Supplements Are a Scam, Cherry Hill Personal Trainer Spills the Beans By Kevin Hensel At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

I have owned and operated a personal training studio in Cherry Hill, NJ for the past 14 years. In that time, I have had several supplement companies approach me to sell their products to my clients. I take my job very seriously and I don’t make any recommendations unless I am 100% certain that the products are safe and effective. If I don’t use the product I could never recommend it. It’s just the way I am, and believe me I could have made some serious money. To be perfectily honest I always saw supplement wholesalers as snake oil salesmen they totally freaked me out. I would always let them spattle off all the benefits of their products and then I would shut them up with a few words ,”show me the research.” That would be the last time I spoke with them.

So for the last 14 years, I have not recommended any supplements excluding some pre/post workout snacks. I have 4 major concerns with supplement usage.

1. I’ve always been skeptical of supplement companies because there are no FDA regulations, you can do or say basically whatever you want without any regulation. My personal favorites are the weight loss supplement infomercials that tout you can lose crazy amounts of weight as long as you take their product followed with exercise and a healthy diet. A sugar pill, daily physical exercise, and a healthy diet would achieve great results. Absolutely priceless!!

2. If a product really works it should have supporting research from a double blind/placebo study published in a reputable research journal (Check pubmed.com). And what do these supplements do long term? Most supplement research studies only last a few months at best. Longitudinal studies on the safety of supplements over long term usage are unheard of. There are several bogus research journals that will publish studies to anyone willing to pay for it. The research should also test the specific supplement in question not a generalized herb/mineral/vitamin. The dosage, delivery, purity, and concentration of a supplement make a huge difference on how it is absorbed in the body.

3. Another issue I have with supplement companies is that I have no way of knowing their ingredient purity. Several supplements have active ingredients in them and am I supposed to just take their word for it. I trust no one when it comes to my health and I’d rather try to eat my nutrients instead of trying to get them in a pill. The majority of supplement companies don’t do any actual quality control tests on their ingredients let alone from an independent, unbiased research facility.

4. I still have major concerns with supplements including deliverability. Most supplements do not get absorbed by the body because different nutrients get absorbed in different parts of the digestive tract. That’s my major problem with one a day supplements. There’s no way a multi-vitamin/mineral in one pill can get absorbed effectively. Most supplements wind up in your urine, over taxing your kidneys and giving you absolutely no benefit. Most omega 3 fish oil capsules get broken down in your stomach acid which can create nasty belching and absolutely no benefit. For omega 3s to have any benefit they need to be broken down in your small intestine where they can be absorbed optimally, not your stomach.

I eat a pretty healthy diet, but I don’t get in the RDA recommended 7 fruit and vegetable servings per day along with 2 weekly servings of fish. I just don’t have enough time in a day to get it all in. I know that I have holes in my daily nutritional intake, so what am I supposed to do? My distrust of supplements makes it very difficult for me to trust anyone.

You have to do your homework before you choose any supplement. Here's a supplement checklist:

1. The company should have been in business for at least 10 years
2. There should be at least 2-5 clinical studies in peer-reviewed research journals on the specific supplement.
3. There should be a minimum of at least 20 or more quality control tests on each supplement product
4. Find out if they have any long term studies done.
5. Testimonials mean nothing, most are paid endoresements. If it sounds to good to be true then it is.

Always be a skeptic and you can't go wrong.

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