WARRIORS WAREHOUSE

Guide to Safe and Effective Supplements

The supplement industry is a multi-million dollar industry and is "cut throat" by nature. Unknown to many it is also loosely regulated by the FDA, the organization that enforces standards in the pharmaceutical and food industries. Supplement companies do not have to provide evidence or scientific studies to support their products or any claims they may have for their products. In fact they are not even required to test their products to ensure quality and content standards are being met. What does this mean? They can list multiple ingredients as a proprietary blend with one mg or gram amount. This makes it impossible to determine effective dosing on any ingredient and allows the company an "out" since they have not listed a specific amount of each ingredient. This can be a formula for deceit and disaster.

More companies pop up every year and everyone is trying to win that dollar from customers. Random testing from the FDA continuously finds inadequate amounts of ingredients claimed to be in the product, impurities that are sometimes toxic to consumers, and sometimes prescription drugs that are harmful to consumers when used without supervision of a medical doctor. This is why one must educate themselves not only on the active ingredients themselves but also on how to verify content and quality.

When a supplement company uses an independent third party to test their products to show proof of purity and content this is a good sign. Why? It is not required by the government, it costs the company monetarily to test, and it is a third party so there is less chance for bias or falsification of testing. Some of the best brands use GMP (good manufacturing practices) certification, USP (United States Pharmacopia) certification, and HPLC lab (high pressure or high performance liquid chromatography) testing. Products are marked with these certifications right on the labeling if they have been done.

You should be familiar with each ingredient listed in a supplement and know the reason why it is in the product, what it does for you, and if it is effective. I would recommend doing this BEFORE you ever go searching for a supplement. The best source for studies to look for effectiveness is PUBMED. It has thousands of studies and most are available to the public for free. It also has a search option to narrow down your results to find studies fast and easy.

Examples of Under Dosed, Adulterated, or Contaminated Products

1. Thrive Brand Multivitamin

http://cloudoffice.le-vel.com/Content/Downloads/Documents/THRV001M.pdf

Proprietary blend lists a dose of 526 mg which includes 7 probiotics, guarana (caffeine), green tea, glucoasamine, white willow, green coffee bean, PEA, irvingia, theobromine (caffeine), ginger, synephrine (caffeine like), glutamine, l-arginine, grape seed, BCAA, coQ10, kelp, white tea.
Probiotics are measured in CFUs (colony forming units) so it is difficult to determine dose. Typically there are 100,000 CFU in a mg. Effective dose is 10 billion (10,000,000,000) daily.
Glucosamine effective dose is 1500 mg daily.
Green Coffee Bean effective dose is 750-1050 mg daily and it should list a standardization of 50% chlorogenic acid.
Ginger effective dose is 250 mg four times daily
Glutamine effective dose is 5000-10,000 mg three times daily (5-10 grams)
L-arginine effective dose is 3000-30,000 mg (3-30 grams) daily
Grape seed extract effective dose is 150-2000 mg daily
BCAA effective dose is 5000-10,000 mg three times daily (5-10 grams)
CoQ10 effective dose is 10-300 mg daily
Kelp effective dose is 2500-12,000 mg daily
There are three forms of caffeine in this "multivitamin"
B vitamins are under dosed for an active adult or athlete
Vitamin D effective dose is 400-1000 IU daily, this product gives a dose of 200 IU.
There are no macro minerals in this product and only 3 of the 72 trace minerals.
Also they manufacture a patch for weight loss. None of the ingredients in the patch have ever been studied to verify absorption into the blood stream across the skin. It is also loaded with caffeine.
Most consumers likely consume additional caffeine to that contained in this multivitamin and patch. Excessive caffeine can cause heart arrhythmias (particularly supraventricular tachycardia), head aches, nausea, tremor, seizures, and can even result in death.

2. Driven Sports Craze Pre-workout

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/15/driven-sports-suspended-production-of-craze-amid-controversy/2990161/

US anti doping lab tested this product and found amphetamines present which is a prescription control II classified drug and is illegal to possess or consume without a prescription from a licensed medical doctor.
Abuse of amphetamines can lead to addiction, heart arrhythmias, heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, etc.
The addition of caffeine containing products increases the risk of these side effects.

3. OxyElite Pro

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm374742.htm

Linked to liver failure requiring liver transplants in several patients.
Also contained DMAA (dimethylamylamine) a stimulant that can cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, seizures and has resulted in several deaths.