THE RESEARCH
Most supplement advice is calibrated for a global average person. Urban Indian physiology has specific patterns — different deficiency rates, different dietary baselines, different stressors. We started there rather than adapting something designed elsewhere.
THE BASELINE PROBLEM
Standard supplement recommendations are derived largely from research on Western populations with different dietary patterns, different sun exposure profiles, and different baseline micronutrient levels. When that research gets turned into product formulations, those assumptions come with it.
Three deficiencies show up reliably in urban Indian populations at rates significantly higher than global averages. Vitamin D deficiency affects an estimated 70–100% of urban Indians across age groups — not because India lacks sun, but because office hours, pollution-filtered UVB, and high-SPF use mean that sun exposure doesn't translate to synthesis the way it's assumed to. B12 deficiency is structurally elevated in any population with a large vegetarian proportion. Magnesium depletion accelerates under chronic stress and is frequently missed because serum magnesium is a poor proxy for cellular magnesium.
Starting from these facts changes the baseline. And the baseline changes the protocol.
Ritu & Gupta, Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 2014 — Vitamin D status across 25,787 Indian subjects. Deficiency prevalence: 70–100% across age groups.
THE FORM PROBLEM
Two products can both list "Magnesium 300mg" on the label and deliver completely different outcomes based on which magnesium compound is in the capsule. Absorption rates, tolerability, and target tissue differ significantly across forms. We specify the form for every ingredient in the protocol and select for the form with the best evidence profile for that use case.
Magnesium
Common form sold
Oxide
What we use
Glycinate (sleep/stress) or Threonate (cognitive targets)
Why it matters
Oxide absorbs at roughly 4%. Glycinate is well-absorbed and gut-gentle. Threonate crosses the blood-brain barrier — specifically selected for sleep and cognitive protocols.
Vitamin B12
Common form sold
Cyanocobalamin
What we use
Methylcobalamin
Why it matters
Methylcobalamin is the active, pre-converted form — usable directly. Cyanocobalamin requires a conversion step that a meaningful proportion of people handle poorly due to a common MTHFR polymorphism.
Omega-3
Common form sold
Fish oil, ethyl ester form
What we use
Triglyceride form (algae-derived for vegetarians)
Why it matters
Triglyceride-form omega-3 absorbs roughly 70% better than the cheaper ethyl ester form most commonly sold in India. Algae-derived provides equivalent EPA/DHA and is appropriate for vegetarian protocols.
Iron
Common form sold
Ferrous sulfate
What we use
Ferrous bisglycinate
Why it matters
Bisglycinate absorbs 3–4x more efficiently than sulfate and causes significantly fewer GI side effects. GI intolerance is the primary reason most people stop taking iron supplements.
Vitamin D
Common form sold
D2 (ergocalciferol)
What we use
D3 (cholecalciferol)
Why it matters
D3 raises serum 25(OH)D levels approximately twice as effectively as D2 at equivalent doses. This is well-established in clinical nutrition and not meaningfully disputed.
THE NUMBERS PROBLEM
Lab reference ranges tell you whether you're deficient enough to be symptomatic. They don't tell you where you'd actually function well. This gap — between "not technically deficient" and "running at a reasonable level" — is where most people sit, and where most supplement advice misses.
VITAMIN D
"Normal" threshold: > 20 ng/mL (flags deficiency)
Functional target: 60–80 ng/mL
Research on cognitive function, immune regulation, and mood consistently points to 60–80 ng/mL as the functional range. Most urban Indians who get tested land between 15–35 ng/mL. Technically not flagged as deficient. Not where you'd want to be.
VITAMIN B12
"Normal" threshold: > 200 pg/mL
Functional target: > 400 pg/mL
Neurological research points to 400+ pg/mL for optimal nerve conduction and cognitive function. People between 200–400 pg/mL are "normal" on a standard lab report. Fatigue and brain fog in that range often resolve when levels are corrected.
MAGNESIUM
Note: Serum test is unreliable
Serum magnesium is a poor proxy — only 1% of body magnesium circulates in the blood. RBC magnesium is more informative but rarely ordered. The practical result: functional depletion is common without a single test flagging it. Symptoms — poor sleep, muscle tension, stress sensitivity — appear before the number moves.
THE ADAPTIVE QUIZ
Low energy can originate from iron deficiency, thyroid dysregulation, chronic stress, poor sleep architecture, or gut absorption problems. Supplementing for the wrong root cause doesn't help. The adaptive quiz identifies co-occurring signals across six pattern clusters and routes accordingly. What you flag shapes which questions you see. Which questions you see shapes which ingredients make it into the protocol.
The quiz is 5–15 questions depending on where your answers point. Users who aren't flagging specific symptom clusters get a distinct, shorter optimization path rather than being walked through irrelevant sections.
Persistent low energy, post-exertion fatigue, slow physical recovery
Focus difficulty, mental fatigue, memory and processing speed
Chronic stress load, anxiety patterns, emotional regulation
Trouble falling asleep, non-restorative sleep, circadian disruption
Digestive irregularity, bloating, absorption signals
Blood sugar patterns, weight regulation, hormonal balance signals
THE MODEL
We don't have house blends with hidden doses. Every ingredient, its form, its dose, and its rationale is visible on your protocol page.
We don't inflate the protocol. The quiz gates what goes in. An ingredient only appears if the logic that generated your protocol selected it specifically.
We don't have financial relationships with ingredient suppliers. The formulation decisions are based on research evidence, not margin.
We don't claim the quiz is equivalent to bloodwork. It produces a strong starting baseline. A version that incorporates biomarker data is in development — we'll be explicit about what that version can and can't tell you when it exists.
Usually 2–4 minutes. No account required. No payment upfront.