"Supplements don't work, they are just snake oil." I see such comments nearly every day on various sites over the Internet. Many are convinced that various food and sports supplements are nothing but hype promulgated by often outrageous advertising claims. I even posted a video myself a while back that was wrongly labeled "All supplements are garbage." This was not my title, but was placed in the video by someone else to act as "click-bait." What I actually said in the video was that some supplements do not have any evidence to prove that they work, while other supplements often are underdosed, not meeting label claims of the nutrient contest. Both of those statements, while undeniable fact, hardly constitutes any claim that all supplements are junk and don't work. But in their zeal to make money, many supplement companies go beyond truth and do enter the realm of lies and hype. One example of this is the common technique of using champion athletes to endorse the product. Nothing wrong with that, unless the implication was that the athlete's success or physique resulted entirely from using the supplement. The mere fact that you are reading this publication indicates a level of intelligence that would not be hoodwinked by such advertising hyperbole. But many who, for want of a better way of describing them, lack the minimal brainpower and do believe in the often nonsensical claims made about various food supplements.
As I've noted many times, even more, intelligent people can often be confused about the worth of any particular supplement. One reason for this is that we are besieged with advertising about such supplements and it's often difficult to discern truth from fiction. I wrote for bodybuilding and health magazines for nearly 40 years. From the start, the major advertising for such publications was food supplements. Over the years, the extent of advertising grew to a point where many of the articles in such publications were thinly disguised ads for food supplements. It's much worse now since I ceased writing for magazines a few years ago. The bodybuilding and fitness magazines are nothing more than sales catalogs for various products, mainly food supplements. Without those ads, the magazines would become a quaint feature of the past. The Internet contains a massive amount of data, but here again, much of it is inaccurate.Anyone can anoint themselves an "expert" and present their views in blogs, on websites, and in YouTube videos. I often groan or laugh when I view such videos or articles. They are pure nonsense much of the time.
But the notion that all supplements are just overhyped garbage just isn't true according to the best science available. Some supplements work for nearly everyone who uses them. There are always exceptions to that rule, however. Because of genetics or other factors, some popular supplements may not produce acceptable results for all . . .
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