COUNTED ACROSS FORMULAS
Cognitive & focus and Pre-workout
Both carry caffeine too, 100 mg and 150 mg. The engine adds up caffeine across your plan: at 200 mg a day you are told, and at 400 mg a day, the EFSA limit for healthy adults, the addition is blocked. Vitamin B6 is counted the same way against its 12 mg limit, and it is in five other VION formulas.
SPLIT ACROSS WINDOWS
Sleep, iron, immunity and adaptogen formulas
Caffeine and sedatives such as melatonin, valerian or passionflower are kept at least 8 hours apart, so this formula never shares a window with Sleep & circadian rhythm or Relax & fast sleep. It is served at least 1 hour away from Iron, because caffeine cuts iron absorption, and at least 2 hours away from Acute immunity and Cold symptom support, whose 1,000 mg of vitamin C may break B12 down in the lab, an effect we treat as a precaution because the evidence in people is weak. Vitamin C is also added up across your plan, the way caffeine and B6 are: with two active formulas our library holds the daily total at 1,000 mg, and with more than two it caps it at 500 mg in all. The 500 mg here plus the 1,000 mg in either of those two formulas is over that ceiling, so the engine counts it before it puts them in the same plan, not only before it puts them in the same window. With Chronic cortisol, which carries 300 mg of rhodiola, caffeine is capped at 75 mg, exactly where this formula sits, and with Stress & nervous system, at 200 mg of rhodiola, it is monitored and your sleep watched. Ginseng and rhodiola together are watched for insomnia the same way. High-dose caffeine and echinacea are not put together, which is the check against Acute immunity at 2,400 mg and Immunity at 600 mg. With Bones & joints, which carries 800 mg of calcium, caffeine above 300 mg a day is monitored in post-menopausal or osteoporosis profiles. And our ginseng notes allow only one major adaptogen, so ginseng is not stacked with the ashwagandha in Daily athletic, Chronic cortisol, Low testosterone or Stress & nervous system.
TALK TO A DOCTOR FIRST
Not for everyone
It is excluded if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or under 18. The EMA monograph for ginseng says no anticoagulants and not in poorly controlled blood pressure, so it is not for you if you take warfarin, acenocoumarol, apixaban, dabigatran or another blood thinner, or if your blood pressure is not under control. It is not for you either if you have bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or mania. Our caffeine and ginseng notes also say to avoid it if you have an arrhythmia that gives you symptoms, reflux or a stomach ulcer, an anxiety or panic disorder, or chronic insomnia, so it is not for you then either. Ask a doctor first if you take blood pressure or diabetes medication, an MAO inhibitor, lithium, clozapine or other psychiatric medication, an SSRI or SNRI, theophylline, ciprofloxacin, enoxacin or fluvoxamine (all three raise your caffeine levels), an asthma inhaler or another beta-agonist, a decongestant such as pseudoephedrine, another stimulant such as ephedrine, the oral contraceptive pill or tamoxifen, an immunosuppressant, furosemide, levodopa without carbidopa, isoniazid, cycloserine, anticonvulsants or deferoxamine, or are in cancer treatment. Ginseng can also shift how medicines handled by CYP3A4 and CYP2D6 behave, so tell your doctor what you are on. Some medicines work against the vitamins in here rather than against the formula: metformin, proton pump inhibitors, H2 blockers such as ranitidine or famotidine, colchicine, chloramphenicol and repeated nitrous oxide anaesthesia all lower your B12; hydralazine and penicillamine work against B6. If you take any of them long term, tell your doctor. If you have chronic kidney disease, the 500 mg of vitamin C here is already at the limit our notes set for you, which is not to go above 500 mg a day, because high-dose vitamin C raises the risk of calcium-oxalate kidney stones and of too much oxalate in your urine; any other formula with vitamin C would take you over it. Ask too before combining it with aluminium-containing antacids, because vitamin C increases how much aluminium you absorb, and vitamin C can also blunt the HDL rise from a statin taken with niacin. Ask first too if you have a heart condition, including an arrhythmia that gives you no symptoms, glaucoma, liver or kidney disease, diabetes, an autoimmune condition, a hormone-sensitive cancer, haemochromatosis, thalassaemia or another iron overload, G6PD deficiency, peripheral neuropathy, polycythaemia vera, a cobalt allergy or Leber's optic atrophy. If you have surgery planned, stop it two weeks before. High caffeine content. Not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women. Caffeine can cause nervousness, insomnia and palpitations, and 400 mg a day from all sources, coffee included, is the limit for healthy adults. Do not use it for more than three months, and see a doctor if you are still tired after two weeks. The app asks before it ever suggests this one.