How does sports nutrition affect human health? (video doctor’s recommendations). What are the benefits of sports nutrition?

Have you been working out in the gym or at home for more than half a year, but still no results? Avoid bars in fitness clubs? Do you look with disapproval at lean girls and guys who use sports nutrition? Then everything is clear with you. You are an amateur in sports and know nothing at all about sports supplements, and don’t even suspect that sports nutrition can be not only safe, but also healthy. We immediately fill in the gaps and conduct an urgent educational program!

What are sports supplements?

Sports supplements should not be confused with nutritional supplements. Although in Russia sports nutrition is included in the category of dietary supplements, it is intended primarily for athletes and people leading an active lifestyle. In addition, I will not be mistaken if I say that it will be useful for people engaged in heavy physical labor.

Sports nutrition is a natural supplement that contains a large amount of beneficial substances for the human body. Simply put, these are the components that are present in human food and are necessary for him to maintain life. However, sports nutrition contains a concentrated amount of these elements, in the proportion that is most suitable for the human body.

Very often, ignorant people confuse sports supplements with doping and steroids. This is a misconception that most often scares beginners away from all kinds of sports supplements.

Doping and steroids they make a superman out of an athlete, with inherent superpowers that are not available to mere mortals. But this is achieved at the expense of enormous sacrifices - it causes enormous harm to the body. Sports supplements are a completely different class of drugs that have a beneficial effect on the human body and compensate for the lack of microelements, nutrients and vitamins for various purposes. Athletes or people who are involved in building an athletic physique always adhere to a certain diet - dietary restrictions. And against the background of such “starvation” and increased physical activity, the body needs to receive more nutrients than usual.

This is where specially developed sports nutrition comes to their aid.

What are sports supplements for?

We get all the substances our body needs from food. If our physical activity leaves much to be desired, then most likely there is no need to take additional portions of such substances. Although, in our time, when the main part of our diet is fast food and processed foods, vitamins and minerals are most likely catastrophically low in our diet.

And if you are a person who actively plays sports 4-5 times a week, then sports nutrition is just right for you.

But what about those who are losing weight? You're in the same line for sports nutrition! Do you think it’s better to eat a couple of sandwiches than drink a glass of something nasty? I hasten to disappoint you. Sandwiches won't give you any benefit other than (short-term) satiety and extra pounds of fat.

So, let's summarize. What are the main functions of sports nutrition in our body?

1. Replenishes the lack of nutrients, vitamins and microelements

2. Provides extra energy to make your workouts more effective

3. Allows you to maintain a high metabolic rate while on a diet

4. Provides faster absorption of nutrients included in sports supplements

5. Helps control appetite

6. Allows you to build muscle tissue at a rapid pace and participates in its restoration

7. Allows you to burn fat during exercise

8. Provides reliable protection for joints and ligaments that are subject to heavy loads

These are just the main benefits of sports supplements that you may not have heard about yet. Any professional athlete will give you a dozen more beneficial properties that he experiences on himself every day.

Classification of sports supplements

Depending on what goal the athlete pursues, he chooses his own set of sports supplements that can provide him with everything he needs. To understand what classes of sports supplements exist and what processes they are responsible for, here is a list of the main categories:

Proteins

Proteins are different depending on their purpose:

• Whey Protein (Fast Digesting Protein)
• Calcium caseinate (slow-digesting protein)
• Soy protein (vegetable protein)
• Egg protein (animal protein)

All these types of protein have subtypes and different purposes and methods of administration. They have one thing in common - they are aimed at muscle growth.

Gainers are carbohydrate-protein mixtures. These supplements have as their main goal the maintenance of energy reserves for effective training and muscle growth after it. Along with a fairly high protein content (about 50%), gainers contain about 30% carbohydrates. we need to provide the body with glucose during training. Gainers are used together with proteins. However, for overweight people it is better to avoid gainers, as they are high in calories and can provoke the growth of not only muscles, but also subcutaneous fat. But ectomorphs simply need gainers. Due to the fact that it is very difficult for them to gain weight, and it is simply impossible to eat so much, gainers provide them with an invaluable service.

Energy

But how can those who are pursuing the goal of losing weight get the necessary energy before training? Energy can help you! However, such drinks have a number of contraindications and their regular use is not recommended. They have a stimulating effect on the nervous system, which can contribute to such unpleasant consequences as:

• insomnia,
• nervous exhaustion,
• tachycardia,
• increased heart rate,
• addiction.

The main components included in energy drinks:

• Green tea extract
• Guarana
• Taurine

By the way, all these substances are present in the diet of every Russian citizen. Well, what is breakfast without coffee and dinner without a cup of tea? But you shouldn't overuse energy drinks, unless of course you're preparing for a marathon or a grueling three-hour workout.

Amino acids are found in human food and are necessary not only for athletes, but also for ordinary people. Amino acids are found in animal and plant foods, and many of them are essential for the human body. Amino acids are the building blocks of all cells in the body. That is why the use of a complex of amino acid sports supplements is a necessary element of the training process. Among the most frequently The amino acids used in sports supplements are:

• Glutamine
• Creatine
• Arginine
• Lysine
• Alanin
• Inosine

In general, there are more than 20 amino acids in nature, which, when entering our body, form amino acid compounds of various types and purposes. Amino acids are taken before and after training, as well as at night, to prevent catabolic processes in the body, that is, the processes of muscle breakdown.

Fat burners

Sports supplements that trigger fat burning processes during exercise. This is exactly what I want to draw your attention to. Don't assume that fat burners will help you burn fat while lying on the couch or allow you to eat a couple of extra servings of ice cream at night without harming your figure. Not at all like that! Fat burners are substances that help your body, during intense muscle work, use energy obtained by breaking down fat cells, rather than its own protein.

There are several types of fat burners:

• Thermogenics
• Carbohydrate blockers
• Fat blockers
• Appetite suppressants
• Cortisol blockers
• L-carnitine
• Omega-3 fatty acids
• Diuretics (or)

All these supplements will bring results only if you follow a diet and exercise. You should not abuse them - at a minimum, you will not see a difference by increasing the dose, and at maximum, you will feel worse and get health problems.

Are sports supplements dangerous?

I think that I will express a general opinion if I answer this question: NO!

If you still think that sports nutrition is harmful, then in your spare time, study the labels on your food products. Search the Internet for “Deciphering nutritional supplements” and you will learn a lot about how your body works.

Nowadays, synthesized products are increasingly being introduced into the diet of every person. These products have much less benefits, but they cost manufacturers less. They are addictive and bind you to certain brands and brands, increasing the profits of manufacturers. Look how poor our diet has become in an era of food abundance. I don’t know what is more in our fruits – vitamins or nitrates?

Against the backdrop of this general “starvation”, sports nutrition acts as a lifeline. The only thing we should warn you against is excess and intolerance. Sports nutrition, like any other, has its own norm, and its unreasonable increase can only do harm.

How to choose sports supplements

If you rushed to buy sports nutrition and did not read the article to the end, then you made a big mistake. Because now I will say something that will refute everything I have said above.

Sports supplements are not a panacea. The most important thing is good nutrition! The role of sports supplements is greatly overestimated and this is done in favor of sports nutrition manufacturers, who make a lot of money from this.

BUT! Sports nutrition is indispensable in several cases:

• If you are exposed to heavy physical activity
• If you are unable to eat often
• If you have a metabolic disorder

Certainly, sports nutrition has a number of benefits before regular food. For example:

• Ease of preparation
• Convenient consumption anywhere and anytime
• High rate of nutrient absorption compared to regular food
• High nutritional value (the concentration of nutrients per 100 grams of product is much higher than in regular food)
• The cost of the elements obtained using sports supplements is lower than the cost of products containing the same amount of elements
• Easy to count your intake

All these benefits make sports supplements indispensable for athletes and people leading an active lifestyle.

Today, the sports nutrition market is growing like mushrooms after rain, and when you come to the store for the first time, you can get lost. The consultant, of course, can push you a few expensive jars and convince you of their necessity. But in order not to be scammed and not look like an amateur, I will give you a few recommendations:

1. If your body type and are trying to build muscle mass, then you need to:

• Gainer – in the morning, 2 hours after breakfast and immediately after training
• Protein (casein) – before bed

2 . If you're body type or and work on muscle growth and burning subcutaneous fat, then you need:

• Whey Protein – 1 hour before workout and 1 hour after
• L-carnitine – 30 minutes before training
• Protein (casein) – before bed

3. Choose mid-price supplements. Typically, more expensive supplements are due to a well-promoted brand.

4. Buy packages that are not too large. Firstly, this sports supplement may not be suitable for you; secondly, the shelf life of open packages is limited.

5. Choose sports nutrition manufacturers from the USA or Germany. It is in these countries that the production of sports supplements is most developed and their quality has been tested over the years.

Well, that's basically it. Now you are privy to all the secrets of sports nutrition and, knowing its basics, you will not get into trouble. And it’s up to you, of course, to decide whether to use it or not. It will be better if you take sports supplements with the permission of your doctor if you have health problems and persistent chronic diseases.

Find out if sports supplements work as they say.

Sports nutrition has been known to athletes for a long time. When it appeared, opinions about its benefits were completely different, some supported such a need, others criticized it. Today, many have long appreciated the positive qualities of sports supplements and vitamins. But there are still skeptics who are convinced of the opposite. It is especially easy to convince beginners of the dangers of sports nutrition who do not yet have a complete understanding of what it really is. Let's try to briefly answer the frequent negative opinions that are found in society.

There is a percentage of people who believe that sports nutrition is difficult to buy and that it is a chemical product. In fact, nothing like that can be said about him. These are only natural ingredients that are produced through modern processing. During their production, useful substances are extracted from products, and all fats and calories are eliminated. Thus, taking sports nutrition allows you to replenish your body with essential vitamins and microelements.

Another incorrect statement is that sports supplements affect the excretory and digestive systems, namely, they overload it. In reality, sports nutrition is nothing more than nutritional supplements that cannot have any effect on the digestive system. Therefore, an athlete’s nutrition in no case can consist solely of additives, only in combination with a complete healthy diet, as a supplement. In addition, beginners are usually confident that sports nutrition is a completely unnecessary addition to the diet. And with an integrated and competent approach to everyday food intake, all the necessary substances can be obtained from ordinary foods. Of course, vitamins and minerals are found in food, but in order to get the required daily dose, sometimes you need to eat a quantity of certain foods that is beyond human power.

Another well-known mistake during physical activity is inattention to your body’s reaction to sports. It is known that physical activity is stressful for the body. In addition, during sports, many necessary substances are washed away with sweat, but the need for them remains. Therefore, for high-quality and quick replenishment of them, there is nothing better than sports nutrition. In addition, it allows you to improve the athlete’s condition during training, reduce stress in the body after it and achieve the desired result much faster and without harm to health, without exhaustion.

And, finally, I would like to note the prevailing opinion about the high cost of sports nutrition. It cannot be said that it is cheap, but it also does not make sense to say that it is not accessible to many. Firstly, the exercise itself is also not free, so usually people with low incomes cannot afford to go to the gym. But that's not the point. When starting to take sports nutrition, a person no longer needs to take many foods that were required to maintain normal levels of vitamins and microelements. This means that costs for conventional products are reduced.

Not a single workout is complete without sports nutrition. Manufacturers of dietary supplements purposefully convince us that without their products, and in gigantic quantities, it is simply impossible to achieve growth. What is this: fashion or a real need? And what effect does sports nutrition have on the body?

Athletic body fashion

Muscular relief, a toned stomach and an elastic butt are the criteria of physical beauty today. The era of the Venus de Milo and curvy figures is far behind us. You may not be handsome or beautiful, but if you have all of the above, you will not be left without attention. But attention is an indicator of success in society today and at all times.

In the name of fashion, handsome men and women, as before, are ready to exhaust themselves in a variety of ways. Today, intense exercise, sports nutrition, dietary supplements and even special chemicals are used for this. We will only talk about sports nutrition.

What exactly was sports nutrition created for?

It's impossible to eat so much

The fact is that professional athletes during competitions and intense training experience an urgent need for nutrients: proteins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates. It is simply impossible to satisfy this need with ordinary food, even balanced and nutritious food - they would have to eat kilograms of vegetables and drink liters of milk.

Typically a person consumes 2500-3500 calories per day. This is approximately what we eat every day. In order to actively build muscle mass, the number of calories needs to be at least doubled. Imagine that starting tomorrow you will have to eat twice, or even three times as much. By the way, before the invention of sports nutrition, professional powerlifters ate up to 7 times a day, including at night. And we slept at least three times a day. The rest of the time was spent on intensive training. It’s true that those athletes looked a little thicker than the average person - no match for modern piles of muscles.

Concentrates instead of food

Therefore, various types of sports nutrition have appeared, containing substances necessary for the body in concentrated form. This type of sports nutrition is called restorative because it allows you to speed up the recovery process in the body after serious exercise. There is also stimulating sports nutrition that increases physical performance during training.

Sports nutrition are natural substances that are presented in the form of concentrates. In the process of producing concentrates, modern technologies are used that eliminate most of the excess. Therefore, these products contain only the substances necessary for the body. Sports nutrition is available in a wide variety of forms: powder, capsules, tablets, ampoules, etc. They include beneficial substances that are found in foods such as milk, meat, vegetables and fruits.

Sports nutrition allows the body to obtain the necessary amino acids. They are necessary for the restoration of muscle tissue after physical activity. Amino acids are replaceable and irreplaceable (depending on the body’s ability to produce them independently through synthesis). If there is a lack of essential amino acids in the body, the state of health worsens and the immune system is weakened.

Gainers are protein-carbohydrate mixtures that are created specifically for gaining muscle mass. They replenish energy reserves and provide the necessary amount of protein.

Fat burners, or thermogenic complexes, activate metabolism by accelerating carbohydrate-fat metabolism at the cellular level and removing metabolic products from the body.

About harm and benefit

Only a complete amateur can speak unambiguously about the undeniable benefits or harms of sports nutrition. As in any branch of medicine, there are a lot of different points of view, sometimes directly opposite, and there are countless myths about the dangers or benefits of these supplements. One of the myths is the statement that they are all pure chemistry. For the most part, they are made from natural products - milk, eggs, soy, etc., which, thanks to modern technologies, acquire a look, taste and quality that is very far from the original product.

Of course, some supplements are indeed very nutritious and beneficial. Nobody doubts this. But very often it turns out that effective concentrates are just a drop in the ocean of useless and empty products. There is no doubt that none of them can compete with natural, natural food. Have you often seen advertisements for fresh eggs or fresh meat, natural vegetables or fruits? That's right, why waste money on the obvious?

Every sports nutrition manufacturer shouts at the top of their voices about the miraculous properties of their product. But most of these statements have no basis. The fact is that companies would have to spend a lot of money to conduct thorough and serious research. And this would mean ruin for them. Therefore, we still do not have balanced scientific arguments in favor of certain products. Research is being carried out in a rushed manner, just to tick a box.

Let's turn to theory

How safe and justified is the use of sports nutrition? Professional athletes consume such nutrition along with regular food and strictly according to the recommendations of doctors and trainers - they really need it. In professional sports, you cannot win the competition in any other way.

But for beginner athletes or those people who do not experience serious stress during their activities, sports nutrition is unlikely to benefit them, because there is no need for a large amount of nutrients. Therefore, the use of sports nutrition in such cases will only lead to unnecessary problems with the digestive system.

In the manufacturing process of sports nutrition, modern technologies are used that eliminate most of the excess. Thus, the body receives many useful substances, spending a minimum of effort on their processing and absorption. It seems good: continuous profit with significant savings in time and effort. However, doctors again come up with arguments that the human digestive tract is generally not adapted to processing concentrates. Of course, you shouldn’t overload him with heavy food. But excessive consumption of sports nutrition can cause digestive disorders or even atrophic processes.

Doctors believe that taking protein in large quantities can harm the body, and especially the kidneys. Athletes actively dispute this opinion, saying that a high-protein diet helps maintain normal kidney health and reduces the likelihood of developing high blood pressure. Most likely, the truth, as usual, is somewhere in between. Let us remind you again: large-scale scientific studies of sports nutrition have not yet been conducted.

Food comes last

In conclusion, it is worth saying that excessive consumption of sports nutrition products can turn the positive effect of bodybuilding and fitness into a negative one. The average amateur can achieve quite decent results without any additives. Based on this proven truth, you must understand that lack of progress is the result of errors in training, nutrition or rest. And additives have nothing to do with it.

No supplement can make initially incorrect training productive. If a combination of training, natural food and rest does not give you results, do not think that you can get the ball rolling with sports nutrition. You're probably just not training, eating or resting properly. Find out, find the reason, eliminate it, and only when you start to “grow” can you experiment with concentrates with a pure soul. At your own responsibility, of course.

Today in the world of sports, everyone who is not too lazy speaks affirmatively about “how to do it right”, with varying degrees of conviction: from sports nutrition manufacturers, pros and sports nutrition store salespeople, to beginners, bloggers and Instagram pop stars.

But how often do you hear talk about the dangers of sports nutrition for health? As a rule, isolated exclamations in this direction are perceived as a lack of courage, incompatible with iron sport. Let's think about this topic.

Often, arguments in response to the question about the dangers of sports nutrition are statements that “sports nutrition is chemical,” “steroids are added to it,” and other prohibited drugs. Sometimes they talk about low-quality fakes of original brands.

And it is true.

But why do manufacturers put such a pig in their products?

The answer is that they are simply responding to increased demand.

Our society is becoming very lazy. In matters of beauty and health, this manifests itself in desire quick results(either in losing weight or gaining muscle mass) and without effort.

Sports nutrition manufacturers are happy to turn our lives into a fairy tale and respond to the growing demand for an “easy” life by inventing a magic pill or powder. And with modern advances in chemistry, they are doing quite well. But at what cost?

Remember Neo from The Matrix? There are two pills: blue and red... What will you choose: the path of long and persistent training, where you can maintain and improve your health, or a magic pill with which you can quickly transform, but at the cost of harm to your health?

For many, the result is important and at any cost..." Still, if it is packaged and sold in a well-known store, then it cannot be very harmful... after all, this is the 21st century"

Examples of harm from sports nutrition

1 Example 1: magic drops and tablets

A young man wants to surprise, gain muscle mass: increase self-esteem, surprise his friends.

He has a choice:

• gym + instructor + proper nutrition for N years or
• magic drops, tablets or injections (,), which guarantee transformation even without going to the gym, lying on the couch, within a month...

Many young boys and girls will choose the second option without persuasion, without even asking the question “what are the risks?” This is confirmed by the reality around us.

If we talk about numbers, then according to statistics, 3-4 million young people use or have ever used steroids, and 30% of them develop dependence on them 3.

The temptation to quickly transform is too great...

It’s a different matter when we talk about harmless sports nutrition itself, which for various reasons can pose a health hazard.

3 Example 3: proteins

Let's look at a few examples of the harm of proteins - one of the most useful and researched types of sports nutrition.

• Let's take, for example, a wonderful source of high-quality vegetable protein, comparable in its properties to.

Few people know, but soy and its derivatives contain so-called isoflavones - plant compounds, an analogue of the female sex hormone estrogen, which pose serious harm to health. See our material.

• At one time, a very common problem was the contamination of sports proteins with a substance melamine. It was used by some manufacturers as a cheap filler instead of more expensive protein, which reduced the cost of the product.

Melamine, like protein, includes nitrogen in its composition, which made it possible to pass the quality test without problems, but poses a very serious harm to kidney health: the use of sports nutrition containing it led to the formation of kidney stones, kidney failure and even death. More facts about protein quality issues.

• Another example is the reduction in protein quality during the technological processing of natural raw materials.

For example, when making whey or casein protein isolates and hydrolysates, the milk protein is exposed to heat and acid.

Both factors can lead to its protein coagulation: it becomes non-functional (unsuitable for building muscle tissue), and, according to some studies, is harmful to health, as it can stimulate the development of cancer.

Hard to believe? Take a look at the following materials for example:

4 root reasons for the emergence of the “harmful sports nutrition” market

1 The sports nutrition market is not controlled by the state

In the United States, and throughout the world, sports nutrition is being marketed without prior consumer health safety research.

This is facilitated by the fact that no one is preventing it: sports nutrition products have somehow surprisingly found themselves on the margins of control by government agencies, despite their status being slightly different from medications.

CHINESE STUDY

Findings from the world's largest study of the links between diet and health

Results of the largest study of the relationship between nutrition and health, consumption animal protein and... cancer

"Book No. 1 on nutrition, which I advise absolutely everyone to read, especially athletes. Decades of research by a world-famous scientist reveal shocking facts about the relationship between consumption animal protein and... cancer"

Andrey Kristov,
founder of the site

A thorough study is carried out only if there are numerous facts of harm and side effects of a particular product and this is carried out by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

The quality and absence of harm to health of sports nutrition is not controlled by any government agency in the United States and, most likely, in any country in the world

Moreover, even the fact that scientists and doctors have recorded many cases of colossal harm of various types of sports nutrition for the health of athletes (and even deaths) does not prevent us from holding our heads and reconsidering our attitude towards this class of goods.

Numerous studies of popular supplements for weight loss and muscle growth that promise quick results indicate that they often contain prohibited substances, posing a risk not only to the health, but also to the reputation of professional athletes, increasing the likelihood of a positive doping test when it is not expected.

Thorough scientific research in independent laboratories often reveals the content of prohibited drugs in sports nutrition products or discrepancies in composition even in the most “innocent” products

2 Demand creates supply

In professional sports, resisting the temptation to “help your body,” as one of the famous Russian bodybuilders put it, referring to the latest achievements in sports pharmacology, is very difficult, given the considerable prize funds.

Manufacturers of specialized sports nutrition know that athletes are very vulnerable to this. The effectiveness of many drugs is indeed confirmed by scientific research, but others are not.

As for amateurs, as we have already noted, today many young boys and girls are looking for quick ways to solve their problems with appearance, with excess fat or lack of muscle mass.

For them, it is quite enough to do only “external tuning”, and by any means, preferably without extra effort and quickly. This desire makes them very open to everything that is forbidden.

3 High level of trust in principles from the past

Surprisingly, it is typical for modern athletes very high level of trust in ideas from the past in the field of sports nutrition, the fallacy of which has been reliably proven today.

The most telling example: it has long been proven that There is no relationship between ultra-high protein diets and athletic performance..

However, professional athletes, and even more so amateurs and their coaches, continue to persistently follow this myth, consuming huge doses every day, as well as (already contained in proteins!), guided by the principle “the more the better,” without giving themselves The report is that most of the undigested protein is simply flushed down the toilet.

Athletes, both amateur and professional, are characterized by a very high level of trust in ideas from the past, the uselessness of which is scientifically proven today

4 Science and pseudoscience

The sports nutrition industry is growing rapidly. More and more scientists are getting involved in the research process: some of them are commissioned by large companies they need results to put the “scientifically proven” stamp on your products; others, who are not yet alien to the principles of honesty and objectivity, strive to find out the truth in order to promptly warn users about potential harm or tell them how to properly take a particular product in order to save them from wasting money.

There is a kind of struggle going on between both.

Scientists cannot always be trusted: many of them are fed by sports nutrition manufacturers

Some of the most common supplements in professional sports nutrition are energy drinks, nitric oxide supplements (arginine-based products), etc.

While the benefits and effectiveness of protein and creatine have been clearly proven, arginine and many amino acids and even some types of protein (for example,) raise many questions from scientists.

The effectiveness of arginine and the benefits of its own have not been clearly proven.

Facts about the harm of sports nutrition from an independent scientific laboratory

Below, as an illustration, are some facts from the independent laboratory ConsumerLab.com about the dangers of sports nutrition.

1 According to scientific research, it is the prohibited hidden ingredients (steroids, hormones, amphetamines) that are most often cause of exceptional harm in sports nutrition.

They can lead to increased risk of testicular cancer among men. Compared to men who had never used these supplements, the risk of developing testicular cancer was found to be 65% higher among those who had ever used them; 121% higher when used before age 25; by 156% - when used for more than 36 months; by 177% - when using two or more additives containing prohibited substances 1.

The main cause of harm in sports nutrition is most often prohibited hidden ingredients: steroids, stimulants, hormones. Their consumption significantly increases the risk of developing testicular cancer in men

Neither drug has been studied for harm during pregnancy or breastfeeding; Therefore, it is strictly not recommended to take them at this time.

2 Manufacturers of sports nutrition containing prohibited substances sometimes mislead by claiming that they are natural and derived from plants.

For example, the following ingredients are often added hidden to some sports nutrition products to enhance the effect (in particular, fat burners):

• stimulant aegeline: the manufacturer states that it is made from Bengal Quince;
• DMAA(dimethylamylamine, 1.3 dimethylamylamine or methylhexanamine): the manufacturer states that it is made from Geranium;
• DMBA(1,3-dimethylbutylamine, 2-amino-4-methylpentane or 4-methyl-2-pentanamine and also labeled as 4-amino-2-methylpentane citrate, AMP citrate, 1.3-dimethylbutylamine citrate, 4-amino-2-pentanamine , Pentergy, and 4-AMP): the manufacturer states that it is made from Pouchung Tea;
• N-diethyl-phenylethylamine: The manufacturer states that it is made from Dendrobium Orchid;
• BMPEA or beta-methylphenethylamine: the manufacturer states that it is made from Acacia Rigidula.

Animal studies of the harms of these substances indicate that taking BMPEA may increase blood pressure and be accompanied by similar side effects to other amphetamine-like substances, the safety of which has not been studied in humans.

In 2014, ConsumerLab.com researchers tested sports supplements available for purchase in online stores during the January-April 2014 time period that were labeled as containing Acacia rigidula. All of them were intended for weight loss, increasing athletic performance and mental activity. 11 of the 21 supplements—many from the same manufacturer—contained BMPEA in varying doses (ranging from 3 to 94 mg) 2 .

Supplements containing BMPEA included fat burners Aro Black Series Burn(Vitacost), Lipodrene Hardcore(Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals) and 9 others, including 2 sports supplements Jet Fuel Superburn(GAT).

Some of the products on this list, sold by Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, have been seized in the past for containing the illegal substance DMAA. Back then, DMAA and its analogue DMBA were also disguised on labels as plant extracts.

Laboratory studies have found that many weight loss and sports supplements contain the banned stimulant BMPEA.

3 Often in various types of sports nutrition add steroids. They do this to ensure a quick "Wow!" effect in building muscle mass and losing weight. Examples of the most popular synthetic steroids - methasterone And dimethazine.

Important: ConsumerLab recommends avoiding any sports nutrition product that contains any of the prohibited ingredients listed below, and choosing single-ingredient products rather than multi-ingredient products or those containing proprietary blends with unknown composition or that produce incredible muscle-building or weight-loss benefits.

Do not trust what ordinary consumers advise and tell you, no matter how impressive their dimensions, sellers of specialized sports nutrition stores, and, especially, the media, etc.

In order to emphasize the importance of the issue, let us illustrate the situation with an illustrative example given by Professor Dan Benardot in his book “Advanced sport nutrition”. This is a real fact.

“Recently, water researchers have suggested that large amounts of water consumed by untrained runners during a marathon may increase the risk of death during the race.

The result of this particular study was presented in the media as saying that it is dangerous for a person to drink too much water as it can lead to death. Then the fantasies continued and they suggested that the risk from insufficient water consumption was much less serious.

Obviously, the conclusion presented in the newspapers is far from the one the researchers came to. Not all fluids are water, not all events last four hours, and well-trained athletes have different sweat rates compared to poorly trained athletes, so their fluid needs are different.

Incorrect wording has left many athletes who rely on the press at risk of dehydration and possible cardiac arrest due to decreased water intake."

This example well illustrates the fact in which the statements of even authoritative sources can reach us after repeated interpretation in their own way by sellers, athletes and even manufacturers, and the importance of our own balanced approach to the issue.

2 Question and check statements made by brand representatives

We are talking about the biased opinion of sellers and marketers, whose goal and meaning in life is to make a profit. We have already touched on this issue above.

3 Be skeptical to the results of “scientific” research by scientists who are “fed” by large companies or are hired by them

4 Trust the scientific facts from independent experts who are not interested in juggling the results

For example, in the USA there are several independent scientific laboratories that regularly monitor the quality of various types of sports and nutritional supplements. One of them is ConsumerLab.com. She has a lot of facts about discovering the harm of sports nutrition.

Examine.com is another independent science portal that aims to examine what scientific research says about the benefits and harms of various drugs and supplements. They also do not sell anything and are not interested in falsifying facts.

In our materials on the site, we often use facts from the pages of these two portals, as well as directly from scientific sources, trying to present the most objective point of view.

5 Check brand reputation, your chosen sports nutrition

We have already said that the sports nutrition market is beyond the control of the competent authorities.

There is no guarantee that everything that is written on the packaging of a sports supplement is actually contained there and in the indicated quantities. It is equally likely that there may be more, less, or even no “active ingredients” at all.

Likewise, in addition Substances not listed on the packaging may be present. And this situation deserves the greatest concern.

Cases of such discrepancy are more common than they seem and often lead to positive doping tests in professional athletes. In such situations, an apology in the form of “Forgive me. I didn’t know...” doesn’t work.

For large sports nutrition brands, such manipulations are fraught with loss of reputation and loss in fierce competition. It is unlikely that any of them will allow a compromise between customer trust and the desire to make money by any means necessary.

Most often, evidence of harm to sports nutrition due to the content of prohibited ingredients is typical for unknown fly-by-night companies.

Important: identify a list of brands with a good reputation and carefully control everything you consume.

Large brands of sports nutrition can be trusted: few of them will take the step of deceiving customers, as this is fraught with loss of reputation and trust

Conclusion

If you blindly follow the loud and popular sports diets, the recommendations of the "pros", there is a chance that you will achieve impressive results, but the price may be your health.

Sports nutrition is not as harmless as it seems. Science knows many facts of harm and side effects from the use of even the most harmless additives.

Cultivate critical thinking and do not trust recommendations, advice from people incompetent in the subject, even bodybuilding pros with enviable credentials.

Remember that 99% of the Instagram stars you want to be like are products of hormone and steroid therapy, not proper diet, hard work and self-discipline (even if they preach about it).

Sport is wonderful in itself and is certainly good for the body. The philosophy of our portal is that sport should lead to an improvement in the quality of life in the long term, and not lead to problems for the rest of life. Stay with us!

Sports nutrition for athletes is one of the most important factors in the structure of the body. And those who eat right and exercise regularly, still the body cannot receive all the substances it needs for development. This is why sports nutrition is so necessary. But with its appearance, a lot of questions arose about its usefulness. Some criticize it, comparing it with anabolic steroids and chemistry, while others cannot live without it. And there can be several reasons for bad reviews:

1. - you bought a product from a dubious seller,
2. - saved money and bought a cheap, untested product,
3. - taken not as indicated in the instructions.

All these reasons are possible and side effects are also possible or, conversely, the lack of any effectiveness from taking this product. But not knowing information about a product does not relieve you of responsibility. In other words, everything you do, first weigh it, think it over carefully, and only then purchase it.

In fact sports nutrition for athletes- these are natural ingredients, food additives, vitamins, which are made through modern processing and during which all fats and calories disappear, and only useful substances remain. Thus, sports supplements are rich in microelements and help to endure training easier, recover faster, gain lean muscle mass, burn excess subcutaneous fat, maintain joints, strengthen the immune system, etc. And please don’t confuse weight gain supplements with hormones – these are two different things. Hormonal drugs, namely the male hormone testosterone, are taken to sharply increase in volume, which can lead to a stop in the normal activity of their native hormones.

Also, taking steroid drugs can lead to a lot of negative consequences due to the failure of the hormonal system.

Now there is a lot of talk about which supplements are better, what is better to use: protein or amino acids, what is the difference between creatine and protein, why do you need a gainer? To learn to distinguish one from the other, you just need to carefully study the product, remember organic chemistry from school, and you will not have any difficulty in selecting sports nutrition.

And do not forget that sports nutrition will not bring dramatic results to a beginner. Because they are included in the work on prepared muscles, until you have completed the adaptation period in training, nutrition and sleep schedule, do not take sports nutrition!

Since during bodybuilding the body loses many minerals, and food cannot always completely replenish the reserves, because physically it can be absorbed from 20-50% of what is taken at a time, sports supplements will come to your aid.

It’s impossible to say with certainty that supplements are harmful, but it’s a fact that they will bring untold help to your muscles.