SPORTS SUPPLEMENTS

Find out which sports supplements work and which don’t, according to science. Plain English reviews that focus on facts without the hype.

Sports Supplements banner

Most of us involved with sport and fitness have, at some point, used nutritional supplements. That makes it big business and with big business comes very clever and very persuasive marketing.

It’s easy to be enticed by the promises of improved health, a more attractive body and improved fitness, especially when the sacrifice of swallowing a few pills seems so small and painless.

The real sacrifice of course is the cost both to your wallet and potentially to your health.

So how do you know if a sports supplement is worth your hard earned cash? How can you be sure it’s going to do what it  claims it will, without any harmful side effects?

The answer is to review the science – the unbiased experiments conducted by impartial scientists who aren’t in the back pocket of a supplement company. After all, that’s what Olympic Committees do.

Each country has an Olympic Committee that supports its athlete’s right up to Olympic level. They have to be sure that any supplement they officially recommend is safe, legal and actually works. Very often an Olympic Committee will cover the cost of an athlete’s supplements and you can bet your bottom dollar they will only pay for independently proven products.

Of course, most of us have better things to be doing than researching scientific papers. It’s heavy going and it requires a certain degree of expertise to correctly interpret what the researchers are on about.

That’s the purpose of this section of the site. To provide you with easy-to-understand scientific reviews of the most popular sports supplements used b athletes and gym-goers around the world.


Sports Supplement Reviews

Chromium Picolinate Reviewed
If you’ve heard of “chromium picolinate”, you have probably also heard of the many benefits it’s purported to have – from helping to reduce body fat to increasing lean muscle and enhancing insulin sensitivity…

Creatine Reviewed
Creatine is one of the most popular supplements among athletes seeking to build muscle mass and improve performance. But just how effective and safe is it?

HMB Reviewed
Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate, or HMB, is touted as a muscle-building supplement that many athletes find advantageous. But what does the research say?

CoQ10 Reviewed
CoQ10 has been awarded a list of superlatives by the supplement companies that sell it. But is supplemental CoQ10 really an elixir of youth?

Echinacea Reviewed
Echinacea is one of the highest selling herbal supplements in the U.S. Are there any valid reasons why it should be?

Conjugated Linoleic Acid Reviewed
A daily dose of of CLA is said to help reduce body fat. And there is some promising research to back this claim up.

Ephedra & Ephedrine Reviewed
Banned in the US, ephedra and ephedrine has shown evidence to burn fat while maintaining muscle. But are the potential health risks worth it?

Caffeine Supplementation Reviewed
Caffeine supplements are supposed to aid fat loss. Is there any science to back this claim up? And what about drinking coffee?