Totally agree. I almost don't want reviews on certain things (not even just talking about supplements) because some people seem to obsess over the smallest most unimportant things and then it just almost taints my whole opinion.
With supplements I feel the people who talk about it most always seem to have side effects with everything. I am not saying things don't have side effects, but what are the odds these people literally exhibit symptoms from things that 99.9% of people have no issues with and that they continually have it with everything. Maybe if 1 or 2 things did it would just be kind of poor luck/situation, but if everything effects you poorly....maybe it is not the products.
Yes.
Thing to keep in mind with many of these things is it depends on methods of action. For the majority of these kinds of natural products you don't tend to lose anything when you stop, but the rate of progress may be slower than when you were using certain things.
Great post - on both parts.
I don't think I've ever seen a regression in strength when stopping a natural supplement, but have definitely seen a slowdown in the strength progression; but that's not losing strength, its just not gaining it as quickly.
I definitely agree on the reviews thing - not just on supplements, but almost everything. The sad reality of the world is that most people that like things will never bother to leave reviews unless they're incentivized, whereas people that don't like something, even if its the most minor unimportant irrelevant thing will almost always leave a review nit picking something.
I was reading cosplay dress reviews the other day for my daughter and you had people complaining that 49.99 cosplay dresses that came in small, medium, and large didn't fit as good as custom make 500.00+ dresses that are made by designers based on individual dimensions. It was mind numbing to read bc to me, anyone with common sense would have been like - yeah, no kidding.
On the subject of that pertaining to supplements - you hit it spot on - that a lot of times its the same people who post negatively or always seem to have side effects to everything. I think many times its because they are looking for things to call a side effect and attribute to supplements, when it would be something I would just attribute to daily life. I don't doubt that there are some things that do have side effects for some people - and sometimes those can be some truly out of the norm things and sides, but its important to quantify it versus how many people take certain things.
I'll use an example that includes myself - I feel awful if I use most basic fish oil. Brain fog, fatigue, stomach upset, etc. and I've read about some other people that feel that way too. I do seem to get used to it if I can tough it out though, but no longer use it. But I realize that in probably millions of fish oil softgels consumed per month, that happens to probably 1% max of the people that take it. That's why I rarely mention it - bc its not really a fish oil thing, as much as its a me thing. Instead of speak negatively on fish oil, if it comes up, I just say I take Algal oil and if anyone asks why, I'll explain then.
I've worked in this industry for 25 years. I've tried a lot of different things and I've wasted money trying many, many things over the years out of curiosity, but the worst case 99% of the time has been something just not working. I can't think of 5 times ever that I've actually had a side effect off of any natural supplement that I've tried.
It can happen, and people should always be aware and cautious, but I think as with most things in life, if we overthink things, we will find things to worry us that may not have even been noticed before.
