The four questions
A process for turning a hundred options into a short list you can discuss with your health team. Do it on paper. Bring the paper.
1Stand-outs
Which entries stand out to you, and why? Pick two to ten to examine further. Write the "why" down; if it's "someone in a forum said so," fine, but it should be visible to you.
2Food as a foundation
Am I already practicing a dietary and nutritional strategy? Which of these entries can I get from whole foods or teas first? Cross anything off the list that you can eat instead of swallow.
3My health team
What has my gastroenterologist, primary-care physician, dietitian, or naturopathic/integrative physician recommended, and why? Ask for the mechanism or their experience with other patients. If two of them contradict each other, ask why; one answer is almost always more reasonable, and the "why" tells you which.
4Science
What is the level of evidence? Is there direct evidence in IBD, or only in humans with other conditions, or only in mice, or only in a dish? Does it prevent disease in a model or reduce activity in people who already have it? How many studies, and in Crohn's or UC? The evidence bar on each entry is this question, pre-answered, but check it against the studies listed, because that is what the bar is for.
If you would like a hand working through the four questions, an AI assistant can do the first pass with you; the page "Using AI to build your protocol" gives you the prompt and its limits. And if you would rather do it with a person, that is what a free analysis call with Systema is for: systema.health/apply-now.
Then: the tracking sheet
For every supplement, vitamin or herb you take, one row: the product, the brand, every active ingredient and its dose, and what time of day you take it. Total each active ingredient across rows, this is where you discover that your multivitamin, your fish oil and your bone formula each contain vitamin D and you're taking three times what you thought. The AI page builds this sheet as a table for you if you give it your list; check its totals against the labels.
Bring the sheet to every appointment. A table with doses on it is much harder to dismiss than a bag of bottles.
Two temperaments
Some people take a "kitchen sink" approach (several well-tolerated things at once) and some take a "slow and steady" approach, one change at a time. The kitchen sink gets you somewhere faster and can leave you with no idea what's working. Slow and steady is diagnostically cleaner and feels unbearably slow when you're unwell. Know which one you are, and know the trials in this guide were all designed the slow way.
Go to my Fullscript dispensarygo.supplementsforibd.com/dispensary · every product in this guide, organized by sectionA systems view
Go back to the five mechanisms and ask how your list addresses them. It rarely makes sense to take three things that all quiet inflammation and nothing that feeds the microbiome or supports the barrier. Balance across the loop is worth more than depth at one point on it.
READ & SHOP
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Options to explore with your care team. These are not a recommendation to take them together. Andrew earns a commission on Fullscript purchases. US shipping only.