Pre-Workout Complement Labels Can Be Misleading

My husband is a general skeptic of vitamins and supplements, but just a few times every week, he takes a pre-workout complement powder that I wish to call the “pink stuff.” Mixing half a small scoop with a glass of water creates a drink that tastes like pink lemonade and gets him fired as much as hit the gym and, supposedly, get probably the most of his workout (whatever meaning).

Recently, it occurred to me to ask him, “Do you truly know what’s within the pink stuff?” Because similar to the complement industry as a complete, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it “doesn’t have the authority to approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness, or to approve their labeling, before the supplements are sold to the general public.” Meaning, that what complement makers put of their bottles, and what the label says is of their bottles, is completely as much as the complement makers themselves. Unsurprisingly, this leads to a variety of supplements not actually containing what those labels claim.

A recent study has found that probably the most cutting-edge products within the sports performance category of supplements are not any different—with potentially dire consequences. Of the 57 performance supplements that were tested, the contents of only 11 percent were true to the labels, while the remaining 89 percent either didn’t contain the listed ingredients, or contained them in doses various from 0.02 percent to 334 percent of the labeled quantity. Meanwhile, 12 percent of the products contained ingredients which have been banned by the FDA.

“Consumers were as prone to get an FDA-prohibited drug off the stimulant as an alternative of getting an accurate amount of the ingredient listed on the bottle,” Pieter Cohen, MD, a Cambridge Health Alliance professor and a study co-author, says.

The study, published within the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed performance supplements that advertised themselves as “pre-workout,” “metabolism boosting,” “fat burning,” “bodybuilding,” and other claims. The researchers honed in on these supplements particularly because they contained five buzzy and comparatively recent plant-based ingredients serving as “alternative botanical compounds for sports enhancement” to the banned stimulant ephedra. Essentially, complement makers are starting to advertise botanical ingredients—R vomitoria, methylliberine, halostachine, octopamine, and turkesterone—that may get you juiced in your workout like a stimulant.

“Manufacturers are promoting [these ingredients] as potentially the following emerging thing,” Dr. Cohen says. “What we attempt to do with a study like that is get ahead of the issue before these ingredients get incorporated into 1000’s of various workout supplements.”

And the issue is real: In a 2015 study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cohen says a disproportionate amount of the 23,000 supplement-related emergency room visits were linked to performance supplements.

With this recent study, researchers weren’t actually testing for the protection or efficacy of the botanical ingredients; the aim was to see if supplements were accurately labeled. Nonetheless, “even in the event that they’re accurately labeled, that doesn’t mean they’re secure, and doesn’t mean they’re effective,” Dr. Cohen says. “The manufacturers are permitted to incorporate a countless variety of these sorts of plant-derived ingredients. And it doesn’t mean that the FDA has checked out that these are secure to make use of or will help any workouts.”

“Even in the event that they’re accurately labeled, that doesn’t mean they’re secure, and doesn’t mean they’re effective.” –Pieter Cohen, MD

But for those who were hoping to get your hands on a complement with these ingredients, you’re probably out of luck there, too: 40 percent of the supplements didn’t contain any significant traces of the listed ingredients. Meanwhile, one other 49 percent did contain the ingredients, but at wildly incorrect doses, starting from barely any to over 300 percent of the listed amount. That dosage matters since the effectiveness and safety of complement ingredients are tied to the quantity. Too little, you won’t see much effect. An excessive amount of, and—within the case of a stimulant—you could possibly be straining your body’s cardiovascular system, which might be fatal.

Dr. Cohen gives the instance of caffeine: A cup of coffee is perfectly secure, while a teaspoon of powdered caffeine can actually kill you (which is why the FDA has told corporations to stop selling powdered caffeine).

“Some corporations are only putting some fancy names on the label, after which selling nothing, so it’s only a waste of cash, but that shouldn’t cause any health risks,” Dr. Cohen says. “Other corporations are like, well, let’s do whatever we will to attempt to get the buyer to feel like they’re getting a greater workout, or feel like there’s something potent on this product. So you would possibly try this by giving an enormous dose of caffeine after which by utilizing stimulants that aren’t approved by the USA.”

Of the five FDA-banned substances present in the supplements that were tested, one is a drug available in Russia, three were stimulants previously available in Europe, and one has not been approved to be used in any country. (One product even contained 4 different FDA-banned substances.)

So what are you able to do for those who’re trying to get a pre-workout boost via a complement? The most effective recourse is to stick with protein shakes, creatine, and/or amino acids, since they have a tendency to be less dangerous, says Dr. Cohen. Otherwise, you need to be sure your supplements are certified by independent testing bodies, just like the USP or NSF certifications.

As for the pink stuff? It seems it’s NSF-certified. Phew.