The Road to Being an RD: Nutrition Hot Topics: Supplements

Supplements

I am asked all the time by friends, family, and people that I don't really know if I think they should be taking a supplement. This puts myself, as well as other nutrition students and RDNs in a tough spot. There a thousands of supplements and brand out there with outrageous claims that they can help you build a pound of muscle over night, or lose 10 pounds in 1 week. All of these claims sound great, but sadly, they aren't true. There's a reason why there's so many supplement brands out there and I'm here to start the myth busting!

What is a supplement?

A supplement is defined as something that is taken to aid or enhance the effects of something else. Types of supplements are vitamins and minerals, protein powders, creatine, pre-workout, fat burners, herbs and other products like St. John's Wart. All of these things, yes vitamins and minerals included, are not regulated. By law, supplements do not go through FDA screening and regulation to see if they actually contain what they say they contain, if the amounts are correct, if the ingredients are safe, and if their claims are true. Some brands are more reliable than others.The more mainstream brands like Centrum Silver, One-a-Days, and Nature Made, the more trustworthy they tend to be.

Should you take a multivitamin?

In short, yes. If you are eating a varied diet, getting lots of fruits and vegetables in with meals, then you are most likely getting the recommended daily allowance of vitamins. But, some are harder to get than others. Vitamin D is one that American's are commonly deficient in because unless you live in the southwest or in Florida, most of the year we don't see lots of sunshine. So a multivitamin would make sure that you are getting the appropriate amount of Vitamin D that you need. It is okay to take a multivitamin even if you do have a varied diet. The water soluble vitamins, like the B vitamins, are regulated in our bodies and our bodies only take what we need and the rest is excreted out. With the fat soluble vitamins, they are stored and transferred in fat cells, so they are kept in our bodies for a while but still hard to reach toxic levels, unless you're taking an extreme amount.

When looking to buy a multivitamin, go for one that is a multivitamin plus minerals. This will help aid in reducing inflammation, preventing disease, and promoting recovery form injury.

What about all the other types of supplements?

If you really want to take supplements for exercise, like protein powders, creatine, fat burners, pre-workouts, etc, do your research. If you're an athlete, this is extremely important. Whether you play in college, high school, or professionally, you can be subjected to drug testing. If you they find a substance in your urine or blood that is not verified or okay'd by the NSF, they you could be benched or kicked off the team, here is the website to find out if you're supplements are okay to use http://www.nsfsport.com/certified-products/. You can also look on the bottle or box to see if it has the NSF logo, which means it has been tested and approved for use, meaning it has everything it says it does in it and it doesn't contain anything that it shouldn't.

Do you need a sports supplement?

If you wanted try any type of supplement, the only kind I would recommend would be a protein powder, but only in certain cases. Chocolate milk is the perfect recovery drink with a 3:1 carbs to protein ratio, it has simple carbs that are broken down easily by the body to replenish stores and the protein to help build muscle and lean body tissue. Pair that with a granola bar or half a peanut butter sandwich and you are refueled and on your way to recovery. Protein powder's are good when you're on the run, need a good amount of protein after, trying to gain weight/muscle, or just want a different flavor. You do not need more than 30 grams of protein after a workout though, so if you're trying to get a 50 gram protein supplement, your body is either going to excrete the excess protein out or store it as fat. Fat burners are a lot of talk and have little science behind whether they work or not, it's most likely the placebo effect, but more research needs to be done. Most fat burners are high doses of caffeine because caffeine has been proven to aid in increasing metabolism. The same goes for pre-workout, its caffeine. So, instead of buying a $50 jar of caffeine powder with other mystery ingredients, have a cup of coffee!

Want more information about supplements? Check out the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics