Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Supplements I

Technically speaking, anything you consume that isn’t natural and part of a regular meal is a supplement.  Popular use of the term typically refers to some sort of pill, powder, shake, or energy drink.  This post refers to these types of products, which due to the deep pockets of these highly profitable companies (It costs less than 2 bucks to manufacture and package 100 pills that can wholesale for $80.  Thats assuming pure quality ingredients are used, which is rarely the case as the vast majority of the product will be cellulose.) and an easily corruptible US senator from Utah (where supplements are the second largest industry), are free from nearly all laws, inspection, and regulation.



Supplements can be very helpful, or not.  Either way, they carry some inherent risks:

  1. 1) They are produced, promoted and distributed by a completely unregulated industry that falls between the jurisdiction of food and medications
  2. 2) The labels and ingredient lists do not need to correspond to the contents of the container
  3. 3)  The price or brand name of the product does not ensure quality of the contents or accuracy of the claims
  4. 4)The contents may be contaminated with illegal or even toxic ingredients
  5. 5) Though an ingredient may have demonstrated benefits, it may actually be detrimental to your competitive needs or conflict with your particular training protocols
  6. 6) The contents may be contaminated with banned substances, and their use could result in you failing a drug test
  7. 7) The claims made on the labels, or in the ads, or by the salesman do not have to be true

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 30, 2011 at 11:08 p.m.

    Those with the NSF logo are certified safe though. Aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Proto Strength & ConditioningDecember 1, 2011 at 12:07 p.m.

    Likely, but no guarantees. Assuming the NSF logo on the product is genuine (not a knockoff) there are still 3 risks, albeit limited:

    1) Since the supplement was produced, WADA, CCES, or the governing body for your sport may have updated their list of prohibited substances to now include an ingredient in said supplement. Lists are updated all the time as designer drugs are discovered, and biochemistry and physiology research comes available. If the factory is tested once a year, by the time it gets warehoused, shipped, warehoused again, put on a shelf, and sold to you, ingested by you... we could be taking about a 2 year span.

    2) What prohibited list are they using? They have formed a partnership with the NFL/NFLPA, yet that (and all other professional sports leagues in North America, except the CFL) league permits the use of Growth Hormone.

    3) See point 5 in the original post. Based on your training history, genetics, nutrition, competition needs and a myriad of other factors the ingredients in a supplement may work against your training programme.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 1, 2011 at 12:21 p.m.

    So the NSF thing is only for contamination and not effectiveness of the supplement. Good to know. thanks

    ReplyDelete

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