Every April 22nd, we demand cleaner air, cleaner water, and less plastic. But most of us have stopped asking what goes into our supplements. The same shortcuts driving environmental damage are running the supplement industry. And they're ending up in your body.
The Ground Beneath Us Is Telling Us Something
A landmark 2004 study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found significant declines in protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin C across 43 crops compared to 1950 data. Industrial farming stripped the soil. Research from the Medical University of Vienna identified microplastics in human blood, lung tissue, and colon samples. Pollution doesn't stay in the environment. It ends up in you.
42% of Americans are vitamin D deficient. Nearly 48% don't meet the daily intake for magnesium. Most supplement companies responded the same way industrial farming did: cheapest inputs available. You're trying to fill a nutrient gap. Most of the industry is handing you a product built with the same shortcuts that created it. That's exactly the gap vitamin DAKE® and Minerals 101 were built to address.
What Clean Supplements Actually Means
Clean supplements use the most bioavailable form of each nutrient, contain no synthetic fillers, are independently tested for purity, and are packaged sustainably. Here's what each element means in practice:
Bioavailable Nutrient Forms
Your body absorbs magnesium glycinate differently than magnesium oxide. It uses tocotrienols, a specific form of vitamin E found in nature, differently than the synthetic alpha-tocopherol in most vitamin E products. Clean formulations use forms your biology was designed to work with, not the forms that cost less to produce.
No Synthetic Fillers or Flow Agents
Magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide, and titanium dioxide are manufacturing shortcuts, not nutrients. The WHO lists titanium dioxide as a possible carcinogen. Every ingredient in a clean supplement should have a biological purpose.
Chelated Minerals
Chelation bonds minerals to amino acids, dramatically improving absorption and reducing digestive discomfort. Non-chelated minerals are cheaper. Chelated minerals actually work.
Third-Party Testing
Independent labs verify that what's on the label matches what's in the bottle, and that nothing else is hiding in there. Heavy metals, contaminants, mislabeled dosages. Clean brands test for all of it.
Sustainable Packaging
A supplement company that cares about what goes in your body should care about what their packaging does to the planet. That means glass over plastic, recycled materials, plastic-free shipping, and compostable packaging where possible.
Most companies clear one or two of these. Very few clear all of them.
How Dave Asprey Approached It Differently
Dave Asprey spent years tracking exactly how environmental and dietary toxins quietly undermine human performance: mold, heavy metals, pesticides, synthetic chemicals hiding in "health" products.
When he formulated Suppgrade Labs, the directive was simple. Hold supplements to the same standard you'd demand for the world around you.
The result is a deliberately focused product line. Not a hundred supplements chasing trends. A handful of formulas targeting the most critical nutrient gaps most people have, formulated without the industrial shortcuts everyone else takes, and packaged without the plastic that ends up in the ocean.
DAKE®: The Four Fat-Soluble Vitamins Your Body Is Missing
Vitamins D, A, K, and E are fat-soluble, meaning they require dietary fat to absorb and they work together synergistically. Most people are deficient in at least one. Many are deficient in all four, because modern diets are low in the animal fats that historically delivered them.
DAKE® delivers all four in one formula. The forms are what set it apart:
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol): the form your body makes from sunlight, not the cheaper D2 used in most formulas
Vitamin A (retinyl palmitate): ready-to-use, no liver conversion required
Vitamin K1 + K2 as MK-4: K1 supports blood clotting; K2 directs calcium into bones and away from arteries. Most supplements use only one.
Tocotrienols (delta- and gamma-): the forms of vitamin E research suggests your body benefits from most, sourced from the annatto tree. Rarely found in standard vitamin E supplements because they cost more.
Geranylgeraniol (GG): derived from the annatto tree, GG protects cell membranes, reduces inflammation, and supports bone health and the gut microbiome
Delivered in glass. No plastic. No synthetic fillers.
Minerals 101: Replacing What the Soil Lost
If soil depletion is the problem, minerals are the most direct answer.
Minerals 101 delivers a complete spectrum of chelated minerals including calcium, iodine, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and copper, in forms your body actually absorbs. Chelated means each mineral is bonded to an amino acid. Your digestive system recognizes it. Less stomach discomfort. More absorption.
The formula is iron-free and intentionally low in magnesium, because most people already supplement magnesium separately and excess mineral competition in one capsule reduces absorption across the board. That level of formulation thinking is uncommon.
Packaged in glass. Ships plastic-free.
This Earth Day, Hold Your Supplements to the Same Standard
You've spent years thinking carefully about what you buy and what you put into the world. Most people never apply that same scrutiny to what they swallow every morning.
The supplement industry is counting on that.
DAKE® and Minerals 101 were built for people who are paying attention. Bioavailable forms. Chelated minerals. Glass bottles. Plastic-free shipping. No synthetic fillers inside or outside the bottle.
Earth Day happens once a year. What you put in your body happens every single day.
Shop the Earth Day duo DAKE® + Minerals 101 and subscribe to save 15%. Not ready for the bundle? Start with DAKE®.