Quote:
Originally Posted by HOOT
Again I think you are confused on what an actual supplement is. I wouldn't take a caffeine pill and say I'm supplementing my caffeine intake. However, living in cloudy Victoria I take Vitamin D in the winters because the lack of sun, so I'm supplementing my Vitamin D intake. Thermogenics are not supplements. And I agree thermogenics are a waste of money and if you just spent a little more time in the gym or looking after your diet you would get the same, if not better, results than just taking some pill.
What are the dangers of taking creatine, amino acids and proteins?
|
I guess I should clarify then. I'm equating supplements with ergogenic aids. Anything that aids (or claims to aid) performance. Most GNC products fall into this category.
Protein powder has limited dangers, aside from the stress on the kidneys that high amounts put on the body. But as I said before, they generally adapt. A big problem with protein powders is the artificial sweeteners that's in them. Even the ones that are deemed most safe (sucralose) by the FDA still are very suspect. I take a pure whey protein isolate (unflavored).
Creatine is also generally safe. The problem with it comes with education of those taking it. You have to know what it's for and what it's use is limited to (it's quite limited). Since it works on the phosphocreatine energy system, it's only the first ~10 seconds of intense exercise. It wouldn't do much, if anything, for volume resistance training. For intensity and things like 1RM, it does have some advantages, but they are quite small. It's more geared towards something like an olympic sprinter where they need every advantage possible. Considering cost, it likely isn't worth it for the every day gym rat. Also, it actually inhibits your natural phosphocreatine synthesis, and that kind of impinges on unnatural in my opinion.
Here is a good research article on the limits of creatine.
Individual amino acid supplements may actually interfere with the absorption of other essential amino acids; not something you want, especially those obsessed with protein intake. Really glutamine is the only one you should consider taking individually at all, as it and some other branched amino acids
may have some performance benefits, depending on what it is you're doing.