Ah, the good ol' FDA!

No grass growin' under their feet these days. They're busy, busy, busy, what with their protecting our interests against the fraudulent fat loss claimants, the price gouging drug companies and the omnipresent snake oil folks.

Do you feel like you need protection?

I do. But, protection from whom?

Pogo said it best. "We have met the enemy, and it is us." We in the sports nutrition industry are out to do ourselves in, it seems. Think not? Read on.

The Amino Acid Saga

A few years ago, the FDA took away one of our toys, L-tryptophan. Opportunistically removing this essential amino acid after a tainted batch killed some innocent folks, the FDA sat back smiling to watch (at least the amino acid portion of) our industry crumble.

It didn't crumble, however, and the FDA scratched their heads in wonderment. It SHOULD'VE crumbled!

See, L-tryptophan is an essential amino acid. That means that it, together with ALL the other seven essential aminos, MUST be present together for any of the essential amino acids to be effective.

Putting it another way, if any one of the essential eight are missing, none is worth a damned. If any one is in short supply, it becomes the "limiting" amino, and the other seven work only as far as the limiting one allows. After that, none is worth a damned.

When the FDA banned the sale of L-tryptophan, they rightfully assumed that they had seen the end of the amino acid craze in this country. They figured that the sports nutrition industry was smart enough to realize that with one of the essential aminos missing, it was no longer possible to market an effective full-spectrum amino acid supplement.

They were wrong, wrong, wrong! Only SOME were smart enough to realize it! And of that small number, only SOME are honest enough to refrain from selling worthless amino acid supplements to unwary consumers. The others are still selling the worthless stuff!

The FDA people are scratching their heads on that one, folks! So am I! But my incredulity stems from how my colleagues in this industry justify selling the worthless stuff to kids!

These are the kids who have trust in us. They believe us because we tell them to in all our ads. We tell them that we're the experts. We tell them that the FDA is out to get them, and we're here to protect their interests. We tell the kids that we alone can help them achieve their sports dreams and bodybuilding potential.

And, then we continue to LIE to them!

I am so ashamed.

Why would anyone buy worthless aminos? Simply, the consumers of amino acids aren't aware of the worthlessness of these products, and believe the claims being made in the dishonest advertisements. After all, most of the consumers of amino acid blends aren't schooled in the complex science of protein efficiency ratios.

Of course, the natural extension of this reasoning was that if there were no amino acid supplements on the shelves worth a damned, there would be no consumers buying them. At that point, their job of policing this industry would have been completed. The sports nutrition industry would then have been obliged to regress back to the supplement technology of the seventies.

The Protein Saga

Engineered whey protein has an extremely high biological value (BV), of around 95 or so, making it, along with egg protein, the most effective and biologically available source of protein available anywhere, at any price. Lately, you've been seeing ads about whey protein with a biological value of 159 or higher. This is extremely misleading! How can you POSSIBLY get greater than 100 percent utilization of dietary protein?

While the methods used to determine a food's biological value ("BV") are not entirely standardized, the one legitimate scientists use is described as "the efficiency with which that protein furnishes the proper proportions and amounts of the essential or indispensable amino acids needed for the synthesis of body proteins in humans or animals. ...the BV is defined as:

BV = Nitrogen Retained divided by Nitrogen absorbed X 100 = (dietary N) - (F - Fm) + (U - Ue) divided by (dietary N) + (F - Fm) X 100

F equals the fecal nitrogen during the testing of a protein; Fm equals the fecal nitrogen on a protein-free diet (endogenous fecal nitrogen); U equals urinary nitrogen excreted during the testing of a protein; Ue equals urinary nitrogen excreted on a protein-free diet (endogenous urinary nitrogen excretion). "

Using your native intuitive intellect, you can see how it's impossible to get over 100 percent utilization! Beware of these people who are trying to sell you promises! Instead, buy into SCIENCE! That's where the answers to your training and nutrition needs usually are to be found.

The Ol' "Before & After" Saga

For years the "before and after" photo technique has been used by purveyors of fitness products. The old Charles Atlas ads (which can still be found in comic books) used the technique. And, almost all of the current sports nutrition companies use it in one way or another.

Or, more often than not, "abuse" it.

Let's get real. You CANNOT put on 30 pounds of muscle and, at the same time, lose 40 pounds of fat in six or eight weeks as some of the contemporary leaders in the sports nutrition industry claim. Not even close! Photos offered as "proof" for these kinds of phenomenal gains. All suffer from one or more of the following maladies:

- The person depicted in the photo was secretly using anabolic steroids;

- The person depicted in the photo provided his own "before" photo, which may have been taken months or years earlier than the advertised time frame;

- The ad people secretly air brushed ("touched up") the "after" photo;

- The company's ad people as well as the subject are in cahoots with one another, attempting to dupe consumers into believing the wild claims.

I realize that I'll be accused of being "less than kind" by casting blame on the perpetrators of this kind of misleading advertising. I have no doubt, however, that in the face of such outrageous claims there is guilt. The simple truth, apparent to virtually everyone who is "of iron," is that no matter how good the products are, or how good the training program accompanying the products is, the human species is not capable of such rapid muscle mass increase.

But let's say (for the sake of argument) that the model is the guilty party, and not the company. Still, the company involved puts up with such shenanigans, turning their backs knowing that it's in their best interests (marketing-wise) to do so. They'll say, "We aren't guilty of deception. Our before-and-after model lied to us. What can we do?"

And then they'll give a public display of mock remorse -- and vindication -- and reap their ill-gained profits at your expense.

Is Reality Marketable?

I suspect that these less-than-honest marketing techniques seem necessary and justified to the purveyors. "After all," they say, "how can you sell reality?"

The perception they're trying to sell is that you CAN make great gains in muscle mass or fat loss in a short time. The reality is that the time it takes is far greater than they would have us believe.

The perception under which marketeers operate is that consumers of bodybuilding products and training techniques WANT to believe the radical claims. The unfortunate reality is that they aren't as likely to buy the product if the gains appear minimal.

Reality and perception, it seems, are worlds apart, and marketeers have long known that by manipulating the perception of their product, it sells better. Reality is either irrelevant or nearly so in their world, because (they believe) it doesn't often sell product.

Having been deeply involved in sports, lifting and fitness all my life, I've acquired a pretty good "feel" for what can be accomplished through integrated training. I have always believed that through meticulous application of science, you can successfully amplify the gains you'll make in a given time frame. Maybe not to the point of gaining 30 pounds of muscle in 6 or 8 weeks, but certainly far beyond the morally bankrupt perceptions of the dishonest marketeers out there!

Exactly how much improvement can you expect? Enough to satisfy the marketeers? Don't bother trying -- they don't care.

Enough so that reality becomes the saleable perception? Well, wouldn't that be a new twist!

Enough so that it satisfies you? You betcha!