Most Dietary Supplements Are Useless, But Here Are The Ones You Should Take
So you want to feel healthier. It seems simple enough: Feed a balanced diet, get enough sleep and exercise, and perhaps take a few supplements to speed the process along.
Or not.
Recent research has found that not only do these supplements most likely not help you slim down, bulk up, or be more energized but they’re also harmful.
A big study from the federal government linked supplements sold under brand names like Hydroxycut and Xenadrine with 20, 000 ER visits each year. Last year, the Department of Justice filed criminal and civilian enforcement actions against 117 makers of these products.
So here are the supplements you should take and the ones you should avoid 😛 TAGEND
Protein powder: Skip it and eat beans, tofu, nuts, fish or meat instead
Marketed as necessary for weight gain and muscle building, protein is one of the best-selling supplements in the US. On the one hand, protein is good for you it helps build muscles.
But most Americans get plenty of protein in their diets. In fact, most of us get too much. Meat, fish, beans, tofu, and nuts are rich in protein. Plus, numerous companies have been accused recently of spiking their protein powders with inexpensive fillers another reason to avoid the powdered stuff.
Homeopathic remedies: Skip them they don’t work
Homeopathic treatments are super-diluted dosages of medications. Proponents of these treatments claim that they can do everything from relieve colds to pacify anxious pets.
But homeopathy has repeatedly been shown to be ineffective. A 2005 study published in the medical periodical The Lancet found that homeopathy which involves diluting an active ingredient until there’s no measurable sum left was approximately as effective as a placebo.
Workout boosters like Jack3d or Oxy Elite Pro: Skip them they’ve been linked to illness andat least one demise
For years, the makers of these supplements, whose active ingredient is dimethylamylamine, or DMAA, claimed that they increased speed, strength, and endurance.
But in 2011, after two soldiers who had used Jack3d succumbed, the Department of Defense removed all products containing DMAA from stores on military bases. And a recent indictment against Dallas company USPlabs, which stimulates OxyElite Pro, accuses the company of falsely claiming that its product was made of natural plant extracts. In reality, it contains synthetic stimulants constructed in China. The indictment also claims that the use of OxyElite led to several liver injuries and at least one death.
Zinc: Take it it’s one of the only ingredients linked to shortening a cold
Zinc seems to interfere with the replication of rhinoviruses, the glitches that cause the common cold.
In a 2011 review of studies of people who’d recently gotten sick, researchers looked at those who’d started taking zinc and compared them with those who took a placebo. The ones on the zinc had shorter colds and less severe symptoms.
Oleksandr Briagin / Shutterstock
Creatine: Skip it eat meat instead
All of us render natural, low-level sums of creatine, a compound that helps our muscles release energy. Surveys show that we render more when we regularly feed meat.Research suggests that taking creatine supplements could have moderate benefits on specific kinds of short-intensity workouts. It appears to help muscles make more of a chemical-energy transporter called adenosine triphosphate.
But unsurprisingly, there’s no proof that it’s beneficial for other types of exercise involving endurance or aerobics. So treat yourself to the occasional steak dinner instead.
Weight loss pills like Hydroxycut: Skip them their claims are dubious
Weight-loss supplements like Hydroxycut claim that they can help you slim down with a boost of “pro clinical” ingredients. The formula once contained ephedra, a powerful stimulant links between 155 deaths and banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 2003.
The ingredients today are simply caffeine and four herbal extracts: lady’s mantle, wild olive, cumin, and wild mint. The strongest of the five is caffeine, which several studiesshow can help boost metabolism and helpencourage moderate, short-term fat burning. But no long-term analyzes depict caffeine assistance with sustained weight loss.
Antioxidants: Skip them – an excess of these has been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers, and you can eat berries instead
Coenzyme Q1 0, lipoic acid, flavonoids, polyphenols, and some vitamins are antioxidants that are plentiful in many fruits especially berries and veggies, and they’ve been touted for their alleged ability to protect against cancer.
But analyzes suggest that when taken in excess, antioxidants can actually be harmful. A large, long-term study of male smokers found that those who regularly took vitamin A were more likely to get lung cancer than those who didn’t. And a 2007 review of trials of several different types of antioxidant supplements put it this style: “Treatment with beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase mortality.”
Folic acid: Take it if you’re pregnant or if you might want to get pregnant
Our bodies use folic acid to make new cells. The National Institutes of Health recommends that women who are currently pregnant or who want to get pregnant take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily because their bodies demand more of this key nutrient “where theyre” carrying a growing fetus.
Plus, several large studies have linked folic acid supplementation before and during pregnancy with reduced rates of neural-tube flaws serious and life-threatening birth defects of the baby’s brain, spine, or spinal cord.
“You may think magic is make-believe, but this little bean has scientists saying they’ve detected the magical weight-loss remedy for every body form, ” Dr. Mehmet Oz said of green coffee extract on his show in 2012.
Unfortunately, there was only one studybacking green coffee’s alleged weight-loss abilities, and it was funded by the extract’s manufacturer. The study wasretracted a few months later.
Flickr/ Alpha
A series of preliminary Mayo Clinic studiesshowed promise for the potential use of a chemical component of green tea called epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, in reducing the number of cancer cells in patients with a specific type of cancer: chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Research on green tea with people with other forms of cancer has been too limited to say for sure how beneficial it is.
While brewing and drinking green tea is the easiest way to get the extract, it’s also added to foods like yogurt and other liquors, or offered in pill form.
A well-designed two-month study of close to 300 cancer patients at the Mayo Clinic found that those dedicated 1,000 or 2,000 milligrams of ginseng each day reported feeling more energized compared with those who took a placebo.
Other research been shown that ginseng can help relieve moderate tirednes in healthy people as well, but more analyzes on its long-term safety are probably needed.
It’s been claimed that the omega-3 fats in fish petroleum can boost brain function.
But the evidence isn’t very strong. A 2012 review of three big analyzes found that omega-3 supplements taken for anytime between five months and three years didn’t improve memory or verbal skills in older people who did not have dementia at the start of each study.
“Direct evidence on the effect of omega-3 … on incident dementia is lacking, ” the study’s authors wrote.
Ginkgo biloba, which comes from the maidenhair tree, is one of the best-selling produced in the US for memory loss and is often marketed as a “brain booster.”
The evidence of this is inconsistent. While asmall 2006 study detected it to be effective as the medication donepezil for boosting attention and memory in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s, a large 2008 study of healthy older people detected no proof that it helped to prevent dementia, including Alzheimer’s. A 2009 follow-up study detected no evidence that gingko biloba slowed cognitive decline or memory loss.
Most Dietary Supplements Are Useless, But Here Are The Ones You Should Take
Most Dietary Supplements Are Useless, But Here Are The Ones You Should Take
Most Dietary Supplements Are Useless, But Here Are The Ones You Should Take
Most Dietary Supplements Are Useless, But Here Are The Ones You Should Take
Most Dietary Supplements Are Useless, But Here Are The Ones You Should Take