Pre-Workout a packed stack of biological flavors. “One scoop may send you into an out-of-body experience.” said the juiced to the gills bodybuilder at my local gym. But even before we had pre-workout we survived a day in and day out with the original caffeine booster, 5 Hour Energy. I didn’t believe 5 Hour energy was safe even back in the day, but now we got millions of people making supplements from their underground basement without any real regulations. Did you know supplements are not even required to be FDA approved, so maybe just maybe they’re putting that leftover insect killer to ensure you get an extra buzz from your pre-workout? I digress, but this is the first red flag of pre-workouts and supplements in general.
A “Safe” pre-workout should contain 3 main ingredients:
1. Creatine. We naturally make creatine in our livers for the purpose of regenerating ATP. As we know ATP is important in the actin and myosin contraction in those sarcomeres. So more creatine must equal more strength and power. It is believed that excess creatine reduces our natural production of creatine leading to kidney failure. This would make sense with negative feedback loops and all, but studies have shown that creatine intake does not pose a risk to health.
2. Beta-Alanine. A modified version of alanine is responsible for reducing the building of lactic acid in our muscles. It works in unison with Carnosine, an intracellular proton buffer. (Trexler, 2015). Carnosine maintains decreased acidosis and reduces the rate of muscle fatigue. Beta-Alanine increases the concentration of Carnosine, which allows you to pump out a couple more reps before failure.
3. Caffeine. Well hello, 5-hour energy. If you’re reading this in the morning, how’s the coffee? If you’re reading this in the afternoon, how’s the coffee?? If you’re reading this at night, Why are you drinking coffee? But in all seriousness, caffeine might be the most troublesome in your “safe pre-workout.” A study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that long-term caffeine use in combination with exercise, increasing the risk of high blood pressure. They concluded that the caffeine didn’t really kick in until after the workout, but they saw a 22% reduction in blood flow. This was an old study and they used coffee as their caffeine source, but imagine in today’s day and age where one scoop of pre-workout contains 300mg of caffeine. That’s 75% of our recommended consumption of caffeine packed into one measly scoop.
Now, pre-workout doesn’t sound too bad. 2 of the 3 main ingredients sound pretty helpful actually. But don’t forget, supplements are not FDA regulated, so that scoop of pre-workout may be contaminated with things you don’t even know about. I remember a story of a family who started their own supplement business. They were sailing high, until one day they got hit by a massive lawsuit. Their female customers were turning into men. Their supplement was contaminated with a form of testosterone and they didn’t even know why? So, what are supplements to you?
The hidden dangers of your Pre-Workout supplements. | by GymStreak | Medium
Trexler, E.T., Smith-Ryan, A.E., Stout, J.R. et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: Beta-Alanine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 12, 30 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-015-0090-y
A common phenomenon I have seen throughout the exercise and body building community is “dry scooping”, whereas athletes are taking pre-workout and chasing with a quick sip of water, when it is meant to be mixed with at least 16oz. of a liquid component. Large amounts of direct creatine consumption can have adverse effects on the liver in creating oxidative stress and the potential to create harmful substances (Barcelos et al., 2016). Concurrently, the dosage of caffeine that is present in a single scoop of most pre-workouts comes close to your recommended daily value. With this in mind, it seems that “dry scooping” causes more harm than good in the long run and hinders your workout more so than helping it.
ReplyDeleteBarcelos RP, Stefanello ST, Mauriz JL, Gonzalez-Gallego J, Soares FA. Creatine and the Liver: Metabolism and Possible Interactions. Mini Rev Med Chem. 2016;16(1):12-8. doi: 10.2174/1389557515666150722102613. PMID: 26202197.
I think you bring up a great point about how these pre workout supplements are not regulated by the FDA. Many brands just label them as having “proprietary blends” and don’t fully disclose their ingredient list, so you are right! Who knows what you are really getting in many of these supplements. Harty et al (2018), did a review of the current literature and mentioned most studies only followed participants for a short amount of time, meaning we don’t have great data on the long term effects, if any. They basically come back to the same point that it’s hard to tell exactly what’s in some of these blends except for the most common ingredients you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteHarty, P., Zabriskie, H., Erickson, J., Molling, P., Kerksick, C., & Jagim, A. (2018). Multi-ingredient pre-workout supplements, safety implications, and performance outcomes: a brief review. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 15. DOI: 10.1186/s12970-018-0247-6
There is a lot of dangers out in the workout supplement world that is even extended to our everyday multivitamins. Without the requirement of FDA approval is there a way to prevent the sales of unsafe products? How can consumers identify markers or know if their supplements are contaminated? From Johns Hopkins University, I found a few links to the USP and NSF organizations that review products and place labels on products deemed safe for consumption. Do you think this is enough, or is there a need for justice from the FDA on this issue to protect consumers?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/cam/Internet%20Resources/useful_links.html