Supplements or Drugs

Last Updated on Sunday, 25 July 2010 08:27 Written by Yasar Shahzad Tuesday, 20 July 2010 18:56

You should always be doubtful about any drug-like claims that are made for over the counter supplements. Whenever a supplement company releases a new product, The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has their eyes on it with a magnifying glass. So does the pharmaceutical industry. If any "natural" or "herbal" product really had a major effect on the body, the FDA would swoop down on it like a hawk and investigate immediately.

If it panned out and really did have drug-like effects, it would be pulled off the shelves in a heartbeat! Here's an example: A supplement called Triax was released a few years ago. Man, did this stuff ever work! It worked a little bit too well! People were shedding pounds and sweating bullets on this product. So the FDA scrutinized it closely, and it turns out that Triax contains Tiratricol, which is really not a "supplement" at all but actually a thyroid drug! Triax immediately got yanked.

Also keep in mind that the powerful multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry would really love to find a product being sold over the counter that really had drug-like effects, and lobby to have it classified as a drug. Why? So they could quadruple the price and sell it by prescription only (with some fancy new drug-like name, of course).

Most people won't listen to me and they'll keep on buying "steroid-like" supplements and
“drug-like” fat burners, but if you'll heed my advice, you could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on products that could never possibly help you burn fat or build muscle.

The Difference Between Supplements and Drugs

Supplements are made of food. Drugs are made of steroids. There's a huge difference between the supplement and the drug. Supplements cannot and never will have drug-like effects. Any claims to the contrary are pure marketing hype!

The closest thing to a supplement with drug-like effects is the ephedra-caffeineaspirin stack. As we now know, this is a powerful central nervous system stimulant, so like all real drugs – it’s not without side effects. In fact, it probably won’t be long before the FDA pulls ephedra from the shelves. Any real drug will always have undesirable side effects.

Supplements will never amount to anything more than food - and all the best supplements like whey protein, meal replacements, flaxseed oil, etc. are really nothing more than powdered food or food derivative. Real food, weight training and aerobic training - combined properly - are better than drugs because there are no side effects and the results are permanent as long as you stay on your schedule.