Tainted Supplements:
What Nutritional Companies Don't Tell You

"But, honest, I really wasn't taking illegal supplements to enhance my athletic performance!"

Yet another outstanding athlete whines to the press. Members of the general public just shake their heads. "Yeah, right!" some sarcastically reply. Others, more open-minded, suggest that maybe this all-star performer "really didn't" know what he or she was taking.

Could they really be taking supplements and not know what was in them? How is that possible?

For the sake of argument -- and to open your eyes just a little wider -- let me ask you this: Do you really know -- with dead certainty -- what ingredients are in your nutritional supplements?

Wait, before you rattle off what's on the labels of your supplement bottles, let me ask you a second question: How do you know the labeling accurately reflects the actual contents?

Oops! Now there's a good question. It really comes down to trusting the supplement manufacturer that they are being honest about what's going into those tablets, capsules and pills, now isn't it?

Now, that I have your attention, let me tell you about this study that's nearly 10 years old, but still bears relevancy to today's circumstances. More than 630 nutritional supplements were purchased online in this project -- supplements, in fact that you may have purchased -- or in local retail stores. Then these products were analyzed to see how many contained "banned substances."

More than one quarter of the products was "contaminated," that is contained ingredients that were not listed on the label, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Yeah, you say. That was then -- now is now. Oh, well listen to this study -- done four years after the one you just read about. The researchers felt they needed to follow up on this original project. They took another look, this time at another 60 supplements all either purchased through the internet or in local retail stores.

And the result? Well, you might say that 22 percent of them containing banned substances are an improvement. Or you might say the statistics held steady, since the sampling this time was a little smaller. Not much had changed in those four years, now had it?

Then there are the 2006 Olympics. Remember when the Olympic officials banned the entire Greek Olympic Weightlifting team from the summer games? One of the supplement sponsors of the group had "inadvertently" supplied them with tainted supplements.

The whine of the high-performance athletic begins to ring a little more authentically, now doesn't it?

Now, just consider this scenario. Canada's top bobsleigh pilot was suspended from competition for a full two years. He was told that the supplements he had been taking -- a BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acid) and a HMB supplement -- were both tainted with anabolic steroids.

The unusual aspect to this situation is that he had bought both supplements himself, right from the same local nutrition shops where the general public purchases all their dietary nutrients as well.

How confident are you now that you could pass a test the athletes must undergo?

What's in your nutritional supplement?

Top

Enter your search terms Submit search form