by Jason Greenberg, personal trainer
Supplements are worth it!
…Well, some of them are.
Regardless of your goal, it\’s best to save your money when confronted with any kind of \”superfood\” or \”miracle pill.” Follow these recommendations about three popular supplements, and you\’ll be able to choose wisely when working to improve your diet and health. Enjoy the puns!
Contrary to common belief, multivitamins may not be the beloved beacon of hope against staving off chronic and fatal diseases. A seminal 2013 editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine strongly warned against this particular type of supplement, amassing research that showed multivitamins having no consistent positive effect in disease prevention. In fact, while taking a vitamin D supplement may have some benefits, adding a multivitamin to an already balanced diet can result in an overdose (hypervitaminosis), which has toxic effects on the body. As the Mayo Clinic puts it, try changing your diet for the better before considering taking a vitamin.
If you don\’t have a milk allergy, whey protein is probably okay, especially if you are trying to gain lean mass, are very active, and cannot add more food protein sources to your diet. Now, the recommended daily intake of protein for the average adult is about forty-six to fifty-six grams, so if you go a bit above that, it\’s not a big deal. However, the Mayo Clinic advises against consuming excessive amounts of whey. When taken disregarding the manufacturer\’s guidelines, this particular protein has the potential to cause a host of deleterious problems, including but not limited to dehydration and even heavy metal toxicity. To sum up, protein powder can be beneficial, but don’t take more than is recommended.
Amino acid supplements may receive rave reviews, but their usefulness may be overstated. BCAAs (branch-chain amino acids) haven\’t been shown to have any effect on exercise performance. The only critical and unbiased review I was able to find claims that BCAAs do have a minor benefit, but only when taken in a fasted state. So unless you\’re an early bird when it comes to working out, save your money for protein powder instead!