I’ve been doing research on supplements since I’ve been thinking about switching the current ones I consume for different brands.
I currently take multivitamins, krill oil, and whey protein powder.
Coincidentally, I came across a video about the supplement industry from a man named Spencer Cornelia, and there were some interesting things that we can talk about.
First off, in terms of regulations, the law doesn’t require the manufacturer or seller to prove to FDA’s satisfaction that the claim is accurate or truthful before it appears on the product.
So right off the bat, you can immediately imagine unethical sellers rubbing their hands together in an evil way with a smirk on their face knowing that they have the freedom to stretch the truth in their marketing.
Aside from potentially manipulating statistics and making wild claims, some companies use an industry secret called “protein spiking.”
Here’s how it works:
Amino acids contain nitrogen, and what these companies do is they add cheap nitrogen compounds to inflate the amount of protein.
Meaning, the nutrition facts might say that one serving of protein powder contains 24g of protein, but in reality, it may only contain 20g.
I’ll even give an analogy in the business world.
There are some business owners who will brag that they earn over $50,000 per month, but what they don’t tell you is that number is their gross revenue, so their actual profit might be a much lower amount.
The lesson here?
Never take any claims at face value.
It sounds like it requires a lot of brainpower, and it does.
But it can be helpful in preventing you from making decisions that you’ll later regret.