Welcome to The Supplement Guide

The aim of the this guide is to provide an unbiased look at dietary supplements and analyse the uses and benefits of each one. Having played a multitude of sports and recently venturing into the world of bodybuilding I am aware of the constant need to improve performance and be the best. I believe the correct use of supplementation can help you to acheive your goals and give you that extra competetive edge in almost any sport. This guide will discuss supplements which increase strength, improve endurance and also supplements which benefit your overall health. I have used many of these supplements myself and where every possible I will try to add my own personal experience.

What is a dietary supplement?

A dietary supplement is any compound that is ingested which contains an active ingredient intended to provide additional benefit to a nutritional diet.

Do all supplements work?

In short, no! There are some pretty shady companies out there which will produce products that have little or no benefit at all. The supplement market is big business and wheres theres money to be made you can be sure there are a few bad apples willing to rip you off. But surely the government wouldn't let companies market products without evidence to support their claim right? Not in the U.S. it seems..

"Manufacturers do not have to provide FDA with evidence that dietary supplements are effective or safe; however, they are not permitted to market unsafe or ineffective products. Once a dietary supplement is marketed, FDA has to prove that the product is not safe in order to restrict its use or remove it from the market."--The National Institute of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements

So according to The National Institute of Health the responsibily falls on the FDA to prove that a supplement is ineffective before it can be removed from the market. I hope i'm not the only one who thinks thats crazy.

In Europe things are a little better. Under the new EU Directive on Dietary Supplements a product must have gone under extensive research to be legally sold as a dietary supplement. Unfortunately this directive is responsible for banning some great supplements including organic Vitamin E (now only the synthetic version is allowed), HMB and several others. Can't have it both ways I suppose.

Hope you enjoy this guide, any feedback you might have is greatly appreciated.