There is an enormous industry built on the gap between what sounds like it should work and what's actually been shown to. A drip with a glowing bag and a clinic playlist feels like health. A pill labelled "cellular longevity" feels like progress. Most of it isn't. But dismissing the whole category is just as wrong, because a small number of supplements genuinely move the needle, and a few infusions are real medicine. The trick is knowing which, and for whom.
One idea runs through all of it: test, don't guess. Almost everything that works does so by correcting a genuine deficiency, in a person who actually has it. Take the same thing when you're already fine and you usually get nothing, sometimes at a cost. You generally can't feel the difference between "low" and "fine", which is exactly why a blood test, rather than a hunch or an influencer, is the honest starting point.
Supplements
Graded by how strong the human evidence is, and for whom it holds.
Delivers Worth it, in the right person
- Creatine monohydrate. The most-studied supplement in sport, and now in ageing too. Around 3 to 5g a day reliably improves strength, power and training output, and trials in older adults show modest gains in memory and mental fatigue. Safe long term, cheap, and the plain monohydrate is as good as any branded version.
- Vitamin D3. Genuinely important for bone and muscle, and a large share of people in the UK run low through winter. The catch is that the benefit is almost entirely in those who are actually deficient, so this is the clearest case of all for testing first and dosing to your result rather than guessing a number.
- Omega-3 (EPA and DHA). Lowers triglycerides and supports heart and brain health, with the strongest effect in people who eat little oily fish. A 2025 analysis even linked 1g a day to slightly slower biological-ageing markers. Check the combined EPA and DHA dose on the label, not just the word "fish oil".
- Fibre. The most underrated of all, and the one most people fall short on. Reaching 30g a day feeds the gut microbiome, steadies blood sugar and lowers cholesterol, with hard outcome data behind it. Food first (beans, oats, vegetables); a supplement only fills the gap.
- Magnesium (glycinate or citrate). Helps sleep, muscle relaxation and recovery, mostly in the many people whose intake is low. The glycinate and citrate forms absorb better and are gentler than cheap oxide. A modest, real, low-risk help.
- Iron, B12 and folate. Powerful when you are genuinely low, and low levels are common with heavy periods, plant-based diets, pregnancy or gut conditions. But iron especially is the one supplement you should never take blind: too much is harmful, so this is firmly a test-first decision.
Situational Useful for some, not a must
- Protein powder. A convenient way to hit a protein target, nothing more. Genuinely useful if you train, are older, or struggle to get enough from food; pointless if you already do. Plain whey or a decent plant blend are fine; the elaborate formulas are mostly marketing.
- Probiotics. Effects are strain-specific and condition-specific. A few strains have good evidence for particular situations, such as after a course of antibiotics or in IBS, but most off-the-shelf products are generic and unproven. Match the strain to the goal or save your money.
- Caffeine with l-theanine. A reliable, cheap focus and training aid for many people, smoothing the jitter of caffeine alone. Not for everyone and not every day; let your sleep and anxiety be the guide.
Mostly hype Big claims, thin evidence
- Daily multivitamins. For someone eating a reasonable diet, large trials show little to no measurable benefit. They are insurance against a deficiency you probably don't have. A targeted single nutrient, guided by a test, beats a scattergun multi.
- NMN and NAD+ boosters. Heavily marketed for "longevity", but the human evidence for living longer or better simply isn't there yet. Promising results in a lab dish are not the same as a proven benefit in people.
- Collagen. At best a modest effect on skin in some studies; your body digests it into ordinary amino acids like any other protein. Enough total protein plus vitamin C does much of the same job for far less.
- Greens powders and high-dose antioxidants. Expensive, rarely standardised, and no substitute for actual vegetables. High doses of isolated antioxidants can even blunt some of the benefits of exercise.
IV drips and infusions
Nowhere is the gap between marketing and evidence wider. The simple rule: a drip only helps when your body genuinely can't get what it needs by mouth.
Real medicine When a doctor prescribes it for a diagnosed problem
- IV iron. For diagnosed iron-deficiency anaemia when tablets don't work, can't be tolerated, or iron is needed quickly. This is prescribed treatment for a confirmed problem, not a wellness top-up.
- B12 injections. Standard care for pernicious anaemia and other causes of B12 malabsorption, where the gut cannot take B12 up from food or tablets at all.
- IV fluids. For genuine dehydration from illness such as vomiting or infection. Useful medicine in the right setting, not a hangover cure to buy on a Saturday morning.
- IV or injected nutrients in malabsorption. After bariatric surgery, or in conditions like Crohn's and coeliac disease, the gut may not absorb enough, and replacement is genuinely indicated. Always doctor-led.
Mostly hype Wellness drips sold to healthy people
- Myers' cocktail and "energy" or "immunity" drips. A 50-year safety record but thin evidence. In someone who isn't deficient, there is little to show beyond the placebo of an hour sitting still on a drip; your kidneys simply excrete the excess.
- NAD+ drips. Fashionable and expensive, with the marketing running well ahead of the human data. Often uncomfortable to receive, and no proven anti-ageing benefit.
- Glutathione "detox" and skin-brightening drips. No sound evidence for detoxing, which your liver and kidneys already do, or for safely lightening skin.
- High-dose vitamin C drips. Not shown to prevent or treat everyday illness in otherwise healthy people.
Most wellness drips are a premium way to make very expensive urine. The exceptions are real, and they are all about correcting something a test has actually found.
What about prescription treatments?
This is where we deliberately stay out of it.
You'll notice this guide doesn't try to sell you a weight-loss injection, a hormone, or an "anti-ageing" prescription. That's on purpose. The moment a company profits from selling you the treatment, its advice about whether you need it stops being neutral, and a lot of the market works exactly that way.
Medicines for things like cholesterol, blood pressure, the thyroid or hormones are real, and when they are properly indicated they can be genuinely life-changing. But that is a clinical decision, made with a doctor who knows your full history and monitors you over time, not something to buy off a website or be talked into by an article. Our role is narrower and more useful: give you accurate bloods and a doctor's read, so that if a treatment is worth considering, you and your own GP or specialist can decide with the numbers in front of you. If a result points somewhere, we will tell you plainly and suggest you speak to a doctor. We won't try to be the one who sells you the fix.
Test, don't guess
Almost everything on this page only helps when it matches something real in your blood, and most of the time you can't feel the difference. A test is the one step that tells you whether you need anything at all. What you do next is your decision, with a doctor where it matters. We point you to the test, never to a product.
The honest verdict
A short list of supplements genuinely earns its place: creatine, vitamin D, omega-3, fibre, magnesium, and correcting a real iron, B12 or hormone gap, almost always in someone who is actually short of them. A few IV treatments are real medicine, for diagnosed problems, prescribed by a doctor.
Most wellness drips, longevity pills and daily multivitamins for healthy, well-fed people don't earn their cost. They feel like health without changing it.
We don't sell any of it. What we offer is the one thing that tells you what, if anything, you need: your numbers. Test first, then decide, with a doctor where it counts.
Not sure what you actually need?
Tell Max your goal or symptoms. We'll point you to the test that answers it, with no product to sell you at the end.
Ask Max what to testSources
- Merck Manual. Intravenous vitamin therapy (Myers' cocktail).
- California Infusion Centers. Does IV vitamin therapy really work? Evidence review.
- International Society of Sports Nutrition. Creatine supplementation is safe and beneficial across the lifespan.
- DO-HEALTH analysis (2025), via omega-3 and biological-ageing markers.
- PMC. Creatine, HMB, prebiotics and probiotics in osteosarcopenia.
This guide is general information, not medical advice, a prescription or a diagnosis. Supplements, infusions and medicines should be decided with a doctor who knows your history and test results. We provide testing, not products. If you have urgent symptoms, contact 999 or 111. Blood analysis is performed by a UKAS-accredited laboratory.