When something goes awry with your health google is gonna find a supplement for you. Brain fog? Try Urolithin A. Feeling a little down? Take some ashwaghanda. Need bigger muscles? Can I interest you in some creatine? But do any of these supplements even work?
There’s a supplement for every ailment and I need them all according to every advertisement, blogger, and health expert trying to make a name. I can cure the blues, get the girl and live my best life if I just take their pill.
Except none of them have proven to be more effective than a reasonably healthy diet. At least according to some.
“The medical consensus is that there are no miracles in those bottles. Multiple studies have found that taking extra vitamins and minerals doesn’t protect against disease or improve overall health in otherwise healthy people.” says Matthew Solan, Executive Editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. “While some people may need specific vitamins or supplements to help with deficiencies, for the average healthy person, following a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables provides all the essential vitamins and minerals.”
‘Ain’t no money in the cure. There’s money in the medicine’- Chris Rock
May Help. Won’t Hurt.
The prevailing attitude about supplements is they probably won’t harm you, and they may slightly benefit you.
But not as much as a reasonably healthy diet.
Where’s the profit in that?
Whole Paycheck, ahem, I mean Whole Foods, apparently.
One supplement to rule them all
While I don’t doubt that a healthy diet provides most of the vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy, I’d be remiss not to mention the one supplement I’ve taken with amazing results: Creatine.
I was seduced by a recent Men’s Health article that promised strength gains, mental clarity and better memory. Then I watched a 170 lb client’s bench press soar from 180 lbs to over 250, then crashed back down to 200.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked.
‘Dunno. I stopped taking creatine. I think I’ll get back on it.’
He now benches 310.
I decided to test it myself. Let’s run the highlight reel:
- My bench press has increased by 50 lbs while lifting chest once a week (with pushups on a separate day).
- Friends I haven’t seen for a few months comment on my bigger physique.
- I am more confident and relaxed.
- I have more desire and energy to workout.
- My desire to eat sugary foods has lessened.
- While mental clarity is notoriously difficult to measure, I have made recent therapeutic and entrepreneurial breakthroughs that I partially attribute to creatine, especially after watching this interview.
And finally, the best way to ingest creatine isn’t through eating a balanced diet. You’d have to eat huge portions of meat, fish or veggies to get even close to what 2 pills (5g) offer.
So do supplements work?
Yes. While most supplements are no match for a balanced diet, there is that one that is living up to the hype. I wish I’d taken it sooner.
And who knows… there might be something else out there that I haven’t tried yet.