Started By
Message

Supplement Purity Question

Posted on 6/23/19 at 9:54 pm
Posted by molsusports
Member since Jul 2004
37501 posts
Posted on 6/23/19 at 9:54 pm
Given that supplements are explicitly not FDA regulated for purity and I am not aware of any supplement manufacturers being significantly reprimanded, fined, etc. for impurities in their products...

What steps do people (who consider themselves sophisticated consumers of supplements) take to be somewhat confident about the quality of what they consume? Thanks for any thoughtful comments.
Posted by lsu777
Lake Charles
Member since Jan 2004
37910 posts
Posted on 6/23/19 at 10:33 pm to
I only buy from companies that person 3rd party testing and post the data. This limits me to very few companies so I just shop true nutrition
Posted by LSUA 75
Colfax,La.
Member since Jan 2019
4907 posts
Posted on 6/23/19 at 11:20 pm to
I no longer take OTC supplements at all.Consumer Reports had article few years ago about supplements,sent bunch different brands off to independent lab.Results were scary to me,some of them had all kinda stuff in them such as lead.Also standardization of doses was big issue.I remember tests they did on ginkgo biloba ,they bought 10 different brands and levels of ginkgo ranged from absolutely none to extremely large amounts.
My wife is nurse practitioner and recieves these monthly journals.A year or so ago one of them had article about supplements and it was very similar to what was found by Consumer Reports.They found all kind of adulterants that shouldn’t have been in them.
One of the supplements that sticks out in my mind was red rice yeast.Some people don’t want to take prescription statins, take rry instead since it is “natural”.Turns out active ingredient in rry is actually a statin,levels were all over the chart from very small amounts to dangerous amounts.According to article there have been documented cases of people suffering liver damage and liver failure from rry.
Bunch of these supplements are made in China which doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me.Sadly, lot of our prescription medicine ingredients are also made in China which pisses me off but at least the doses are standardized and purity is supposed to be checked. .Some years ago bunch of people were harmed by heparin that drug companies sourced from China.
I have argued with bunch of people that maintain that herbal supplements can’t hurt you since they are natural,there are lot of natural chemicals that can kill you-strychnine,cyanide,arsenic.A drug that was used for years was digoxin for heart failure,derived from purple foxglove plant.Very useful drug as long as dosage was monitored by lab blood levels but could be deadly in patients that overdosed on it,usually was people that took it,forgot and took another dose.Often it was elderly patients that weren’t competent enough to be taking medicine on their own.
Supplement people are going to be outraged but I feel strongly that any perceived benefits are placebo effect,which is very powerful.
Posted by bayou85
Concordia
Member since Sep 2016
11086 posts
Posted on 6/24/19 at 10:25 am to
I tried in the past to research what does what and why does it do it and all the W's.

But honestly recently my eyes have been opened to the fact that we get what we need through food.

BCAAs are a rip off. You get what you need through meats.

You really don't need to supplement nutrition unless you can't get the nutrition.
Posted by lsu777
Lake Charles
Member since Jan 2004
37910 posts
Posted on 6/24/19 at 10:41 am to
Honestly creatine is the only really proven supplement. I don't consider protein or carb powders supplements, just food.
Posted by bayou85
Concordia
Member since Sep 2016
11086 posts
Posted on 6/24/19 at 10:45 am to
quote:

I don't consider protein or carb powders supplements, just food.




I get it. But technically supplement. You're using it instead of ingesting real food. I use protein powder all the time because its easier than cooking when i feel lazy.
Posted by lsu777
Lake Charles
Member since Jan 2004
37910 posts
Posted on 6/24/19 at 10:49 am to
Yea and at times they have their place due to ease and speed of divestment.
Posted by Rep520
Member since Mar 2018
10476 posts
Posted on 6/24/19 at 11:14 am to
Never buy a proprietary blend.

I buy as much raw stuff as possible and dose myself. If you can find a fairly public company who does not use proprietary blends, that's your best shot, IMO.

No disrespect to 777, but I'm even skeptical about third party testing. It's easy to send pure stuff to the third party and cut your regular stuff with sawdust.

The threat of a lawsuit is the most effective deterrent.
Posted by lsu777
Lake Charles
Member since Jan 2004
37910 posts
Posted on 6/24/19 at 11:25 am to
quote:

No disrespect to 777, but I'm even skeptical about third party testing. It's easy to send pure stuff to the third party and cut your regular stuff with sawdust.


I actually am too. I only really trust true nutrition, mpa, and granite. As I trust their owners. I do like LGI too, as I speak to the owner regularly and am friends on Facebook.

I trust granite and mpa because they had issues they found themselves and pulled product off the shelves because it didn't meat their standards. I really like John Meadows who owns granite and have always found him to have integrity at all times.

Matt Porter, I knew since the designer supplement days in the early 2000s. Spoke many times to him and was crushed when he passed suddenly a few weeks ago.

Dante Trudal, owner of TN, I trust him as much as anybody in the industry and he has always went above and beyond to have things tested and public. He has done many many unselfish things and done it quitely for people. All around a great guy.

Skip hill might be the only person I trust more in this industry than the above 3 with wendler and Joe d right after them. Brian alshure is up there too.
Posted by molsusports
Member since Jul 2004
37501 posts
Posted on 6/24/19 at 5:01 pm to
quote:


I buy as much raw stuff as possible and dose myself.


Could you expound a little on that? What do you mean by raw stuff and what source? How do you dose?

quote:

I'm even skeptical about third party testing. It's easy to send pure stuff to the third party and cut your regular stuff with sawdust.


I agree

quote:


The threat of a lawsuit is the most effective deterrent.


Is there any hope of this improving the supplement industry? As things stand there's no explicit promise of medical benefit and without that there doesn't seem like an actual law with teeth to make the industry care if they are mixing chicken feathers with their tumeric or creatine
Posted by rjokerlsu
Big Spring, TX
Member since Apr 2007
7415 posts
Posted on 6/25/19 at 9:06 pm to
You make some compelling points, but my experiences with supplements show that at least on two occasions they worked well.

First, eight years ago, I had a terrible upper respiratory infection. The RN told me not to come to the doctor, but to "double up on zinc." I did so, and I felt much better and a day or two later, was over it.

My long time eye doctor told me in an exam that my vision had actually slightly improved over the years. I have taken Lutein for many years and attribute the improvement to that.

I believe diet and food are very important. But while we can't trust all vitamin producers, we also can't trust many American food processors, with toxins, preservatives, etc., in many food products.
This post was edited on 6/25/19 at 9:09 pm
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 1Next pagelast page
refresh

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookXInstagram