Excerpt:
Sport Supplement Industry Introduction
The United States is a nation that deeply values body image and physical achievement. We can see this in many things, such as our lavishment of high profile athletes. Consistently, in fact, they are the highest paid in the world. We also provide lucrative modeling careers for some of our most attractive individuals. Photographs of the buff and beautiful are used to sell almost every type of consumer good imaginable. With all of this achievement and beauty surrounding us, it is only natural that the individual desire to look and perform better would become strongly American as well. About 40 million of us now belong to one of an estimated 26,000 fitness clubs across the country. From memberships, to clothes, to nutritional shakes, pills, and powders, we spend a lot of money pursuing our individual fitness goals. In a nation of consumerism, health and fitness has become big business.
This book specifically focuses on the market for sport supplement products. Ergogenic supplements (those promising to help us become bigger, stronger, faster, or more enduring) now generate a stunning 2.5 billions dollars per year in revenue in the United States alone. It is an industry with hundreds of manufacturers, and a seemingly endless list of products and promises. As all consumers learn very quickly, sometimes sports nutrition products deliver on these promises. Other times, however, they do not. I have had the pleasure, and admittedly at times downright frustration, to be a part of this industry for more than a decade now. I am a scientific researcher, a company owner, an avid consumer. I love my job. My position has granted me a very unique inside view of this industry. More than that, it has given me the tools necessary to critically evaluate this market. I’ve written this book to pass these tools along to you. At the very core, sports nutrition is a field of science. It is, however, also a business. Furthermore, there is no approval process for sport nutrition products, and the government is far too busy to review every marketing claim. As a result, the science that drives this field is sometimes secondary to the drive for profits. I have come to understand this business very well. I have learned that there are many people in sports nutrition like me, which hold reverence for this scientific field. I’ve also run across many consummate business people, who care little about fitness, and view this only as a revenue generating market. I am saddened to say that some have found it an ample market to exploit. Americans want to look and feel better. This can be an easy thing to take advantage of, especially if nobody is really watching.
Consumers of sport supplement products are faced with an extremely challenging task — deciding who and what to trust. I am here to help. I intend to do this not by recommending specific companies and products, but by giving you the tools necessary to identify products of value on your own. There is a lot of noise in this market, many misinterpretations of science, and many unsubstantiated claims. This noise, however, can be muffled when you know what to listen for. Throughout this book I will bring you through the science behind each of the popular sport supplement ingredients, and let you know what people are really saying about them. You’ll learn what works, at what dosage, and in what context. I trust that if you pay careful attention to the information presented in this book, you will not be a disappointed consumer. O.K., enough buildup. Let’s get started so you can see what I’m talking about.
