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Supplements: How to Choose Safe and Effective Products
3.7k Plays3 days ago
In this episode of the Uphill Athlete Podcast, host Steve House and dietitian Alyssa Leib tackle the challenge of choosing safe, effective supplements in a largely unregulated industry. Alyssa explains that the supplement market operates as "the Wild West" with minimal FDA oversight, meaning products can contain banned substances, heavy metals like lead and cadmium, or nothing at all. She emphasizes the critical importance of third-party testing, recommending athletes look for NSF or Informed Sport certifications to ensure products are safe and accurately labeled.
The discussion covers three essential questions before buying supplements: Does it actually work? Is it safe? Does it fit your budget? Alyssa provides specific recommendations including whey protein isolate over concentrate and creatine monohydrate as the gold standard form, while cautioning that popular supplements like collagen lack strong scientific support for joint health. She stresses that no supplement can replace adequate sleep, proper nutrition, and sufficient protein intake, and advises athletes taking medications to consult pharmacists about potential interactions before adding supplements to their regimen.
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Transcript
Introduction to Supplement Safety and Testing
00:00:00
Speaker
We have these third parties who can go through and look at this bottle of creatine and they can confirm, okay, the bottle says it has creatine in it. That's all we found in it. It doesn't have heavy metals.
00:00:13
Speaker
It doesn't have steroids. It doesn't have cocaine. just has creatine. It's a funny example, but i mean, these are all things that have been found in ro it didn up supplements. It's very scary.
00:00:28
Speaker
Wow.
00:00:36
Speaker
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00:00:53
Speaker
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Choosing Safe and Necessary Supplements
00:01:09
Speaker
Welcome to the Uphill Athlete Podcast. I'm your host today, Steve House, and I'm here with our dietitian, Elisa Lieb. Elisa, thank you for joining us again. And today, we want to talk about, i want to ask you what we look for when choosing a supplement. In a previous episode, we talked about a smart supplementation.
00:01:33
Speaker
We talked about everything from vitamin and mineral supplements all the way down to bicarbonate and a few things in between. so let's say i want to supplement with protein or creatine as you recommended.
00:01:46
Speaker
How do I, and I go into the store and there's all these, all these products. How do I know what to, what to buy, what to use? That's the million dollar question, Steve. Um, we, I guess the first thing i will say for this is the unfortunate reality is if you want a legit supplement that, you know, has been tested and is safe, you are much more likely to find it online than you are in a store. And that's, that's the unfortunate reality of the matter for better or for worse. Yeah.
00:02:18
Speaker
But my you know my my general approach to supplements is there are a few questions to be asking yourself um before you decide to take a supplement and as you choose one. And I'm happy to talk through all of these questions in more detail. But just as an overall overview, question number one, does the supplement... do what it says it's going to do. Um, and the caveat or the sort of addendum to that is, is it something that I need a supplement to do? Um, versus, you know, can I get that from somewhere else?
00:02:47
Speaker
Um, like the i mean exactly like food or sleep. I know that's a really big one I see is all of these supplements that, you know, the purported benefit is improve your energy levels. Um,
00:02:58
Speaker
which is great, but the number of athletes I've talked to who are struggling to get six hours of sleep a night who are turning to some of these supplements, my question is, well, can you prioritize sleep a little bit better?
00:03:11
Speaker
No supplement is going to you know overcome that physiological need to just sleep. so So, do, does the supplement do what it says it's going to?
00:03:21
Speaker
and is that something that I actually need? um Is the supplement safe? So there are sort of two components to that, that we can dive into. and And then the final question, I think this is a really important one that gets overlooked a lot of the time, but does it fit my budget? um You know, the reality is a lot of supplements are very, very expensive. And ultimately i can't make that decision for you, but you know, for, for some people, if you are,
00:03:46
Speaker
not in a financial position to spend $200 a month on supplements, there's probably another route you can take.
Collagen Benefits and Research
00:03:53
Speaker
Okay, so need to know if it's going to do what it says it's going to do.
00:03:57
Speaker
What would be an example of a supplement that we might want to take that it's not really that it's difficult to shop for? Yeah, I think collagen is a good example of this. um And, you know, this is especially one that I bring up because it is so common for people to hear, oh, well, collagen is good for my joints, so I'm going to take it. um The reality is we don't have that great of data um pointing toward collagen being beneficial from a joint perspective. um
00:04:28
Speaker
Collagen is pretty well researched and it's pretty well established that it's effective for things like skin, nails, hair, that sort of thing. But when it comes to actual joint health, the research is very mixed.
00:04:41
Speaker
So, you know, for every research study out there that says, Hey, we gave all of these people collagen and, you know, ah we measured XYZ measures of joint health afterwards.
00:04:55
Speaker
And there was a benefit of collagen supplementation. um You will also find a study that says, hey, there is actually no association whatsoever. So the research is very mixed. um People on the internet love to cherry pick studies and say, well, you should buy a my collagen supplement because it's backed by research. Here's a study that shows that it helps. um But if you actually look at the full body of literature, that's not what the full picture shows. um So I think collagen is is a really good example there of, well, it might help, but it also might not. It may not do what you think it's going to do.
The Importance of Third-Party Testing
00:05:31
Speaker
So you've mentioned third-party testing of supplements. Why do we need that? Why is that important? Yeah. so the supplement industry um in the U.S. and I believe Europe is very similar, um is pretty much not regulated. it is truly the Wild West, um which is really terrifying because we you know our pharmaceuticals, our medications are regulated really you know heavily by the FDA.
00:05:58
Speaker
Our food is regulated really heavily, but supplements fall into this weird gray area where there really is no oversight. um There's regulation around the types of claims that can be made can be made about a supplement. So if you look on you know supplement labels, they'll never say, take this supplement because it will cure your diabetes. That's considered illegal, but they're allowed to make claims like this supplement is beneficial in reducing blood sugar, which ultimately is something that is related to diabetes. But when it comes to what's actually in the supplement, there's very little regulation, um which is concerning for a lot of reasons. um
00:06:36
Speaker
You know, kind of the best case outcome of this is you buy a bottle of creatine. It says it has creatine. And in reality, the whole thing is sawdust or, you know, the equivalent. So you've been taking a supplement every single day. You're not actually noticing the benefits of creatine because there's no creatine in it.
00:06:54
Speaker
um That's kind of funny to think about. But then there's sort of this other scarier end of the spectrum, which is you have this bottle. It says it has creatine, but in reality, it has...
00:07:07
Speaker
banned substances. It has pharmaceutical drugs. um It has steroids. It has heavy metals. and That's a really big one with a lot of supplements is you know high levels of lead and cadmium. um And there's no regulation. So you don't really have a way of knowing unless you are going to go into a chemistry lab and do all of this testing yourself and figure that out, which...
00:07:33
Speaker
I'm not doing, you're not doing, nobody's doing that. um So enter third party testing. And essentially what this is, is we have these third parties who do all of that testing for you.
00:07:46
Speaker
um And essentially they can go through and look at this bottle of creatine and they can confirm, okay, the bottle says it has creatine in it. That's all we found in it. It doesn't have heavy metals.
00:07:59
Speaker
It doesn't have steroids. It doesn't have cocaine. It just has creatine. It's a funny example, but I mean, these are all things that have been found in it ends up supplements. It's very scary.
00:08:14
Speaker
wow Wow. OK, well, you scared me into making sure that I have supplements with with certifications. That's for sure. I knew about it from like competitive for competitive athletics where people get drug tested.
00:08:30
Speaker
um you know They obviously have to be very careful that they're not getting something in a supplement that could trigger a drug test, beside you know assuming they're not taking any performance-enhancing drugs, which i most aren't.
00:08:44
Speaker
So that made sense to me, but I had not heard or was not aware that this was such a big issue with, kind of you know let's say, toxic ingredients.
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's um it is interesting. And I think that like everything, there are tradeoffs and we all kind of have our own level of risk that we OK with. So similar to doing anything in the mountains, um you know, we have differing levels of risk willingness.
00:09:15
Speaker
Mm And i think there are ways, you know, do does every single supplement you take have to be third party tested? Not necessarily. i will say that when i am sending supplement recommendations to my clients, I always find something that has been third party tested.
00:09:33
Speaker
If it exists, there are some kind of like functional supplements where there's only a couple of brands making them. And then, then it becomes this question of, okay, well, are the benefits available? worth it to outweigh potential risks of cross-contamination, that sort of thing.
00:09:47
Speaker
But I do think that's an important ah consideration too, Steve, is just the idea of if you are competing, if you are getting drug tested, um wanting to make sure that you're avoiding all of those things. So there are a couple of third-party testing agencies um that do specifically test for WADA and USADA banned substances so that they can make sure that it's not included in there.
Supplement Interactions with Drugs and Food
00:10:10
Speaker
That's great. So what ah what about supplements interacting with drugs that people might be taking for a pre-existing condition of some kind? mean, a lot of the athletes that we work with are are later in life. Many of us are taking some kind of medication or so on.
00:10:29
Speaker
ah How do we understand if supplements As a consumer, how do we know? Is there a way to check ah interact interactions? There's obviously ways to check drug interactions, but are there ways to check supplement drug interactions?
00:10:45
Speaker
Not in a good or easily accessible to the public way, which is part of what makes the supplement world so scary um because there are so many supplements out there.
00:10:57
Speaker
They're so unregulated and it's not super clear cut what is going to interact with what. um I'll give an example of this too, because it's not just drug interactions that we're looking at, but there could be a case where a supplement interacts with a type of food that you eat. um So it's not always as clear cut that way.
00:11:17
Speaker
But a really good example of this is St. John's wort. So this is an herb. um which I think a lot of people have a perspective that if it is natural, if it's an herb, then it can't hurt me. um And that's not always the case. So St. John's wort is pretty well established, has demonstrated benefits on mental health. So reducing depression, anxiety.
00:11:40
Speaker
However, it can also react with a protein that we find in aged and fermented foods. So things like blue cheese, kimchi, tofu, like pretty common foods that people eat. And a potential outcome of this interaction is it can cause high blood pressure that is so high, it is life threatening.
00:12:00
Speaker
So it's pretty scary, because I think a lot of people see that marketing for St. John's wort and they go, I have anxiety, it would be really great if I can take this natural thing to just lower my anxiety. and In some cases, maybe that is you know a preferred option to taking like an SSRI or some sort of pharmaceutical medication. um But I think it is very important to just keep in mind that there are these interactions that maybe are not as obvious as we think. um So in the context of taking a medication, I always recommend just talk to your pharmacist. um They are the experts in drug interactions. And so whether it's food drug or herb drug or supplement drug, they are going to know better than pretty much anybody else, um because that's what they spend most of their training doing.
00:12:46
Speaker
That's great tip.
Contamination in Whey Protein
00:12:47
Speaker
In the previous podcast, we talked about whey protein. And I know that this has been a product that has been found to have high rates of cross-contamination.
00:12:58
Speaker
you talk about that, how ah that affects us as consumers? Yeah, absolutely. so you know, I think partially I call out whey protein in in this conversation just because it is probably the supplement that is most taken. um And so it is something that can affect a lot of people.
00:13:16
Speaker
And studies have really shown they've gone in and basically taken a bunch of different whey protein supplements from different brands. and done all this testing. And they found really high rates of lead and cadmium, um you know, among others in these supplements. um And this is, this is an interesting, guess, side note, because I know this is something that has come up in other things, you dark chocolate was under fire maybe two years ago for the same reason. There was all this testing, finding that chocolate chocolate had these really high rates of lead and cadmium.
00:13:52
Speaker
And i will say from a personal experience, as somebody who is a connoisseur of dark chocolate, I actually went to the doctor and got my blood levels checked because I was a little bit concerned about it. um And my levels were all completely normal, um which I share here just to raise the point that everybody metabolizes these things differently.
00:14:11
Speaker
And so it isn't necessarily true that if you consume this lead contaminated whey protein powder, you're going to get lead poisoning and you're going to have health effects from it. um But I do think that it's important for us as consumers to be aware that that is something that happens, that is something to just be aware of. And so that you can be the one who makes that risk assessment, um, and decides, okay, well, i prefer to continue to eat my dark chocolate. And so because of that, I'm going to choose a ah protein powder that does not have lead, um, so that it balances out or whatever that looks like for you. Um, so that is really where, you know, choosing a supplement that has been third party tested is so important, um, because it it does prevent you from,
00:14:58
Speaker
being in that situation where you maybe are unknowingly consuming high levels of lead um that may or may not have a negative health effect for you there.
Finding Certified Supplements
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah. And so who are these third parties that that you look for?
00:15:13
Speaker
There are a lot of different um companies out there that are doing this. And I admit that I am not as familiar with what's going on in Europe as I am in the US. s So I apologize to all of our European listeners. Yeah.
00:15:27
Speaker
But the the primary ones that I recommend for athletes are NSF and informed sport. um And if you Google both of those, they both have databases online where you can search for products and see what is you know going to be certified. So, for example, if I wanted a whey protein, I could go to the and NSF website um and find their database. It's normally like the second or third result on a Google search.
00:15:54
Speaker
and just type whey protein and then it will give you a list of every single whey protein powder that they have certified with their stamp of approval which is really nice because it helps you narrow things down um yeah you know and another thing that i really like about the and nsf and informed sport uh certifications too is supplement companies for better or worse kind of use this third party testing as a marketing ploy. So there are in in a positive way, I think um it just makes it a lot easier to find these products. So you can Google, you don't even have to go to the database, but if you just Google whey protein powder NSF, normally, you know, and always double check whatever link comes up, but often what'll happen is you'll get a bunch of results of websites that are saying, Hey, here's my protein powder. It's NSF certified. I know that's something people are looking for. So it's something that you can find in the search terms.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah.
Protein Isolate vs. Concentrate
00:16:48
Speaker
Okay. So one of the things that I wanted to ask you about protein is the difference between a protein isolate and a protein concentrate.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah. So a protein isolate is basically a higher concentration of protein. So, you know, when we think about how protein powders are manufactured, we're really sort of taking different components out. So a whey protein starts as milk um and they remove liquid. Obviously they remove the carbs, they remove the fat.
00:17:21
Speaker
um They remove the casein, which is another of the main proteins that's found in milk. And essentially what's left is the whey. And there's different processes for how they do this. um But essentially an isolate gives you the most pure form of protein. So that whey protein is almost entirely, I want to say like 98% protein, And then there's maybe 2% of those other components of milk that are still in there. um Versus a protein concentrate is a lower percent um where they've just sort of taken fewer things out. um
00:17:55
Speaker
So that protein isolate is a little bit higher quality. Um, okay because you're, you're mostly just getting protein there versus the concentrate is a little more similar to milk. Um, the isolate, uh, another kind of benefit of it is if you are lactose intolerant, there's very little lactose that ends up in that isolate, um, versus concentrate. Um, and this is something like, look at the back of the,
00:18:19
Speaker
ah bag or the you know container of of protein powder. And it'll usually say under the ingredients, whey protein isolate or whey protein concentrate. So you can know what you're getting there. Okay, good.
00:18:31
Speaker
And with creatine, are there different types of creatine to look for or to be aware of? and Is there a particular gold standard among creatines? Yeah, so there are a couple of different ones that you can find. The one that you want is creatine monohydrate.
00:18:48
Speaker
And you know when when we talk about what form of different supplements we want, um mostly what we're looking at is, A, is it doing the job in your body that it's supposed to do? But B, and we're also looking at how well does your body actually absorb and digest this thing? So when we talk about protein powder, whey protein is considered the gold standard just because our bodies absorb it so easily. um And so creatine is kind of a similar thing. We want creatine monohydrate um specifically. Okay. And what about collagen if someone is going to take that?
Maximizing Collagen Effectiveness
00:19:21
Speaker
Like I need to grow out my hair a little bit, so maybe I'm going to start. So there are a couple of different types of collagen and the kind that you want for your hair may not be the kind that you want for your joints, which sort of adds to all of the confusion. um i'm actually not as familiar with the kind of specifics around for for hair um specifically. But I guess when it comes to collagen and I...
00:19:47
Speaker
I like that you ask this because i still get people who ask me and they say, I know collagen, you know, maybe doesn't work, but I, you know, I'm really struggling with joint pain and I just want to make sure that I'm covering my bases.
00:19:59
Speaker
So if that is you, um your number one priority before you take that collagen supplement is make sure that you are eating adequate protein. um If you are not eating enough protein overall and you take that collagen supplement, basically your body is just breaking it down into amino acids,
00:20:16
Speaker
using those amino acids for whatever else it needs them for in the body, making hormones, repairing cells, those sorts of things. um If you are eating enough protein, there's more chance that that collagen is going to get remade into collagen in your body. So that's number one. um And then I always recommend take it with a source of vitamin C. So again,
00:20:41
Speaker
Collagen is sort of made up of these amino acids, but we need vitamin C in order to actually construct it So take your collagen with a source of vitamin C and then take it either before or after a workout just to really support your muscular recovery and your tendon and connective tissue recovery in that process. um So if you are going to take collagen, those are the things I recommend to maximize the likelihood that it's going to actually do something. Okay, good.
00:21:09
Speaker
Good. So um is there anything with the timing on collagen? Yeah, just before or after a workout. There doesn't really seem to be a difference there, but the idea is that you're kind of taking it around the same time that you're using your muscles. um And creatine, by the way, is sort of the same thing. You want to really take it. And it doesn't really matter if it's before or after, but just around the time that your muscles are actually working and your body's sort of in that metabolic state where it's really supporting muscle building, tendon recovery, that sort of thing. Great.
00:21:47
Speaker
All right, everyone. Well, you heard it here to be checking your supplements for NSF certifications or what was the other one?
Conclusion and Farewell
00:21:56
Speaker
ah Informed Sport.
00:21:58
Speaker
Informed Sport. So let's let's all be looking for those those labels next time we're shopping for our protein. So thank you very much, alissa ah Elisa. This has been super helpful and informative on how to choose a good supplement.
00:22:15
Speaker
So thank you. Of course. Happy to talk about it. Thank you for listening to the Uphill Athlete Podcast. I've been your host, Steve House. We're not just fun, but community.
00:22:27
Speaker
Together, we're Uphill Athlete.
00:22:35
Speaker
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Speaker
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