The Few Good Ones
I only advocate a few general health supplements. These are
ones that can help you live a longer and healthier life, and have nothing to do with improving your visual look. Any supplement
that purports to help lose weight, build muscle, boost strength, energy or endurance I strongly discourage.
That being said, even with the supplements I recommend I advise you to do some homework and pick a quality brand because
they’re not all created equal. Throughout this book I will endorse many products because they are the ones that I use
– I don’t take money from anybody to do so; I relay information about products I prefer. What you choose to do
with that information is up to you. Because of my own research I choose Jamieson vitamins (a Canadian company – I don’t
know if they sell in the US). The vast majority of the vitamins they produce I think are unnecessary,
but the few I do take are made by them because I think they are trustworthy. At least I hope they are because there isn’t
any regulation that guarantees they aren’t poisoning me.
One website you may wish to visit regarding
supplements is www.consumerlab.com (requires payment of a subscription fee).
Now
you may be lacking in certain types of vitamins and need to go beyond what I recommend here, but that is a discussion to have
with your doctor.
A Daily Multivitamin
Why take one:
- They’re
cheap
- They won’t hurt you because they contain safe levels of a variety of vitamins (don’t take more than one
a day)
- Even with a good diet you might be missing out on certain vitamins, so what the hell?
Vitamin D
My multivitamin has 600mg of Vitamin D, plus I drink plenty Vitamin D fortified milk so I don’t
need to take this one. It is recommended for anyone who lives in a more northern or more southern climate (above about the
36th parallel) during the six dark months of the year. People with darker skin especially need to make sure they
get enough of this during times of low sunlight.
Mayoclinic.com
has an excellent section that conducts meta-analyses of a number of popular supplements. For Vitamin D the site looked at
15 different articles in peer reviewed academic journals and gave it an “A” grade for combating rickets due to
lack of sunlight. They also gave it a “C” grade, for preventing various cancers, which means it might or might
not work, but considering that it is safe at recommended doses then it makes sense to take it as a “just in case”
measure.1
Omega
3 Fatty Acids
I eat a moderate amount of tuna and salmon, so I only take two of these a day, not the recommended “3”
on the label. I don’t really consider it a supplement because it is concentrated fish oil. It isn’t a manufactured
product, but instead it takes the healthy oils from fish and puts it into a convenient gelatin capsule.
Mayoclinic.com covered this one as well, giving it an “A” grade for treating
high blood pressure and preventing heart disease. It received a “C” grade for improving a host of other risk factors
and conditions that you may have heard of (meaning it might or might not work for those), and is considered safe to take as
long as you aren’t allergic to it.2
If Necessary
There are plenty that could fit into this category (talk to your
doctor), but I’m only going to discuss one of them.
Glucosamine
If you need it, it is proven to work. I don’t take it, but my wife does. Mayoclinic.com
gave it an “A” for knee osteoarthritis and a “B” for general osteoarthritis. As far as safety goes
there may be a risk of allergies because it can be made from shellfish. There are a host of other potential side effects,
so check the link at note number 3 at the end of this chapter.3
Why I Don’t Like Most Supplements
Before I go off on my rant about
the supplement industry, I want to explain why I don’t think you should ever take a supplement that says it will help
you lose weight, build muscle or boost energy. The reason is simple: it fucks with your mindset, and mindset it everything.
I don’t have any research or footnotes to provide on this one; it is just the way I feel. I take tremendous pride
and remain motivated by the fact that I have never cheated. There is a Zen feeling to doing this cleanly. I know deep down
that everything I have achieved has been through hard work and good food. I don’t have to worry that if I stop taking
some pill or powder that I will chunk up or lose muscle. I have a number of friends who have chosen to take these types of
supplements, and they have all struggled with being motivated to exercise and watch their diet.
Think of this: when you think the solution comes from a pill or powder, then you take responsibility for achieving your
goals out of your own hands and put your fate in the hands of a supplement manufacturer.
Don’t do that.
Have faith in YOU and what you can achieve. As I wrote earlier, your mind is your most
valuable asset when it comes to getting in shape, and it is my opinion that these types of supplements take much more than
they give because they cheat you out of knowing you have cleanly achieved your goals all on your own. Having the Zen mindset
is a powerful tool that will keep you motivated to live a healthy lifestyle for the rest of your days.
Corruption in the Supplement Industry
If I was an unscrupulous bastard I could package up
my neighbors dog shit into gelatin capsules and make millions selling it over the Internet as an all-natural appetite suppressant.
I know the market and I know a thing or two about marketing so if I wanted to screw people over I could make enough money
to buy my own Lambourghini. The regulation of supplements in North America is so lax I could get
away with it.
Back in 2001 Stephanie Mencimer of Washington Monthly
did a lengthy and in-depth exposé of the supplement industry. The original article can be
found at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0109.mencimer2.html.
Just a few highlights include:
· Norwegian Wrestler Fritz Aanes had his 2000 Olympic Bronze Medal stripped after testing positive for anabolic steroids.
He made a compelling case (read the article) that this was due to tainted supplements.
· The supplement industry was deregulated in the US in 1994 under
the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA) so that there are no oversight controls. This means no federal guarantees
of safety or purity from the FDA. You take your life in your hands when you take some of this stuff. I live in Canada
where the situation isn’t any better.
· A
quote from the article: “Since DSHEA became law, substances as varied as paint stripper, bat shit, toad venom, and lamb
placenta have all been imported from overseas, bottled up---often by people with no scientific or health backgrounds---and
marketed as dietary supplements to unsuspecting American consumers. Many supplements have been tainted with salmonella, arsenic,
lead, pesticides, unapproved foreign prescription drugs, as well as garden-variety carcinogens. And despite their New-Age
health aura, a significant portion of these ‘natural supplements’ are stimulants, depressants, and other mood-enhancers
that some medical experts believe would be classified as drugs if they were synthetic. A surprising number of these products
are addictive.”
·
Another quote: “Between 1993 and 1998, the FDA linked at least
184 deaths to dietary supplements…”
· And
another: “…the most popular supplements today are largely products that affect the central nervous system…”
Yup. They’re fucking with your brain.
- Comparing the regulation of drugs vs.
supplements: “To sell an over-the-counter or prescription drug, manufacturers must document their manufacturing process
and are regularly inspected by state and federal regulators. Of course, their products must be approved first, passing rigorous
safety and efficacy requirements that can take up to 10 years and half a billion dollars for a new drug. Before foreign drug
manufacturers can sell their products in the United States, they also have to pay for FDA inspectors
to check out their plants to make sure they meet the U.S.'s high standards. Even with all this,
problems still happen. The requirements for selling dietary supplements might be comic if the results weren't so potentially
dangerous. While supplements sold here are technically manufactured in the United States, the raw
ingredients come mostly from overseas. But there is absolutely no requirement that the manufacturer actually test those ingredients
for safety and purity before selling them. Even more troubling, any yahoo can legally make a supplement. Many novices have
been drawn into the supplement industry by the promise of high profit margins.” Remember what I wrote about putting
dog shit into gelatine capsules? I wasn’t kidding.
- And more bad stuff: “Last year [2000], Consumerlab.com tested 25 echinacea products
to see whether the ingredients matched the labels. Six of the 25 didn't have enough information on the label to even take
the test. Of those remaining, only 56 percent passed muster, and one that didn't was contaminated with high levels of illness-inducing
microbial bacteria, a sign that the product had been rotting before it was processed. Other studies have found
similar results, making the odds of getting a high-quality dietary supplement in a health-food store akin to getting high-quality
coke from your local drug dealer.”4 Seriously, read the article. It will make you think twice before ever taking another supplement.
Regarding the contamination of supplements with anabolic steroids, Mencimer isn’t the only one to draw attention
to this:
·
Professor Ron Maughan, a UK Chair of Sports Nutrition and advisor
to the British Olympic team said this of supplements: “The presence of a range of different anabolic androgenic steroids
as well as prohibited stimulants has been reported by a number of different laboratories around the world.” He also
said it was “very likely” that some athletes who tested positive for banned substances did so because of an inadvertent
ingestion via permitted supplements.5
· A 2006 study of 103 randomly selected supplements (creatine, BCAAs, prohormones and “mental enhancers”)
were analyzed and three were found to have “very high” amounts of an anabolic steroid. The results also showed
that one of the creatine products and three of the “mental enhancers” contained traces of hormones or prohormones
not on the label.6
· A
2003 study ordered three different creatine-containing supplements from a US manufacturer via mail
order and found that all three contained the anabolic steroid metandienone. The researchers reported that the amounts were
at levels that presented “enormous health risks.”7
Undercover Work
In researching this book I decided to go into a popular supplement store specializing in products for
weightlifters. I told the store clerk I’d been working out for 15 years and didn’t take supplements (true), and
that I wanted to know what supplements he would recommend I take for building muscle, improving endurance, and burning fat
(also true – note that I just wanted to know his recommendations; I never said I was interested in buying any of it).
Forty-five minutes later he had a list put together for me that would cost approximately $500 a month (which is largely covered
below). That’s about how much I spend on food each month.
This is akin to what I’ve read on Amazon.com in perusing some of the reviews of Bill Phillips’ Body-for-LIFE.
Many reviewers who use Bill’s program stated that following the recommendations of the program required them to spend
anywhere from $300-$500 a month on EAS supplements. If you go to the BFL website and look at the profiles of competition winners
it lists all the EAS supplements that the winners took as part of their transformation. This list is conveniently hyperlinked
to an online store that allows you to buy said supplements so you too can… well, you get the idea.
Popular Supplements
I DON’T Recommend
Below is a list of the
most popular exercise / weight loss supplements. There are many others I could analyze; this subject alone could make for
a complete book. I just want to provide a brief summary.
Protein
Supplements
This is by far the most popular supplement
for the weightlifter / athlete crowd, and it is totally unnecessary to take it. A study of regular exercisers in the United
States found that 42.3% of them take a protein supplement more than five times per week.8
Protein makes up the smallest portion of my diet (by Calories, not by weight). It is usually below 18% of my total
Calories. Looking at me it’s pretty obvious that I’m not wasting away. That, however, is anecdotal evidence, so
let’s examine the facts:
- Bodybuilding and other muscle magazines are owned by supplement
companies.
- The magazines are an advertising avenue for them to promote their various supplements, mainly protein powders. Often
this is done with legitimate-looking “scientific reviews” of supplement efficacy. In the marketing business we
call these “Advertorials.”
- Bodybuilding is a “sport” that doesn’t pay well. Most of these
“athletes” jump at the chance to land a sponsorship deal. They’ll whore themselves out to any supplement
company that gives them a paycheck to say, “I owe winning the Mr. Olympiod all to taking Muscle Blaster 9000 Protein
Goo…”
They want to sell you a product, whereas
I want to build a reputation for relaying facts based on rigorous scientific research. You decide who to believe. Here is
the proof that you do not ever need to take this shit:
- The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)
for protein for the average guy is 0.8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day. This works out to 0.36 grams per pound of
weight (if you don’t mind mixing Imperial and metric measurements).
- In an interview with Dr. Robert Russell, MD, Carmen
Castanada Sceppa, a Tufts University Professor (MD and PhD in Nutrition) had this to say about protein requirements: “…individuals
undergoing endurance training increase their protein needs to about 1 to 1.2 g per kg per day… In contrast, for subjects
performing resistance exercises, or weight lifting, the RDA [Recommended Dietary Allowance] for protein seems to be adequate.
In resistance training, you are building up muscle and protein is used more efficiently.”9 So if you do a
lot of aerobic training (which you will be) you need more protein than the RDA, but this still isn’t enough to warrant
a supplement (I run the numbers below).
- According to renowned nutrition author Nancy Clark: “…protein supplements
are not a whole food and fail to offer the complete package of health that protective nutrients found in natural foods do.”10
- Ryan
Andrews et al., conducted a study with and without protein supplementation on weight trainers and found that it “…does
not affect variability in lean mass gains…”11
- Darren Candow et al., found that protein supplementation
mixed with resistance training provided “minimal beneficial effects.”12
- Shane Bilsborough and Neil Mann determined
that, “…maximum protein intake based on bodily needs, weight control evidence, and avoiding protein
toxicity would be approximately 25% of energy requirements…”13 (my italics)
- Mark Tarnopolsky et
al. reported, “…habitual performance of moderate physical activity does not in fact increase protein requirements
and may in fact increase the efficiency of protein use and hence actually decrease the need for protein.” The authors
went on to state that, “The protein requirement of top sport athletes are somewhat elevated as compared to sedentary
individuals; however… there is no need for supplemental sources of forms of protein.” In the same article they
recommended athletes consume a 60-65% carbohydrate diet.14 This percentage is also the recommendation of the health
/ scientific community at large.
Protein supplement makers have
managed to get a lot of people to think that, at minimum, you should be taking in 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight
per day, which is almost three times the RDA. I have read a number of articles where protein supplementation advocates state
that it should be even higher: 1.5 – 2.0 grams per pound (3.3 – 4.4 grams per kilo).
Let’s run the numbers (on me) of required protein intake:
- Because I engage in lots of aerobic
exercise (see 2nd bullet directly above) I need a maximum of 1.2 g of protein per kilo of body weight.
- The
above maximum needed works out to 96 grams of protein a day.
- Even on a day that I am significantly restricting
Calories, I take in 2,200 of them
- At 18% of diet from protein, this equals 396 Calories from protein, which is 99 grams
Getting those 99 grams of protein on a Calorie restricted day is easy. Here are some samples of healthy
food choices and the amount of protein in them:
- A 16 ounce glass of milk: 18 grams
- 3 oz of lean ground
beef: 24 grams
- 3 oz of chicken breast: 26 grams
- 3 oz of top sirloin steak: 24 grams
- 1 egg: 6 grams
- 1 can of white tuna: 30 grams
- 1 slice of whole wheat
bread: 4 grams
- ½ cup of baked brown beans: 7 grams
- 2 tablespoons of peanut butter: 8 grams
I
could go on an on, but look at just the top sirloin steak: only three ounces gets me a quarter of the way there. Three ounces
is bugger all. The smallest steak I ever eat is eight ounces. Twelve ounces is not unheard of.
Chances are that you are already getting WAY more protein than you need even for when you start working out several hours
a week at both resistance and aerobic training. Protein supplements are an expensive, unnecessary, unregulated assault on
your taste buds.
I should also note that when people
go on a high protein diet they often end up restricting carbohydrates to compensate, which reduces the amount of fuel available
for exercise. These guys end up feeling weak and tired. This is bolstered by the research of Paul Macdermid and Stephen Stannard
who studied high protein vs. high carb dieters on endurance cycling and discovered that for the high protein guys “Performance
was significantly impaired…”15
Remember that low carb equals
low energy.
BCAAs
BCAAs stand for branch chain amino acids.
I copied this from a website that sells them: “[Our brand of aminos] have been scientifically proven to help speed recovery
and avoid fatigue by blocking entry of fatigue-inducing tryptophan into the brain and support increased protein synthesis.”
Sure they do.
In the same
interview with Dr. Russell as mentioned in the section on protein. Dr. Castanada Sceppa had this to say: “Amino acid supplements are widely
used by athletes who believe that having more of these basic building blocks available enables skeletal muscle to get stronger
and have better endurance without the added calories. Amino acid supplements are not digested and absorbed in the body as
readily as amino acids coming from food sources. Moreover, amino acid supplements tend to cause an imbalance of the amino
acids already present in the body. Most of these supplements contain aromatic-type amino acids, such as tryptophan, which
are constituents of the brain's neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters will not act properly if the fine balance among all of
the various types of amino acids is disturbed by too much supplementation. There are other conditions, one characterized by
fever, skin rash, muscle and joint pains and edema of the legs, known as eosinophilia-myalgia, that may result from excess
amino acid supplements. People taking amino acid products, who frequently go to health food stores and self-prescribe them,
should be aware of these potential problems.”16
In short, don’t fuck with mother nature.
Creatine
I really wanted to be able to write that this stuff doesn’t work. I wanted to be
able to point at all the guys who take it and call them dumb asses, but I don’t always get what I want.
It’s been debated for years, but evidence is now coming to the fore that it can increase muscle strength
and size by allowing you to train harder. In a meta-analysis of recent research, the Mayo Clinic site gave it an “A”
grade for increased muscle mass and strength.17
Apparently it works because it gives
you an extra source of short-term energy in your cells. When you are lifting weights and crap out at eight repetitions taking
creatine can give you the energy to do a couple more repetitions, which helps build bigger and stronger muscles.
I still won’t take it, and I recommend you don’t either. Here’s why:
- I will write again just how important
mindset is. In my opinion, if it isn’t food, it’s cheating. When you take something in an unnatural concentration,
it has an unnatural effect.
- Although it is not a banned substance in sport, many consider its use to be unethical. I can understand
that if you are in a competitive sport and it is being used by your competitors to give them an edge how you may wish to use
it, but is that the case with you?
- Although there
are not any confirmed serious side effects, “There is an increase in gastrointestinal discomfort in those taking creatine
verses placebo…”18 I can sure vouch for that one in the two weeks I tried it over a decade ago. As
for longer term, the Mayo Clinic asserts that “Long-term administration of large quantities of creatine is reported
to increase the production of formaldehyde, which may potentially cause serious unwanted side effects.”19
Formaldehyde? That doesn’t sound good.
- This one gives me significant pause: A scientific article by Charles Lambert
and Michael Flynn that recommends creatine for bodybuilders still cautions for a regular one-month “wash-out period
in an attempt to prevent creatine transporter down-regulation.”20 What they are referring to is known as
a rebound effect. A rebound occurs when you ingest a substance that has an unnatural effect on your body, and then your body’s
ability to deal with this substance or generate it naturally becomes impaired, sometimes permanently. There is concern that
regular creatine supplementation results in your body having a decreased ability to process it – even the creatine you
get naturally via food. That’s bad. Lots of other substances have rebound effects:
- The
illegal street drugs methamphetamine and ecstasy cause dramatic spikes in serotonin levels, which regulates mood. Chronic
users can become clinically depressed for the rest of their lives because their body’s serotonin producing ability has
been burned out.
- Users of anabolic steroids experience a dramatic drop in naturally occurring testosterone production.
- If a person
who has a normal functioning thyroid gland takes thyroid replacement hormones, their body will decrease production of the
naturally occurring thyroid hormone.
- As per the above, our bodies have evolved to function while
taking natural amounts of creatine that are available via meat and fish. When we use supplements to ingest much higher doses
than can be obtained via a healthy diet we risk screwing with the larger system. Creatine may not be toxic, and it may work,
but things like this often have a cost. It is not at all unreasonable to assume that you can get bigger and stronger now via
creatine, but if you burn out the creatine transporter system then you can sacrifice your weight training ability for future
years. It’s a risk I’m not willing to take.
- Like all supplements, its manufacture is not regulated
and you have no idea what you’re getting. Remember what I reported above about some creatine supplements being contaminated
with anabolic steroids.
Ephedra (Ma Huang)
Ephedra has been banned in the United
States since April, 2004, which doesn’t stop people from getting it via the Internet. It is still legal
in Canada, although it cannot be sold as an ECA stack (ephedra, caffeine and Aspirin – a popular
weight loss mixture) or advertised as a weight loss supplement. During my undercover work I easily found it at the aforementioned
supplement store frequented by weightlifters, although the label was legally required to state that it was to be used only
as a nasal decongestant, because it does that too. It’s not surprising that it was the only “cold remedy”
in the entire store. Further, out of curiosity I called some pharmacies in my city and they don’t carry ephedra at all.
Hmmm… If someone has a cold, they recommend pseudoephedrine.
A 2004 study of regular exercisers prior to the ban found that
it was consumed at least once per week by 28% of respondents, and 13.1% took it more than five times a week.21
These figures have undoubtedly decreased since the ban, but I wanted to cover it anyway because it’s bad shit that has
killed a lot of people (hence the ban).
It works to a limited degree. A 2003 meta-analysis
reported: “Ephedrine and ephedra promote modest short-term weight loss (~0.9kg/mo [2 pounds a month] more
than placebo) in clinical trials. There are no data regarding long-term weight loss, and evidence to support use of ephedra
for athletic performance is insufficient. Use of ephedra or ephedrine and caffeine is associated with increased risk of psychiatric,
autonomic, or gastrointestinal symptoms, and heart palpitations.”22
Those psychiatric and autonomic symptoms
and heart palpitations are listed as “side-effects.” I’ve got news for you: those aren’t side-effects,
those are THE effects. That is what it’s supposed to do. The stuff turns you into a twitchy, heart-racing, nervous wreck,
and this burns extra Calories. Thanks, but no thanks. I am also concerned about there being a rebound effect like I mentioned in the section on creatine.
If the stuff takes your metabolism above its regular baseline while you are on it, then it stands to reason that it would
make it go below baseline for a period of time after you went off it. You might lose a few extra pounds, but they would come
right back after you stopped taking it due to a lowered metabolism.
Tribulus Terrestris
This is popular in the bodybuilding crowd. Marketers of it say it boosts testosterone. Science
says it doesn’t. Jose Antonio et al. determined that “Supplementation with tribulus does not enhance body composition
or exercise performance in resistance-trained males.23 Not only does is not work, but it is dangerous. Dr. Gary Walder, a professor of medicine and a
member of the World Anti-Doping Federation said: “If tribulus terrestris was a cure for cancer, I could never get it
through the FDA [because of the side effects, which can include neurodegenerative and liver disease]. Put it in a supplement
and nobody looks at it."24 Hmmm. It rots your brain and liver. Sounds like booze, except unlike tribulus alcohol does what
it claims to (it tastes good, gets you drunk, and makes other people more interesting and attractive).
Androstendione and DHEA (Prohormones)
In 1998 Mark McGwire said he took androstendione to break the home-run record, and as long as he wasn’t
taking anything else (like anabolic steroids), then he wasn’t really cheating, because the stuff doesn’t work
to improve performance:
- In 2000 Greg Brown et al., found “…that ingestion of androstendione
and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) does not increase serum testosterone concentrations or augment the adaptations to resistance
training in young men.” It also increases estrogen (counterproductive) and lowered good cholesterol.25
- Brown et al.,
conducted another study of these prohormones six years later and found that “Contrary to marketing claims, research
to date indicates that the use of prohormone nutritional supplements… does not produce either anabolic [size] or ergogenic
[energy] effects in men.” There are also potential negative health consequences.26
- The Mayo Clinic
site did a review of DHEA and gave it a “D” grade for muscular strength, and check our their reported side effects:
“men may develop more prominent breasts (gynecomastia), breast tenderness, increased blood pressure, testicular
wasting…”27 It sounds like the shit is trying to turn you into a woman.
Arginine
Claims are made
that this boosts endurance, but Mayo Clinic gives it a “D” in this area, and reports that side effects may be
serious in some people.28
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)
CLA is a popular supplement that makes claims
of improved body composition by aiding muscle building and fat loss. Well, I can make claims that my farts smell like roses
and it wouldn’t make it true either.
- J. Salas Salvadó
et al., reviewed the research and stated that “…there is not enough evidence to show that conjugated linoleic
acid has an effect on weight and body composition in humans.” It was also found to have a negative effect on cholesterol.29
- A 2006 study
determined that, during weight training “CLA has small effects for decreasing fat mass and increasing lean tissue mass…
the clinical significance is most likely quite small. The effect of CLA on fat and lean tissue mass was not supported in our
crossover study.” Okay, this study said it had a “small” effect then qualified it as not being significant.
What is most interested is that this study was funded by a manufacturer of CLA. Even with a supplement maker helping to foot
the bill the researchers couldn’t find much positive to say.30
Vitamin C
Claims have been
made that people who exercise need to take vitamin C supplements because of the additional stress on their bodies. Jonathan
Peake determined that the evidence does not “support the concept that athletes have a greater requirement for vitamin
C in their diets.”31 Also, a 2003 study by David Nieman et al., found that vitamin C supplementation in marathoners
did not decrease oxidative stress or increase immune function.32
Various “Weight Loss”
Supplements
Other than the fact that they don’t work,
a 2008 release from the FDA is seeking to recall almost 30 such products because they were found to be contaminated
with harmful substances.
This is from the FDA release:“An FDA analysis found that the undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients in some of these products
include sibutramine (a controlled substance [that can cause hypertension, seizures, tachycardia, palpitations, heart attack,
or stroke]), rimonabant (a drug not approved for marketing in the United States), phenytoin (an anti-seizure medication),
and phenolphthalein (a solution used in chemical experiments and a suspected cancer causing agent). Some of the amounts of
active pharmaceutical ingredients far exceeded the FDA-recommended levels, putting consumers' health at risk.”
And more: “’These tainted weight loss products pose a great risk to public health
because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed
their maximum recommended dosages,’ said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA.
‘Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that could cause serious health consequences.’”33
Bad, bad, bad. No, no, no.
Energy Drinks
I have found that Gatorade is great
at preventing a hangover when consumed before going to bed. I recommend it for this use because not being hungover increases
your ability to exercise the next day and burn off some of that booze you drank. It might even make you feel a little better
about acting like as asshole.
As an exercise performance enhancer, however, it isn’t
worth it.
- Costas Anastasiou et al., reported that with energy drinks, “…no
differences in performance could be detected…”34
- Mónica Umaña-Alvarado
and José Moncada-Jiménez tested aerobic performance in male athletes and found that “…no significant
differences were found between mean racing times…”35
Water is free and has zero Calories, so just stick with that.
Pharmaceuticals
Unlike supplements, these are well regulated and proven effective. It doesn’t mean you should
take them.
Here are a couple of popular ones:
Orlisat (also known as Xenical and alli™)
From the alli website: “alli™ works by preventing the absorption of some of the fat you eat. The fat passes
out of your body, so you may have bowel changes, known as treatment effects. You may get:
- gas with oily spotting
- loose stools
- more
frequent stools that may be hard to control”36
So let me get this straight: you eat fat, and then you shit your pants, right? That’s what
you mean by “hard to control,” isn’t it? According to my wife, not many of her patients take it for long
because of this reason. At any rate, the effects are shown that, when combined with caloric restriction, you achieve 8.4% weight loss
at six months with Orlisat vs. 5.7% in the placebo group,37 which is nothing worth losing control of your poo hole
over.
Sibutramine (also known as Meridia)
This
is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that was first created as an antidepressant, but was also shown to suppress
appetite. In combination with a low Calorie diet, at six months mean weight loss was 7.5kg vs. 3.6 kg (~16 pounds vs. ~7.5
pounds) in the placebo group, which is notable, but it is shown to raise blood pressure and increase the risk of heart attack.38
This is a powerful drug that works on your central nervous system. Would you want to take it if
you didn’t have to? I should also note that because of the high-risk side effects, my wife has been reluctant to prescribe
it for her patients.
Conclusion
My conclusion is simple: don’t take any of this crap.
- It is bad
for your mindset
- You don’t need them, and the vast majority of them don’t do what they claim anyway
- Some supplements
can be dangerous to your health, and even cause death
If
you take the gradual approach, learn to become passionate about exercise, and strategize the change to a better diet you will
be far more successful, and far healthier. You’ll save a bunch of money too.
