessing.

Only then use supplements strategically to fill those specific gaps. In the next video, I'm going to show you three advanced supplements I use to support mitochondrial health and cellular energy production. These aren't supplements that necessarily everyone needs, but if you're doing all the right things, you're sleeping well, you're eating well, you're exercising, taking these foundational five, and you still find that you want to boost your energy or get rid of brain fog or just feel like you had the energy you had when you were younger, these could be the missing piece.

We'll dive into the science behind NAD precursors, urolithin A, and mitoquinone, a specialised form of coenzyme Q10 designed to target the mitochondria themselves. I'll explain exactly how they work together to optimise your cellular energy, support healthy ageing, and help you feel more like yourself again. Click here to watch the video on these three, and I'll see you there.

Get my free Longevity Stack Masterclass and Supplement Guide for women to learn how to build a personalised supplement stack: https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/free-longevity-stack-masterclass

If I were starting over at 40, five supplements would form my foundation: magnesium (and which forms support brain, sleep and heart), omega-3 dosed to an 8–12% index, vitamin D3 with K2 to steer calcium into bone, not arteries, creatine at 3–5g (more for bone), and glycine for collagen, glutathione and sleep. I cover the doses, why testing beats guessing, and why supplements only come third - after food, strength and sleep.

What you’ll learn:

Which single supplement I'd keep if I had to give up every other one — and why

How the different forms of magnesium map to brain, sleep and cardiovascular support

Why your omega-3 index matters far more than how many capsules you swallow

What vitamin K2 actually does that makes taking vitamin D3 on its own a mistake

Why creatine isn't just for building muscle, and what it does for your brain and bones

How glycine quietly supports collagen, glutathione and deeper sleep as you age

Why loading up on supplements can age you faster, and the food-first order that doesn't