The Nutrition Supplement Industry: Anything To It?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve always believed that “nutritional supplements” were little more than snake oil, and that vendors such as GNC made their money on hyperbole, junk science, and wishful thinking. And there’s my old boss, who to this day swears that every medical problem he’s ever had has been solved with Re-liv.

However, my gym carries a wide selection of Apex nutrition products. I got a free bar as part of a promotion, and it was a) freaking delicious, b) quite filling, and c) had half the calories of my usual breakfast of Pop-tarts. It also costs $2.75 for one bar, as opposed to $1.59 for four days’ worth of Pop-tarts, so I’ll probably be sticking with Pop-tarts.

Part of me says that my gym is in the business of helping people with fitness goals, and thus they wouldn’t sell these supplements if they weren’t helpful. Another part of me says that the retail end of things is probably a big money maker for the gym, and they’d sell snake oil if they could get away with it.

Anyway, is the nutrition supplement industry a big scam, or can one really derive benefits from commercial supplements such as Apex, Re-liv, etc?

2

The supplements you see at gyms have uses PROVIDED you’re actually a bodybuilder. If you’re not gonna help you. The thing is bodybuilders hone their diets down to the last calorie. The difference between 5% and 5.1% bodyfat makes the difference between first and second place in a bodybuilding contest. A first place winner gets ten thousand dollars the second place winner gets a pat on the back. So you see it matters IF you’re diet is so carefully planned out to the last calorie. A bodybuilder can’t afford to use a gram of protein for engery, when it should be going to make muscle.

Unless you’re a bodybuilder and you’re not (don’t kid yourself) it doesn’t matter.

You are correct when you say the gyms don’t exist to make you healthy, they exist to make money. Did you know that 90% of people don’t use their gym membership more than once a month. Look at your gym. Think about his, can you imagine how crowded it would be if everyone USED their membership? Gyms count on you failing.

Creatine is a great example. It actually does work in professional athletes and people who spend more than 6 hours a day at hard muscular and cardiovascular exercise. Do you do this? No, so it won’t work for you. You’re wasting your money. Creatine ONLY has an effect if you are actually training and training DAMN hard. But people say, well it won’t hurt me and I’m almost training hard. But that don’t cut it, so you waste your money.

Same thing for exercise. Studies have shown time and time again, you run (or use areboic exercise)five days a week at least 60 minutes at at LEAST 60% of your resting heart rate to improve your heart. If you do fifty minutes, study after study shows it has no effect. But people think “Well it’s better than nothing.” Well it’s not, at least for your heart. Running may help with other things like relieving stress, but untill you pass that 60 minute mark it ain’t helping.

But I will say I had a job analyzing stats for the U of Chicago sports medicine and what I was amazed to learn was 20%-35% of all people in case studies got BETTER on the plecebo. Even to this day it amazes me how many people can take a sugar pill and get better 'cause they THINK it helps.

So if you think these suppliments are helping you there’s a good chance they will, not because the suppliments work but because YOUR MIND, thinks they will.

As a physical fitness buff, let me tell you, try different things and do what works for YOU. Not what the magazines say, but what works for you. Look in the mirror and be honest. You can tell if it’s working or not. Because nothing is more important than your health and even if the suppliments are only giving you a plecebo effect, it’s better to waste your money on something that keeps you active and fit, then spending the money sitting in a dark movie theater eating popcorn.

3

Are you saying I have to run or do aerobic exercise 5 days a week for an hour each time on order to benefit my heart? I’d like to see a cite for that…

And 60% of my resting HR? Doesn’t that mean my aerobic HR would need to be lower than my resting rate (ie 60% of 100 is 60)? How is that going to happen when I am doing exercise?

4

This post is an absolute train wreck. Please, bring info to the table, bub.

5

For example, from a study on boosting heart health with ten minutes of exercise:

From some obscure thing called the Journal of the American Medical Association.

6

So, the long answer is this: Supplements don’t have much support in terms of studies or results. If you research calorie restriction and supplement studies, one common theme comes through: Vitamins, absorbed from food, make a difference. Some improve immune function, certain counts, levels, etc. Then when taken as a supplement, the benefits, counts and levels aren’t there.

It’s hard to pin down one study. It’s more of a theme that has emerged.

Exception: Protein supplements for extreme athletes. If you have trouble getting protein, a protein supplement is just food and will be absorbed and used. Even for sickly people in need of protein and who have trouble eating many meals, these supplements can help.

7

I’d also like to see a cite on the creatin, my understanding is the creatine, among other things, causes your muscles to absorb more water, therefore giving the muscle a bigger look, if thats is what it does I would not think you would have to work out that hard to get that effect.

8

I don’t have time to search for references now. I have to prepare dinner. :slight_smile: But I’ve done a lot of reading on nutrition supplements and so-called “ergogenic” supplements, and I’ll tell you what I have read.

Creatine will help with fast speed work. Your body uses creatine phosphate when you first start exercising, as it does not have time to produce enough ATP (adenine triphosphate). So it helps those who do speed work. It will store water in your muscles and that’s a caveat.

Exercise, as little as 10 minutes a day, helps your cardiovascular system. In fact, aerobic exercise over 30 minutes a day is mainly a waste of time unless you are training for something specific, such as a marathon or ultramarathon, triathlon, etc. You will gain somewhat, but the gains are minuscule after 30 minutes.

“Nutrition supplements” is vague. Are you including vitamins, minerals, energy bars, ergogenic aides, etc.? It’s best to obtain your vitamins and minerals from food, but sometimes it is necessary to ingest tablets. A case in point is the recent studies of the benefits of “vitamin” D (which is actually a hormone). The older you get the more you need, and those over 60 need at least a gram a day, with women needing more. Sunshine helps, but, of course, too much sun is not a good thing. Studies on some other vitamins do indicate that certain vitamins, such as vitamin A, are better obtained through the previtamins (beta-carotene, for example) in food or directly from certain foods, than through tablets.

I’ve always taken vitamin C and other antioxidants since I do exercise a lot and exercise creates free radicals. However, I read a recent discussion based on studies that the exercise itself causes the body to create the antioxidants necessary to sop up the free radicals, and that ingesting additional antioxidants is contraindicated.

Most people get enough protein from food, even body builders, as the requirements are not much. Those who exercise and lift weights do need more than sedentary people, but a normal diet will provide enough. Dr. Mirkin has a lot to say on these topics, if you search for “Dr. Mirkin.”

I do use gels or blocks when I run over 10 miles, since eating food is not a good idea while running and these gels or blocks can give you the necessary carbs and electrolytes you need. However, when I did do a 50-miler (in Chicago, incidentally, the AMJA ultramarathon) back when I lived in Illinois (and that run was in the early 80s), I did eat a lot of carbs every 10 miles, in the form of fruits and chocolates. (The run was 5 loops around Lincoln Park, with each loop being 10 miles, so it was easy to stash those foods in one spot.)