Research on Bodybuilding Supplements

In the past, I've done some digging into the supplement world, specifically bodybuilding supplements. This post might be more scientific and formal than usual but I hope it is clear enough. For the full, more in-depth article, skip to below and/or click read more.

Are these really safe and do what they claim?

To me, most of these supplements are unnecessary and tend to mislead people. They might be beneficial but they also pose risks due to the lack of regulation by the government. Unlike food or pharmaceuticals companies, supplement manufacturers don't have the same strictness in terms of batch testing, clinical studies, and cleanliness. I'm not saying that bodybuilding supplements should be abolished or anything like that; rather, they should be more strictly regulated. More and more people are becoming interested in using supplements and the government and supplement manufacturers should work together to make the most efficient and safe products for consumer use. Consumers shouldn't have to worry about whether the pills or powder they're taking contains growth hormones or heavy metals.  Thanks for your interest and I hope you learn something new. Share it and use it in your work if you'd like but please show me some love and give me credit :) I also encourage you to read some of the works cited.





                                             

Governing Body for Bodybuilding Supplements

                                               Author: Christopher Cheung

The use of dietary supplements in bodybuilding, a sport that emphasizes physical appearance and strength, is widespread. Most bodybuilders admit to taking dietary supplements that may or may not contain drugs, to facilitate their progress. Two major types of dietary supplements are muscle growth supplements and stimulants. These include, but are not limited to: creatine, testosterone, caffeine, and ephedrine. The main controversies surrounding dietary supplements are the supposed health benefits and risks, the latter of which has caused illness or even death. This is largely due to the lack of proper regulation resulting in inconsistent dietary supplement content and shoddy manufacturing practices. Even supplements that contain effective ingredients may be contaminated with dangerous chemicals. Consequently, stricter regulation of bodybuilding supplements is essential to providing safe, efficient, and high-quality products to bodybuilders. This will not only decrease the reported incidents of illness and death, but also ensure a degree of quality within standards set by a governing body such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Pushing for higher standards for commonly used bodybuilding supplements may influence the entire supplement industry by advancing safety precautions that prevent as much risk to users as possible.

Bodybuilding is a sport in which a person follows a lifestyle that will sculpt a well-defined, muscular, proportional, and lean body. Bodybuilders adhere to strict regimens of diet and exercise, often training several times a week, and eating large quantities of protein. They must maintain high muscle mass and low body fat in order to achieve their ideal physique.

In order to facilitate their progress, most bodybuilders utilize dietary supplements. As defined by the U.S. Congress in the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA), dietary supplements are any substances taken orally to give a health benefit or address a nutritional deficiency. A wide variety of products are on the market, ranging from synthesized chemical compounds to herbal extracts. The majority of bodybuilding supplements are geared towards muscle growth and fat loss. Due to the growing use of dietary supplements by bodybuilders and others alike, discussions and research on the health effects of these supplements has increased as well. Although many basic ingredients of supplements have been discovered since the early twentieth century, researchers and policy-makers have yet to reach a conclusive stance on dietary supplements.

It is certain though, that dietary supplements are riddled many efficacy and safety problems. Products too often lack consistent and accurate doses of ingredients, as well as results that match advertised claims. Additionally, they pose unnecessary health risks to bodybuilders due to the inclusion of dangerous ingredients and the adulteration of products. Therefore, stricter government regulations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must be implemented in order to eliminate these critical flaws. This call for action will not only draw attention to bodybuilding supplements and safety standards, but the entire industry of dietary supplements. As long as the FDA continues to be lenient in its regulation of supplements, bodybuilders will be faced with ineffective and potentially dangerous supplements.

Many bodybuilders and researchers alike argue that bodybuilding supplements are relatively effective and safe, thereby making regulation unnecessary. Some commonly used supplements such as creatine and testosterone have proven their efficacy over decades of use, according to these people. Manufacturers already provide disclaimers and warnings to the consumer to prevent misuse. As a result, negative consequences including injury and death are very rare.  Indeed, The Council for Responsible Nutrition, which represents the dietary supplement industry, argues that adverse effects of supplements are exaggerated while comments regarding a lack of regulation are ignorant. Stricter regulation may threaten the efficacy of relatively safe supplements and wrongly antagonize the dietary supplement industry.

However, there are several ways in which the supporters of current standards are mistaken. Rather than addressing the clear dangers and shortcomings of the dietary supplement industry, which could be improved upon with regulation, they choose to focus on illegitimate points. Their suggestions of efficacy and safety are flawed and refutable.

Unfortunately,supplements are ineffective because of sporadic doses of ingredients. Frequently, products do not actually contain the same amounts of ingredients or even the same ingredients as advertised. Several studies demonstrate the exaggeration and undervaluation of ingredients. Although a discrepancy of a few percentages is certainly acceptable, a discrepancy of 50% or more is a cause for concern. An overdose of a supplement can be deadly while a weak dosage can have absolutely no effect on performance. Furthermore, a supplement’s dosage can vary from one pill or tablet to the next. A bodybuilder who takes a few heavily dosed pills may try to cut back his use, which can cause complications; if the next few pills are weakly dosed, the positive effects will be minimal.

This inconsistency of product dosage is alarmingly prevalent. As described in a special supplement to the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter entitled “Yes, but which Supplement”, a ConsumerLabs study found seven of the twenty-one ginseng supplements tested to be inadequately dosed with ginsenosides- “compounds believed to play a role in ginseng’s biological activity” ("which supplement"4). One third of ginseng supplements would likely fail to provide any benefit to users due to the low amounts of active ingredient. Another Consumerlabs study published in 2003 further exposes the inconsistency of supplements. It found that “seven out of nine gingko biloba products did not contain an adequate dose of one or more important compounds” (Maughan 2). Over three-fourths of these supplements were weakly-dosed and therefore likely to be ineffective- an unacceptable amount. Strict quality-control tests could easily ensure that a majority of supplements contain doses of compounds in the acceptable range. This mandate would allow for more consistent and therefore, more effective, products.

In other cases, many supplements boasting wondrous claims fail to live up to expectations. Supplement manufacturers essentially fool customers with extravagant or ambiguous, but technically legal, advertisements. As long as they do not claim to cure, treat, or prevent a disease, manufacturers are free to make promising claims. Bodybuilding supplements are often accompanied by images of huge, muscular men with claims such as “increases explosive energy, ATP energy and overall power” (MusclePharm: Creatine) However, it is often the case that supplements do not actually do what is advertised. A clinical study conducted by Nancy R. Green and Arny A. Ferrando on boron supplements advertised as testosterone boosters certainly showed as much. Their study, summarized in the article “Plasma Boron and the Effects of Boron Supplementation in Males”, revealed that “7 weeks of bodybuilding can increase total testosterone, lean body mass, and strength in lesser-trained bodybuilders, but boron supplementation affects these variables not at all” (1). Despite being touted as a testosterone booster, boron supplementation proved ineffective. Manufacturers’ claims completely failed to match real-world results.

Similarly, the amino acid arginine is considered by many in the bodybuilding community as a powerful testosterone booster. However, research shows that this is an inaccurate view. As stated in ABC of Sports and Exercise Medicine, a 2009 book edited by Gregory Whyte, Clyde Williams, and Mark Harries, “the growth hormone releasing effect…is far less than that produced by exercise alone” (84). Despite having a reputation for having a great effect on testosterone production, arginine may actually have a negligible effect. This suggests that advertised claims and common perceptions on efficacy are flawed.

Not only are many bodybuilding supplements ineffective, they are also below-par in safety. Many ingredients of bodybuilding supplements have substantial side-effects. They may do more harm than good for bodybuilders. For example, testosteroneand pro-testosterone supplements are taken by bodybuilders for muscle growth. These products are accessible to bodybuilders regardless of their health condition. This poses serious risks to bodybuilders, as high levels of testosterone can cause serious side-effects. A study of men administered testosterone found that symptoms of mania- insomnia, violent behavior- began with an increased dosage from 125mg to 600mg. In the real-world though, bodybuilders may take much more than either amount. As reported by Bruce Bower in his Science News article entitled “Testosterone Shows Harmful, Hurtful Sides.”, “manic reactions to testosterone injections probably occur more often and with greater intensity in real-world situations, the researchers say”(119). Stronger and more frequent reactions to testosterone likely mean that the dosage of real-world testosterone supplements are at dangerously high levels.Coupled with the fact that supplement information is often inconsistent with the actual content, this is quite problematic. Allowing testosterone products to be on the market without tight regulations can put dangerous supplements in the hands of bodybuilders. More research and tighter regulations would prevent the misuse of hormonal treatment by bodybuilders.

In severe cases, dangerous supplement ingredients can be fatal.  In the early 2000s, supplements containing ephedrine were at fault for many deaths by heart attack or stroke. It was discovered that stimulant and weight-loss formulas containing a blend of ephedrine and other stimulants like caffeine were extremely toxic. As a result, ephedrine was recalled and banned a number of times. Now, consumers are warned of the side-effects including high blood pressure, and dizziness, and the potential for fatal diseases.  However, this could have been avoided had manufacturers been subject to safety tests and researched their formulas more extensively. Hence, bodybuilders take supplements with very dangerous side-effects and suffer the consequences.

Another danger to supplement users is product contamination by either manufacturers or ingredients suppliers. Bodybuilders have no way of knowing whether or not their supplement contains contaminants. Many bodybuilding supplements contain illegal substances such as androgenic anabolic steroids. In the article “Performance-enhancing Drugs Snare Nonathletes Too”, it states that approximately 15% of supplements were found to be contaminated with anabolic androgenic steroids (Fernandez, Hosey 18).It is shown through many studies and individual experiences that steroids have damaging effects on the mental and physical wellbeing of users. Manufacturers make no attempt to tell consumers that there are steroids in their supplement. As a result, bodybuilders are unaware of taking adulterated supplements. Clearly, the risk of contamination is a threat to athletes who take supplements.

Another study of dietary supplements reveals that the rate of contamination may be even greater. The World of Sports Science, a Gale encyclopedia edited byEd. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, states that“an International Olympic Committee-approved laboratory at the University of Cologne, Germany, determined in a 2004 study that between 14% and 25% of the supplements that were tested were contaminated with either steroids or other illegal performance-enhancing substances” (698). A significant percentage of supplements are contaminated, rather than the low percentage that many who support the current supplement standards suggest.Bodybuilders may take contaminated products, thinking that it is safe and effective. In actuality, they unwittingly takecontaminated supplements with dangerous health-effects.

All of these efficacy and safety issues of bodybuilding supplements demand immediate action from the government. Bodybuilders are arguably one of the most at-risk due to the magnitude and range of supplement consumption. A muscular, well-defined physique is certainly difficult to achieve and bodybuilders who strive for one may rely on many different supplements for performance enhancement. Unlike typical supplements such as vitamins and minerals, which are quite standardized, bodybuilding supplements are much less definitive; they lack conclusive evidence justifying their efficacy and safety claims. Of course, one must grant that the use of dietary supplements is a choice, one that bodybuilders take willingly. Yet, it is reasonable to argue that the government should help make supplement use a more effective and safer choice. Too many bodybuilding supplements are simply useless and hazardous.

The addressing of the failures of manufacturers is imperative in order to protect consumers. This can reduce the instance of disease and death as a result of dietary supplementation.Higher quality standards and safe manufacturing practices must be implemented to provide the safest and most effective products to consumers. Supplements should go through intensive and objective clinic testing in order to truly determine its readiness for consumer use.

By recognizing the issues of bodybuilding supplements, there will undoubtedly be positive reforms made across the entire dietary supplement industry- an industry that produces millions of revenue and affects just as many Americans. In fact, reforms may have such widespread influence that the healthcare and food industries take note. Reforms will definitely lead to a healthier and more productive relationship with both manufacturers and consumers.

Works Cited

ABC of Sports and Exercise Medicine (3rd Edition). Eds. Gregory Whyte, Clyde Williams, and Mark Harries. Hoboken, NJ, USA: BMJ Books, 2009. Web.

Bower, Bruce. "Testosterone shows Hurtful, Helpful Sides." Science News 157.8 (2000): 119. Print.

Fernandez, Marifel Mitzi F., and Hosey, RobertG. "Performance-Enhancing Drugs Snare Nonathletes, Too." Journal of Family Practice 58.1 (2009): 16-23. Print.

Green, Nancy R., and Ferrando, Arny A. "Plasma Boron and the Effects of Boron Supplementation in Males."Environmental health perspectives 102, Supplement 7: Health Effects of Boron (1994): 73-7. Print.

Maughan, R. J. "Contamination of Dietary Supplements and Positive Drug Tests in Sport." Journal of Sports Sciences 23.9 (2005): 883-9. Print.

“MusclePharm: Creatine” 5 May 2012 <http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/musclepharm/creatine.html>.

World of Sports Science.Eds. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 2 Vol. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 697-698. Print.

"Yes, but which Supplement." Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter 19.3 (2001): 4. Print.