With the recent boom in the health industry, dietary supplements have become more and more common. Whey protein supplements, casein protein, vitamins A, C, D, pre-workout supplements, post-workout supplements, late night protein supplements, creatine, branched chain amino acids, and the list is endless. There are a multitude of products on the market, with very attractive offers selling food supplements to consumers, and possibly misleading them into believing false facts and rumors. An average consumer is bombarded with countless articles, options, advice from gym trainers and sports stars supporting a "dream supplement pill", making it impossible for a consumer not to buy into these baseless arguments. There are many errors regarding food supplements intended to increase sports performance. There are some bizarre claims that whey protein supplements should be taken within thirty minutes of finishing a gym workout for optimal benefits. There are other products on the market that claim to promote fat burning in the body, while maintaining muscle mass constant. Reading about such gimmicks from the dietary supplement industry made me very curious to investigate the truth behind the supplements and their effectiveness. What is even more important to know is, are they as good as they are claimed to be? Does the average healthy person eating a balanced diet really need dietary supplements? The only way to answer these questions is to look at research papers that have conducted double-blind randomized trials. This would eliminate any form of bias, placebo effect and allow us to discover the real truth behind dietary supplements. The following is an analysis of the effectiveness of dietary supplements. I begin by discussing studies that favor dietary supplements, and there is a general market and industry consensus that dietary supplements are necessary and good. Later, I discuss studies that completely reject the effectiveness of dietary supplements. Next, I plan to talk about the fact that most of these dietary supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and could possibly contain dangerous and potentially deadly substances. I don't think anyone really talks about these studies. Talking about the negative studies will help me make a comparison between the positives and negatives of this controversial topic, and will help me achieve my end goal, which is to show that dietary supplements are not the "holy grail" for improving your body and your performance. Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Most of the studies I would investigate are double-blind randomized controlled trials. A randomized controlled trial is often considered the gold standard for clinical trials. A blinded study is one in which information about the experiment is hidden from the study subjects. This reduces bias and excludes placebo effects on participants. A double-blind study is one in which the tester and subject are blinded. It is a well-known fact that a double-blind randomized study provides credible results and will help answer most of the untruths regarding the dietary supplement industry. In mostof the studies I will be investigating, I have found that the study subjects are quite diverse in terms of age, nationalities, ethnic origins and BMI (body mass index). BMI is defined as an individual's weight in kg divided by the square of their height in meters. The majority of subjects were aged 18 to 55 years, with different BMIs. Due to the diversity of participants in these studies, it can be assumed that we have excluded any bias related to age, gender, ethnicity and other related issues. A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that a high level of protein- and vitamin D-enriched whey supplement helped preserve muscle mass in obese older adults during a resistance training program. . (Verreijen 286). The subjects of this study were obese Dutch men and women aged over 55 years. Obesity is defined as a BMI greater than 0.30 and a waist circumference of 0.88 cm in women or 0.102 cm in men. Subjects were subjected to a 13-week double-blind randomized controlled study and divided into 2 groups. One group consumed a dietary supplement rich in whey protein and enriched with vitamin D, while the other group received a substance intended to serve as a mock-up of the dietary supplements the first group was taking. All subjects were asked to strictly follow the dietary guidelines established by the experiment, and a list of foods that could be consumed was given to each. Each of them was required to follow the rules and maintain a very strict diet. Additionally, all subjects were asked to train under the supervision of a qualified health instructor for a period of 13 weeks. Starting with 10 minutes of warm-up exercises and progressing to 20 repetitions of 10 exercises each, including different body parts, each workout would last an hour and be performed three times a week. All parameters have been carefully measured and double-checked by experts. At the end of the study, it was found that appendicular muscle mass was preserved in the first group, while the other group lost some muscle mass. Given that both groups ate the same isocaloric diet and completed the same 13-week resistance training program, it is reasonable to conclude that the only variable was the dietary supplements. The first group saw a significant increase in skeletal muscle mass in obese older adults. These results support the currently accepted consensus that increasing protein intake will help gain muscle mass during a resistance training program. Now let's look at some studies that reject whey protein supplements as effective. This study “Effects of whey protein and carbohydrates on the effectiveness of resistance training in older adults: a double-blind randomized controlled trial. » was published by Arnarson A in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Like the previous study, this study was performed on older men and women. A total of 161 people participated in this double-blind randomized controlled trial. As in the previous study, all variables were standardized and strictly monitored. For example, both control groups were asked to follow a strict diet and undergo a rigorous 12-week resistance training program. Towards the end of the program, both groups were found to have added significant muscle mass to their bodies. Body fat percentage dropped and massLean muscle increased, with no additional benefits observed in the control group that took whey protein supplements. This study reveals a very surprising finding that whey protein supplements may be overrated. (Arnarson 5) Consider looking at the nutritional profile of whey protein compared to that of whole foods like chicken. Chicken is known to contain a lot of B vitamins like vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B5; Selenium, which is a natural antioxidant; Phosphorus, essential for strong and dense bone growth; Iron, important for red blood cells; and zinc which is vital for the human immune system. Although whey protein has a higher protein content than chicken, it is clear that chicken has a well-balanced nutritional profile that can be very helpful for anyone looking to get enough of different essential nutrients. Whey protein powders are also highly processed in order to extract them from dairy products. During this processing, many impurities, fats, cholesterol and other unwanted substances can concentrate in the protein. Now, whether synthetic substances are good for health or not is a whole other debate, but it is completely reasonable to say that all the contents and nutrients in chicken are of natural origin and have not been processed or enhanced. . The effectiveness and safety of many supplements are unknown. The truth is that there have not been enough studies conducted on each of these supplements available on the market. What's worse is that these supplements are presented as "natural", which attracts the consumer. This leads the consumer to be enchanted by the word “natural” and to believe that it is good for their health. In fact, most of these supplements have not been regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. This is because supplements have been treated like foods and the FDA has limited control to regulate the entry of new foods into the market. There are so many products coming onto the market, and it's a mammoth task for the FDA to keep track of each of these new products on the market. In a study sponsored by the company GlaxosmithKline, which had received FDA approval for a weight loss supplement, approximately 3,500 Americans were surveyed. They were asked if they used dietary supplements to improve weight loss and if they thought these supplements were effective. The results were surprising. Most Americans in the survey believed that weight loss supplements were safe to consume and approved by the FDA. Some even believed that these supplements were better and more effective than over-the-counter medications and prescription medications given by doctors. (Pillitteri 794)Companies target different people and tell them lies, thus forcing them to buy products that they may not need at all. Think for example of vitamin supplements. Companies market vitamin supplements for children, claiming that it will help with brain development and thus make your child smarter. The reality is that there is no clear research or study that proves that vitamins will make your child smarter. In fact, it's not even clear whether vitamin supplements help a completely healthy child. (Moyer 462) It is well known that vitamin deficiencies can cause disease, but vitamin supplements are unlikely to help a perfectly healthy person. If you get all your vitamins from eating fruits and vegetables, you don't have to..