If your goal is to compete in marathons or bulk up at the gym, you might be tempted to add certain nutritional supplements to your health-conscious regimen. But while these products may sound promising, the reality is that they’re often unnecessary — and sometimes, they may not even be safe to take.
Whether you’re participating in one of the five largest sports in the U.S. (a list that includes football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer) or are an amateur bodybuilder whose main mission is to bulk up, there are a number of products on the market that promise to increase your gains and take your abilities to the next level. And unlike steroids, they’re all perfectly legal.
…Or are they? Because these supplements are totally unregulated by the FDA, industry experts caution that consulting the ingredient list and finding no banned substances doesn’t actually guarantee that the product is safe to use. One recent incident involving collegiate members of the South Carolina-based Clemson Tigers culminated in positive tests for trace amounts of banned substances. The problem? Those athletes and the university maintain that the students didn’t intentionally take anything that would have showed up on that test.
It might sound like a rather weak defense, but performance dietician Noel Williams says this scenario — known as unintentional doping — happens fairly frequently. Williams told a local CBS affiliate that studies have found that anywhere from 12% to 58% of supplement samples tested have contained prohibited and banned substances, a fact you’d never know by reading the label. What’s more, if an athlete tests positive for banned substances, the supplement manufacturer isn’t to blame. Unlike the pharmaceutical industry, in which seven out of 10 leading pharmaceutical products require temperature controlled transportation to ensure these products are safe for public consumption, the same consideration is not really given to the supplement consumer. Essentially, they’re on their own.
But even more important, caution industry professionals, is the fact that these supplements probably aren’t even necessary to take. In some cases, they may even be dangerous to your health. One recent study found that taking excessive doses of calcium and vitamin D can increase cancer risk and can pose other life-threatening consequences. A separate study involving supplement-taking bodybuilders found that all participants experienced jaundice, with many others experiencing nausea and abdominal pain. Approximately 41% of participants had “hepatocellular pattern of liver injury,” with 59% experiencing “mild hepatitis and profound cholestasis.” For people so clearly focused on health, those results are disconcerting to say the least.
Your body does need nutrients to stay healthy, but the benefits of these nutrients can really be seen only when they’re obtained from whole foods — not supplements. In fact, trying to obtain these nutrients from supplements without the other natural components you’d find in food really does nothing for your body. So whether you’re trying to reach some new fitness goals or are simply having trouble staying motivated at the gym, you might want to take a closer look at your diet and other healthy habits. Rather than loading up on vitamin tablets and supplements, you’ll likely have far more success by adopting a better diet, upping your hydration, and getting enough sleep at night.
