To put it another way, just because “Science = Complicated,” doesn’t mean the reverse, “Complicated = Science,” is also true.  In science, things are no more complex than they need to be. K.I.S.S. is standard operating procedure, even if it’s expressed in technical terms that most people aren’t familiar with.

This brings us to yet another supplement marketing tactic: labels with a long, loooonnnng list of ingredients. This adds needless complexity - sometimes to an extreme degree.  Anyone catch the label for Muscletech’s Anabolic Halo, for example?  Count ’em yourself: there are 74 different compounds/extracts listed (not including the artificial sweeteners and other additives).  

This is a laughably ridiculous number of ingredients.  Do you seriously think this is the simplest configuration for achieving the desired anabolic effects?  If so, please give me a call!!! There’s a bridge I’d like to sell you…

To provide a simpler example, let’s take Muscletech’s classic supp, Cell-Tech.  Whereas the original Cell-Tech contained creatine monohydrate (boooooorrrrring!!!), the newer “Hardcore” version contains a blend of 7 different creatines:

Creatine Monohydrate (Featuring Nano-Diffuse™ Technology)
Creatine Anhydrous
Creatine Malate
Creatine Alpha-Ketoglutarate
CREAKIC™ (Creatine-6,8-Thioctic Acid-Ketoisocaproic Acid Calcium)
Creatine Pyroglutamate
Tri-Creatine HCA

Think about it: how are 7 creatines better than one?  Do any of the alternate forms work better than creatine monohydrate?  If not, then why are they in the formula?  If so, then why is creatine monohydrate still in the formula?  Where is the science that shows that a combo of even two different forms works better than one?  Why seven, and not three or five…or eleven, for that matter? 

Anyone???

But all them creatines shore do look purdy though…don’t they?   Plain old creatine monohydrate is so…so…plain.  It’s so yesterday, even dressing it up with “Nano-Diffuse™ Technology” doesn’t cut it.

Now, this isn’t to pick specifically on Muscletech (as amusing as this can sometimes be) - Cell-Tech is just an obvious example that many people are familiar with.  As far as I can tell, it works well enough, although no better than competing, simpler products.

The take-home lesson is that a long list of ingredients doesn’t make a supplement somehow superior to one with only a few (hopefully) well-chosen ingredients.  In addition to adding needless complexity, it also increases the odds that you’re buying a lot of “label decoration” (although that’s a topic for another post). To make a long story short, more isn’t better.

More Isn’t Better is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

It’s been three years since Will posted this on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” forum:

Finally, someone is going after the company that makes the Enzyte “male enhancement formula.” I don’t know about your area, but in the New England area this company runs ads on TV constantly and it drives me crazy. I wondered how long it would take for some entity (e.g., FDA, FTC, etc) to take some action against this company and companies of their ilk, ripping off people and making huge profits off desperate men. The wheels of justice turn very slowly, but they do turn…

The wheels of justice were slow, but surprisingly thorough in this case…

Berkeley Nutraceuticals Leader Gets 25 Years

08/28/2008

CINCINNATI—What do misleading advertisements and shady credit card transactions win a convicted criminal? Well, Steve Warshak, founder of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in such fraudulent business practices, which federal officials say swindled consumers out of more than $400 billion dollars. Warshak and company were charged with deceptive ads for Enzyte, a sexual performance product, as well as for an automatic credit card charging scheme that took money from customers without letting them return or cancel orders.

Overall, Warshak was charged with more than 90 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, and his company was ordered to hand over $500,000 in profits and $93,000 in fines. Declaring the case was about greed, U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spiegel prefaced the Warshak’s sentencing with a statement about how the self-proclaimed “Smiling Bob” preyed on customers’ sexual deficiencies and tried to defend himself by claiming the customers did not publicly complain.

Warshak was denied bail during pending appeal of his conviction and has until Sept 29 to surrender to prison.

Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, eh?

Of course, Enzyte itself is still being sold: the crime wasn’t producing a practically useless (albeit harmless) supp, after all.  So buyer (still) beware…

Enzyte Manufacturer Faces Stiff Penalties is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

1. 3β-Hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one
2. Diandrone
3. Androstenolone
4. 5,6-Didehydroisoandrosterone
5. Prasterone

The answer is that they have everything in common…they’re the exact same thing.  These are just a few of the different ways you can write dehydroepiandrosterone, otherwise known as DHEA.  Just as there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, there can be a lot of different ways to write a compound.

This is a trick that a number of supplement manufacturers use. “Chemicalese” is often used to make familiar compounds look unfamiliar.  There’s a bonus too, as it makes the label look all high-tech and “sciencey.”

A twist on this trick is to use archaic terminology, so that it won’t come up in a search.  A classic case came up on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” forum, when a member asked a question about a supplement compound he was trying to ID: ”3-beta-hydroxyetioallocholan-5-ene-17-one.” 

Yup, DHEA again – but the older, non-standard terminology made it almost impossible to trace.  I had to walk through the nomenclature to make the connection.

The moral of the story?  Don’t be blown away by the presence of chemical jargon on a label.  There’s a good chance that the terminology is being used to conceal, rather than reveal, useful information.

Label Lunacy is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

I wrote about one manifestation of this phenomenon this morning, and – wouldn’t you know it - I just stumbled over another one.

A LEADING weight-loss plan is merely a “profiteering starvation diet” which could cause serious health problems, one of the country’s leading nutritionists has warned.

More than 100,000 people across the UK have signed up for the liquid-based LighterLife programme, which involves obese dieters consuming just 530 calories a day for three months at a time.

Professor Mike Lean, head of human nutrition at Glasgow University, claims the scheme takes advantage of vulnerable people and can lead to health difficulties.

But the company behind the scheme, which has annual turnover of £18m, insists it helps people to lose weight quickly and safely. LighterLife, which has franchises across Scotland, has devised a programme in which people who are three or more stone overweight consume nothing but its own range of powdered soups and shakes.

A 12-week supply of “foodpacks” costs around £720.

A 100,000 people – yikes!  And they’re each paying about $1320.00 USD…all for the privilege of starving in a supportive environment.

Now, some people might think - since it obviously ”works” for some people – that it’s a viable option.  Ya gotta do whatever it takes, ya know?  But IMHO, this sort of thing simply reinforces the dichotomy I wrote about this morning:

This is a perfect summary of the completely schizophrenic way we deal with the subject of food.  Food is anything but an enjoyable source of nutrition in this scenario.  Rather, it’s a “can’t-live-with-it/can’t-live-without-it” obsession that has a stranglehold on everyone’s psyche, and leaves people careening between the extremes of no-holds-barred gluttony and rigid, unyielding deprivation. 

This is the “deprivation” side of things…and the psychological/emotional costs were eloquently described by a blogger who signed up for the program:

I know that we all WANT to be thinner and look better, but to reinforce the feelings we have of not being worthy because we’re fat now, by showing a lady openly saying she was ashamed of herself, and thin people sitting in front of her nodding in agreement, is horrible.   It’s very contradictory to see that in the video, and then be asked about times people have made you feel bad because of your weight, and for the counsellor to then tell you to wipe those thoughts from your mind because you count, and you don’t need to feel bad about the person you are.

I was also concerned for one of the ladies who I go with.  3 of us car share, and today one of the ladies admitted that she’d eaten 3 pringles.  On the way home she was saying how relieved she was that she was still in ketosis and still lost weight even after having them.  She said she felt so disgusted with herself that she was spitting them out, and spent ages afterwards worrying and feeling guilty and disappointed with herself.  For 3 pringles.  For someone who has only moderately overeaten through occassional greed, and is not THAT overweight anyway, to suddenly be so terribly horrified by having put something so small in her mouth, and to feel so badly about it for so long afterwards – these are symptoms of eating disorders, and I really feel that whether intentional or not, this course actually encourages this behaviour in people who haven’t suffered with it before.

I understand that if you want to keep on top of your weight when you have lost it, that you will have to be vigilant, and make effort probably every day to recognise your feelings and keep control of them, but to actually instill in someone this sort of level of attention to something is akin to obsession, and therefore really not healthy.

I can’t help but agree.  The only difference between a program like this, and a clinical eating disorder is one of degree: it’s not taken to the level where it becomes physically incapacitating.  But I don’t see how a program that depends on disordered eating for its very success, can truly help participants get to a place where food can be viewed as an ally, rather than an enemy.

It’s obviously profitable, though.  Nice work if you can get it.

A Lighter Life…and Wallet is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

Every time I see an article like this, I have a Pink Floyd flashback. 

Now you’d think, in an age where obesity rates for young people are skyrocketing, that the ”experts” would be applauding these young men…they want to be fit and look good – what’s wrong with that?!  Pumping iron sure beats the hell out of sitting slackjawed in front of the tube.  Rather than clutching their pearls and getting the vapors over teenaged boys ”…losing some of their innocence”, these “experts” should be working with them to make sure that they have their diets straight, and don’t overtrain or injure themselves.

And – needless to state – they should be encouraging teenaged girls to hit the gym too!

Leave them Kids Alone! is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

Hoo-boy…here we go again…

Anyone considering using steroids to bulk up may want to think again after seeing pictures of the horrific scars suffered by one young bodybuilder.

German doctors were shocked at the extent of the massive, deep ulcerating sores on the chest and back of the 21-year-old man.

After antiseptic and antibiotic therapy the wounds healed but left permanent scars, The Lancet reported.

You might want to pause before clicking that link, btw…the pics aren’t very pretty.

Naturally, the story is the usual scary stuff, and implies that THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU if you so much as consider a cycle.  This “spin,” however, is belied by the stats quoted in the article:

Figures from the British Crime Survey put the number of steroid users at 42,000 but some experts believe the true figure could be twice as high.

So this isn’t exactly a typical case.  If it were, you can be sure that this guy would just be another statistic, not a feature story.

There are other ”red flags” flying in this report, as well.  For one thing, the victim was only 21 years old – hardly old enough to have hit his natural, genetic limits.  As steroid expert Mick Hart wrote:

Enjoy your bodybuilding, but remember, nobody should consider taking anabolic steroids until they have gained everything they can by using hard training, enough rest, a lot of protein, and everything else from the health food store i.e. by training naturally. This can take anything up to eight or ten years of consistent training, i.e. you have to make bodybuilding part of your life-style.

You are living dangerously if you don’t follow this advice (see previous articles in ‘No Bull Collection’), and once you are so fit, you will experience far fewer, or no, side effects from steroids after all these years of natural training, i.e. you have ‘prepared’ your body for them.

Emphasis mine. 

Even worse, it’s obvious he didn’t know what he was doing.  For example, the gyno is obvious, even in his bulked up, “before” pic.  And according to the article:

Dr Gerber added that the man did not stop taking the steroids once the skin problems developed because he was more concerned with losing muscle mass.

He eventually stopped but by then it was found the steroid abuse had also caused a low sperm count and shrunken testicles.

In other words, this is a story about a clueless, barely-out-of-his teens knucklehead, who didn’t have the sense to stop until things went completely south.  I guess the moral is that dim people shouldn’t play with fire, but that isn’t exactly news…unless you’re giving out Darwin Awards.

Steroids are drugs: and like other drugs, need to be treated with respect.  But like other drugs, there’s a difference between use and “abuse.”  To put this into perspective, take a look at the stats for an over-the-counter drug, acetaminophen:

Acetaminophen overdose is the leading cause for calls to Poison Control Centers (>100,000/year) and accounts for more than 56,000 emergency room visits, 2,600 hospitalizations, and an estimated 458 deaths due to acute liver failure each year. Data from the U.S. Acute Liver Failure Study Group registry of more than 700 patients with acute liver failure across the United States implicates acetaminophen poisoning in nearly 50% of all acute liver failure in this country.

Yet, when people OD on Tylenol, you don’t see widespread warnings about how no one should take it.  Instead, you see stuff like this:

But in an accompanying editorial, John G. O’Grady, M.D., of the Institute of Liver Studies at King’s College Hospital in London cautioned that there’s no need for panic, because acetaminophen-associated liver toxicity is uncommon, and the drug itself is not toxic.

“Measures to minimize acetaminophen hepatotoxicity are important but need to be considered in the context that the apparent scale of the problem is a reflection of the huge number of patients taking acetaminophen with good effects and in the absence of any adverse event,” Dr. O’Grady wrote.

Steroids are no different, in this regard.

I’m not trying to make an argument FOR steroids – but I am trying to make an argument for a little perspective on the matter.  These sorts of stories don’t serve as a deterrent, and simply add to the (already excessive) level of misinformation and paranoia about the subject.

A Failure of Perspective is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

It wasn’t too terrible, though.  Sea-Tac is nice airport: it’s clean and well-appointed, with a ton of cafes and stores.  So after Nick and I got Ashley onto her flight, we went window shopping, rode the trains to the outer terminals and back, and otherwise spent the time chatting.  At one point, we hit Tully’s for a couple of lattes, and sat at the bar against the back of the cafe…it was a good place to put our feet up and do some people watching as we sipped our drinks.

While we sat there, we renewed a previous conversation about genetics, then segued into developmental toxicology.  Just as we stood up to go, however, a heavyset, middle-aged woman who had been sitting a few feet away, rose to intercept us.

“Excuse me,” she said, “but I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation…I believe you mentioned ‘cancer’?  Do you know someone with cancer?”

I explained that – no – we were talking strictly about science.  She looked a bit disappointed, but pressed on.  She handed me a business card and a small, plastic sample packet of pills.

“Have you ever heard of Mannatech?”  she asked me. 

I really had to bite my tongue on that one.  “Yes,” I responded, “I’m QUITE FAMILIAR” with Mannatech.”

She obviously didn’t pick up on the hard stress I put on the words “quite familiar.”  She continued with her pitch: about how her sister had cancer, but was taking Mannatech supplements, and “doing very well.”

The implication, of course, was that Mannatech was responsible.  Riiiiiiiigght…

For those of you who aren’t familar with Mannatech, here’s some relatively recent news about the company that’ll tell you all you need to know:

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Texas Attorney General Charges Mannatech With Unlawful, Misleading Sales Practices

Illegal scheme markets supplements as cure for cancer, improved health

DALLAS – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today charged Coppell-based Mannatech, Inc., its owner, Samuel L. Caster, and several related entities with operating an illegal marketing scheme in violation of state law. Today’s enforcement action stems from a large-scale investigation by state authorities, who examined Mannatech’s dubious claims about the health benefits of its products.

Documents filed in Travis County district court reveal Mannatech’s scheme to exploit families, including those challenged by cancer, Down’s syndrome, cystic fibrosis and other serious illnesses. According to investigators, exaggerated claims about the therapeutic benefits of Mannatech’s dietary supplements and nutritional products were unlawfully used to increase sales. The attorney general’s enforcement action asserts that Mannatech’s deceptive practices pose a health risk to seriously-ill consumers who may forgo traditional medical attention because of the company’s false claims.

Her pitch wasn’t quite as bad as the stuff described here, but lord knows – it came right up to the line.  She was utterly oblivious to the legal – and moral - implications of what she was doing…obviously a true believer (people caught up in multi-level marketing rackets often are).

At any rate, the conversation died pretty quickly: I wasn’t interested in a confrontation, but wasn’t particularly agreeable either: my responses were short and blunt: “I have access to all the information I need.”  As she walked away, I had to laugh at Nick – who was gobsmacked by the irony of such a badly out-of-shape woman, approaching ME (of all people!), to hustle a ”miracle” health supplement.

What can I say?  Some people are just clueless.

Clueless in Seattle is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness