What their friend recommended, or what the person at the health food store suggested.

That’s not a strategy. That’s guessing.

The problem isn’t that supplements don’t work. Many of them do — there’s solid research behind magnesium, omega-3s, berberine, vitamin D, and others. The problem is that your body has a specific biochemistry shaped by your genes, and what works well for one person can be the wrong priority for another.

Your DNA doesn’t tell you exactly which supplements to take. But it does tell you a lot about how your body processes nutrients, where your metabolism is likely to struggle, and which pathways need more support than average. That’s a completely different starting point to a generic supplement stack.

Take magnesium as an example. Most adults are deficient and most benefit from supplementing. But the form that works best for you depends on what you’re trying to support — sleep, anxiety, digestion, cognitive function, or cardiovascular health. Those require different forms. Magnesium glycinate, magnesium L-threonate, magnesium taurate, and magnesium citrate all do different things.

Or take B vitamins. Methylated B vitamins are often recommended for people with MTHFR gene variants — a common genetic change that affects how your body converts folate and processes homocysteine. Around 40% of people carry at least one copy of the C677T variant. If you’re one of them and you’re taking standard folic acid, you’re not getting the benefit you think you are. Your body can’t convert it efficiently.

This is the gap between general supplementation and genetics-informed supplementation. One is based on population averages. The other is based on your biology.

Genetic testing for health — not ancestry, health — looks at variants in specific genes that influence how your body functions. A few of the most relevant:

MTHFR controls a step in the methylation cycle — a process involved in detoxification, neurotransmitter production, hormone metabolism, and DNA repair. Variants here affect how well you process B vitamins, folate, and homocysteine. People with MTHFR variants often need methylated B12, methylfolate, and TMG rather than standard forms. Low-dose lithium is also useful — it helps transport B12 into the cell, which matters when the methylation pathway is already under strain.

COMT affects how quickly your body breaks down dopamine, adrenaline, and oestrogen. Fast COMT variants can mean lower dopamine baseline — affecting motivation, focus, and mood. Slow COMT means these compounds linger longer, which has different implications for stress response and oestrogen clearance. The supplement approach for each is different.

APOE is most known for its association with Alzheimer’s risk. Carrying an e4 allele raises the importance of omega-3s, phosphatidylserine, lion’s mane, and specific antioxidants for long-term brain protection. It also affects how you process dietary fats.

VDR variants influence vitamin D receptor function — meaning two people can have the same vitamin D blood level but absorb and utilise it very differently. If you carry certain VDR variants, you may need higher doses to achieve the same effect.

FUT2 affects bifidobacteria levels in the gut. A specific genotype here is associated with naturally better bifidobacteria populations — which changes what probiotic support actually makes sense.

None of this is about fear. Knowing your variants doesn’t mean you’re destined for a particular outcome. It means you can make more informed decisions about where to focus.

Some supplements have strong enough evidence and broad enough applicability that most people benefit from them. These are the ones I reach for most consistently with clients:

Magnesium glycinate — involved in over 600 enzymatic processes. Most people are deficient. Start here before anything else.

Omega-3 (EPA/DHA) — the evidence for brain health, inflammation, and cardiovascular function is as strong as it gets in nutrition science. Most people don’t eat enough oily fish to get adequate levels.

Vitamin D3 with K2 — deficiency is widespread even in sunny climates. D3 without K2 creates calcium misallocation risk. Always take them together. The target range I look for in clients is 100-150 nmol/L — not just within the lab reference range.

Berberine — one of the most well-researched natural compounds for blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity. It activates AMPK through similar pathways to metformin, and also has significant antimicrobial properties useful for gut dysbiosis.

Ubiquinol (CoQ10) — the active form of CoQ10, essential for mitochondrial energy production. Conversion from standard CoQ10 becomes less efficient with age. Anyone over 40 should be using ubiquinol, not CoQ10.

Low-dose lithium — one of the most underrated supplements in this space. At 1-5mg (completely different to pharmaceutical doses), lithium has strong neuroprotective evidence, stimulates BDNF, and is particularly relevant for anyone with MTHFR variants because it supports B12 transport into the cell.

NMN — a precursor to NAD+, which declines significantly between 40 and 60. Restoring NAD+ levels supports cellular energy, DNA repair, and longevity signalling.

This isn’t a complete protocol. It’s a starting point — the supplements where the evidence is solid enough that I’d consider them for most people. What sits on top of this depends on your genetics, your bloodwork, your symptoms, and your goals.

When I work through a client’s genetic report, I’m not looking at one gene in isolation. I’m looking at how pathways interact — methylation, detoxification, hormones, neurotransmitters, gut function, inflammation. A change in one pathway affects others.

That’s why I describe my approach as systems-based. You can’t optimise one pathway while ignoring the others it connects to. The body doesn’t work in silos.

A genetic report doesn’t give you a shopping list of supplements. It gives you a map of where your biology is likely to need more support — and where it probably doesn’t. That changes the supplements you prioritise, the forms you choose, the doses that make sense, and the order you address things.

For someone with both MTHFR and COMT variants, the approach to B vitamins, methylation support, and stress management looks different to someone without those variants. The base supplements might overlap — but the priorities, forms, and combinations shift.

If you haven’t had genetic testing done yet, start with the fundamentals. Download the free CBW Supplement Guide — it covers the supplements with the strongest evidence base, the forms I recommend, and the brands I use with clients.

If you’ve already had your DNA tested and want to understand what your results mean for your supplement protocol, two options:

The Gene and Pathway Supplement Guide inside the CBW SKOOL community breaks this down by genetic variant — MTHFR, COMT, APOE, VDR, FUT2, and others. It’s the resource I wish existed when I started this work.

If you haven’t done a DNA test yet, that’s exactly where a Discovery Call starts.

In 20 minutes I can walk you through what genetic testing actually looks at, whether it’s the right next step for you, and what your results would mean in practice. There’s no cost to the call. If it’s a fit, I’ll tell you. If it’s not, I’ll tell you that too.

→Book a Discovery Call

→Download the free CBW Supplement Guide 

→Join CBW SKOOL

Individual results vary. Chris’s work is educational and does not constitute medical advice.