3/26 Wellness Wednesday

Today is a heavy day. Eat a bit more protein today and be sure to take your creatine.

How to do "Your Own Research" on Supplements 

As athletes I want us all to train hard, eat to support our training and not fall prey to fitness influencers trying to sell us magic pills, powders, elixirs and tonics promising to cleanse, detoxify and do all manner of magical things. 
One of the reasons I'm critical of supplements is that they are COMPLETELY UNREGULATED. They do not have to be rigorously tested for efficacy by anyone, not the FDA, not the USDA, NO ONE SINGLE entity of oversight or testing is legally required for supplements. Within the industry there is no requirement of testing for purity, no requirement for testing of what's actually included in the bottle. No testing for if the supplement actually does what it claims to do. 
A recent study of 57 "sport enhancing" supplements found that 40% DID NOT contain the active ingredient listed on the label. 
This lack of regulation is the result of a giant multi-billion dollar lobbying force that successfully manipulated congress to pass the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. This act reclassified supplements as FOOD and removed all regulatory oversight the FDA had in ensuring that what you put in your mouth actually contains what the big-supplement company says it does and that it actually does what the big-supplement company says it will do. 
I think we deserve better. I think we should be fully confident that what we take to improve our health should actually be tested. Call me crazy, but I want science to show me the money. 
There are three supplements that have a rigorous tome of scientific research and I have explored them in previous blogs. These are, Creatine, Caffeine, and Protein. 
I encourage everyone to "do their own research." In the very basic sense of this idea it means reading scientific literature and the actual words of laws, bills, etc. In the case of supplements I think everyone should have a solid understanding of the DSHEA and how the giant supplement industry successfully lobbied for removing regulatory oversight of their industry. That's a cool trick, indeed. 
Other resources for doing your own research include:
Examine.com - Independent group of researchers who do exhaustive literature surveys of supplement efficacy and safety.
Operation Supplement Safety - Department of Defense dietary supplement efficacy and safety program
Consumer Reports - Third party reporting on the efficacy and safety of supplements. 

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