On one side, there’s my background in sports science.
A university education built almost entirely on peer-reviewed research:

If it hasn’t been proven in large-scale studies, it’s not real.

I still remember a lecture on micronutrients where the conclusion was clear:

Eat a reasonably balanced diet and you’ll avoid clinical deficiencies.

No deficiencies → no real problem…

But on the other side, I worked 2,5 years in a longevity startup in Copenhagen, building a blood-testing service.

Designed to let people test their micronutrient status so that they can know what supplements to take.

So which perspective is right?

That’s what I wanted to find out.

And if you want to have a free 1:1 session with me to go through your diet and how it may be influencing your mental energy, reply “mental energy” to this mail, and I will reach out to set up the meeting.

I found a scientific article by Tardy et al 2019.

A narrative review, meaning a combined look at a given topic formed by a selection of other scientific articles chosen by the authors.

This review covers how B vitamins, zinc, iron, vitamin C and magnesium influence our energy production and cognitive performance.

We know that the body needs energy to function.

This energy comes from the food we eat and is stored and transferred in the form of ATP.

ATP production requires oxygen, delivered through the blood.

Now, I could quickly spin out of control and let this newsletter become a lengthy lecture about how macronutrients are broken down through a three-step process to create ATP, and how oxygen fits into that, and what happens when oxygen supply falls short..

but as you can probably already sense, that would be a long read.

And I have actually written about this before.

So for simplicity: glucose goes through a three-step process to be converted into ATP. And that process needs oxygen.

And..

As Tardy et al. explain, it requires almost all B vitamins.

Oxygen is delivered through the blood via hemoglobin - and producing healthy hemoglobin requires B vitamins and iron.

The point the authors are making is that B vitamins and iron are, on a biochemical level, absolutely essential to energy production in the body.
And since the brain consumes roughly 20% of that energy, these nutrients are directly relevant to mental energy as well.

The article also highlights the role these micronutrients play directly in the brain itself.

Several of them are required for the synthesis of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that regulate mood, motivation and cognition – also a topic I have written lengthy about before.

Vitamin B6, for instance, is needed to produce serotonin and dopamine, while B9 helps maintain adequate levels of a key cofactor in that same process.

Vitamin C is required for the synthesis of noradrenaline and adrenaline. B1 and B5 are involved in producing acetylcholine.

Magnesium and zinc also play direct roles in how signals are transmitted between neurons, and iron is highlighted as critical for neural development and the brain's ability to adapt and learn.

In other words, without adequate levels of these nutrients, the brain's chemical signaling system is compromised at a fairly fundamental level.

Okay, so these micronutrients are important for mental energy and normal cognitive function.

But, going back to my lectures from sports science, I would ask; ”is it actually a real problem to get enough of them?”..

.. and does it matter if we are just a little under recommended values?

The authors argue that in the modern world, many people are getting inadequate levels of several of these vitamins and minerals.

And, that there is a growing evidence that “suboptimal” or “marginal deficiencies” may be associated with subclinical functional deficits.

The paper points to consistent associations between marginal deficiencies and increased rates of depression, anxiety and cognitive decline across multiple large population studies.

Most likely because as mentioned, B-vitamins are required to produce dopamine and serotonin.

And because B-Vitamin and Iron are vital to oxygen supply to the brain, which is vital for energy production.

When I was working in the longevity world, we had our blood measures multiple times, and I actually found out that many of my measures related to the oxygen carrying aspects of red blood cells where suboptimal. So, I started supplementing with Bi-Vitamin and Iron, and actually was able to correct these measures quickly.

And I must say, my energy levels did increase abit.

Magnesium regulates glutamate signaling between neurons, which is something we have covered the importance of to great detail here.

Beyond the theoretical importance, low folate status is associated with a higher risk of depression in two separate meta-analyses, and low zinc intake is similarly linked to greater depression risk in a meta-analysis of nine studies.

On the cognitive side, the CARDIA study, which followed more than 3,000 adults for 20 years, found that those with the highest B-vitamin intakes at age 18 performed significantly better on cognitive tests two decades later than those with the lowest intakes.

And these were not deficient populations, but people consuming different amounts of these nutrients within the normal dietary range.

Likewise, a study of healthy male students in New Zealand found that higher plasma vitamin C was associated with lower levels of mood disturbance, depression, confusion, and anger.

In short, there are good theoretical reasons to believe that suboptimal vitamin status can affect mental energy, cognitive performance, and overall wellbeing. And emerging evidence suggests these effects may show up in the real world.

But, it’s important to note that excessive intake of certain vitamins can also be harmful.

Personally, I’m planning to have my blood tested again.

If you’re interested in giving yourself the best possible foundation for mental energy, a blood test can be a useful starting point. From there, you can adjust your diet - or supplementation - based on your actual results.

👉 If you want more frequent updates, check out my X

👉 Or make use of my free 7-day sleep and recovery web app, design to mimic the experience of being coached by me.

A free gift to reclaim your ability to focus.

I talk a lot about hacks to optimize cognitive performance.

But none of it matters if your brain is too 'saturated' to execute.

My friend Jairo just released a guide on Cognitive Degradation. It’s not a productivity manual, it’s a map to help you reclaim the ability to think deeply in a world of micro-interruptions.

👉 Get it for free here.