I Truly Hate the Supplement Industry

livingdeadmoose said:
I partly agree with TS. My second job is at GNC and most of the crap out there is useless. The biggest scam out there are all the pre-workout/NO products. There has only been one of those that I like but even then, it's not necessary. I hate all the fat burners and hormone products. What I hate even more is that I went to school, learned about nutrition and exercise, I'm a certified personal trainer, but GNC is more concerned with hiring car salesmen.

But like other said, just stick to the basics: whey, creatine, muliti's, and fish oils.
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I have yet to go to a GNC and meet someone that's in shape AND knows what they're even remotely talking about.
 
Sports supplement industry sure. All the stuff you find in the front of a GNC store are great and some are there because they sell (like the sports stuff) so no biggie. Been with GNC almost 10 years and I gotta say people spend money there to start and stay motivated and it really doesn't matter what it is as long as it is not harmful. As to the guy that goes into GNC's and never sees people that are in a) shape or b) knowledgeable this is because GNC is a part time job for most employees. You try teaching a college kid or even a grown man who needs a 2nd job about diabetes and blood pressure and the herbs AND the proteins AND AND AND. Probably not looking correctly either I am 6ft5 280 pounds of flab that does 10 hours of cardio a week and am happy as a dirty pig to talk supplement with anyone that comes in. Just FYI, the people that come in with a negative attitude (probably as you yourself do) we immediately ignore or snicker at because you 'know everything' ... eek hope this didn't turn into a wall of text.
 
pliftkl said:
You hate the supplement industry but have two posts with polls up about favorite blends of Muscle Milk? That seems weird. Muscle milk is yummy, but overpriced and overmarketed.
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I've been using Muscle Milk for about a decade: long before it was cool or whatever. I don't really see it as overpriced and find that sentiment a bit odd. It's $10/lb. What are you guys using? The best deals on proteins I've seen that aren't Mexican Chalk are usually around $6/lb. For the dynamite taste of MM, I don't see the extra $4 a pound as ridiculous overpricing: you basically get a protein powder and multivitamin in one. It isn't like Muscletech whey where they try to charge you $20+ per pound for WPC. Furthermore, it's the only product popular enough to hold a meaningful poll for flavors (along with Optimum Nutrition...their prices have skyrocketed in the past 3 years).
 
ElKarlo said:
I have yet to go to a GNC and meet someone that's in shape AND knows what they're even remotely talking about.
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Most branches deliberately hire people who don't know anything so they can be controlled and made to pitch all the GNC/Muscletech crap they make their money on.

Apparently there's some independent non-franchise chains where the owners reject this model. Ironically, and unsurprisingly, I'm told most of these chains outperform their corporate piggy counterparts.
 
oyaji poi said:
the temptation is always there I guess. I bought a bottle of acai berry last year or the year before - right after it stopped being super-famous - I got it for like 75% off or something. But I didn't even take any.

I basically thought "what good will taking a supposed anti-oxidant for 2 weeks do compared to the rest of my life?"
the answer was "not much at all" and so I threw them out.
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I've been there before. For me it's more of an OCD thing where one supplement leads to another. For instance, most of us take D3 here and most will agree that it's a worthwhile supplement. So you start taking that but then you read about how D3 has co-factors as well that should be taken with it like magnesium, zinc, K2 and potassium. So you get those, then you gotta get some copper because zinc can cause copper deficiency, yadda yadda yadda and before you know it you have a cupboard full of this stuff.

I've been recovering from prostatitis since April. The whole thing got me seriously paranoid about prostate cancer so I read up on that and as you can imagine, most sites push the supplement angle so I had to really force myself not to give in. But I've still wasted money on Quercetin, Bromelain, amino acids etc.
 
A lot of people say that the reason the supplement industry is so quirky and unreliable is the lack of regulation. However, I find this to be a catch-22 statement in America, because if an agency such as the FDA is allowed to fully regulate the supplement industry, then you can rest-assured their regulation will be first to get rid of everything that works, and secondly to give exclusive selling rights to pharmaceutical companies who want you to bay $200 for their versions of what you can get right now for 1/10th of the cost or less. I find it hilarious that there's always hooplah about testosterone boosters, particularly, and yet just this summer commercials started coming onto television instructing you to "ask your doctor about low T." Yes, so he can give you steroids.

The main problem is that the single most unbiased group of people who simply search for the right answers, are the people most subject to being forced to abide by the wills of the money-mongers. Those people are you, the customers. And even if you form watch-dog groups, you have to be wary of just becoming another group of lobbyists, at least in the eyes of the "old boys" who currently run things. Private organizations with big charters (like the FDA), will do whatever it takes to make their $$. So will the supplement companies in the current climate. The best thing anyone can do is know someone who isn't just in the know, but will also dig. If a Company has a product that makes a claim, it's not difficult to call them up and ask them "how?" Someone who knows enough biology will be able to either confirm the theory (some companies actually have good theories), or see through the haze of B.S. (Like with the "nanotechnology.")

As for GNC, yes, they're arguably the textbook definition of "Evil American Corporation." But an amusing note right now is they're on the verge of being at War with Pepsico over the whole Gatorade merger. Pepsico being arguably one of the dirtiest Companies I've ever learned of, apparently made products available elsewhere that they promised GNC would be exclusive, and GNC is retaliating by marking all of their Gatorade crap down, which is pissing Pepsico off because they're not getting back as much $$ as they think they should be. Which reminds me, just so it's known here, protein prices are about to go up again. Pepsico and Coca-Cola (who is trying to compete with the Gatorade line) have drained the raw materials market with their buying power. It's already affected smaller Companies like the one I work with locally, and it's going to bring about an across-the-board price increase. So you can thank the soda giants for that.
 
Sinister said:
A lot of people say that the reason the supplement industry is so quirky and unreliable is the lack of regulation. However, I find this to be a catch-22 statement in America, because if an agency such as the FDA is allowed to fully regulate the supplement industry, then you can rest-assured their regulation will be first to get rid of everything that works, and secondly to give exclusive selling rights to pharmaceutical companies who want you to bay $200 for their versions of what you can get right now for 1/10th of the cost or less. I find it hilarious that there's always hooplah about testosterone boosters, particularly, and yet just this summer commercials started coming onto television instructing you to "ask your doctor about low T." Yes, so he can give you steroids.
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I just read on the Heart Scan Blog that Doctor Davis now refuses to write prescriptions for Lovaza. Comparing the cost of one month of Lovaza with one month of Kirkland brand fish oil was staggering to say the least.
 
Madmick said:
Most branches deliberately hire people who don't know anything so they can be controlled and made to pitch all the GNC/Muscletech crap they make their money on.

Apparently there's some independent non-franchise chains where the owners reject this model. Ironically, and unsurprisingly, I'm told most of these chains outperform their corporate piggy counterparts.
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Well you are wrong ... and kind of a jerk. Out of the 12-15 franchise locations I've personally seen in the past few years 5 or 6 have gone completely out of business due to bad business tactics or even knowledge of how to run a business, 4 to 5 have been bought back by GNC and subsequently closed down due to customers no longer feel comfortable coming to the location and 2 or 3 are super, super busy and amazing because the people working there are great, have a lot of knowledge and have competitive prices.
 
Also, as far as fish oil goes, the prescription fish oil is super expensive but the Kirkland brand you would have to take 12 a day to match what you can get with 4 a day of a script. So you tell me what is and isn't worth it. I'm mostly referring to the fact that other companies (yes GNC) sell fish oil pills that are equivalent in strength as the script at a much, much lower price.

Prescription: $80 monthly 4 a day
Kirkland: $9 12 a day
GNC's Triple Strength: $28 4 a day

Yup my company is corporate scum :redface:
 
Mihow said:
Also, as far as fish oil goes, the prescription fish oil is super expensive but the Kirkland brand you would have to take 12 a day to match what you can get with 4 a day of a script. So you tell me what is and isn't worth it. I'm mostly referring to the fact that other companies (yes GNC) sell fish oil pills that are equivalent in strength as the script at a much, much lower price.

Prescription: $80 monthly 4 a day
Kirkland: $9 12 a day
GNC's Triple Strength: $28 4 a day

Yup my company is corporate scum :redface:
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I'm sorry, but when you mark up the price to 5 times of what the shit is really worth just so you can charge people for a fucking gold card that brings it down to a level that is still more expensive than many other supplement stores, that qualifies as corporate scum. Plus...I have yet to meet a GNC rep that knows anything about nutrition. Thankfully I got a clue and stopped going there, and now get my supplements for way cheaper elsewhere. In many cases you pay just as much for a bucket of whey protein as you do for pharmaceutical drugs.
 
Since watching bigger stronger faster I have boycotted 97% of supplements. Its all complete bullshit.
 
I have no gripe with GNC unless the associate starts talking to me. You can get some good deals there with their clearance shit (expires in a few months) + Gold Card. I did boycott GNC for a while once one of the associates started talking to me, but there is now a chill guy that works there and just let's me pick out my discounted whey and multis.
 
Blackice said:
I'm sorry, but when you mark up the price to 5 times of what the shit is really worth just so you can charge people for a fucking gold card that brings it down to a level that is still more expensive than many other supplement stores, that qualifies as corporate scum. Plus...I have yet to meet a GNC rep that knows anything about nutrition. Thankfully I got a clue and stopped going there, and now get my supplements for way cheaper elsewhere. In many cases you pay just as much for a bucket of whey protein as you do for pharmaceutical drugs.
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So if GNC sells a 5lb tub of ON Protein for say 64.99 with a 49.99 sale that is a x5 markup from what it's worth? So all retail outlets are scum because they 'mark up' product (as you stupidly call it) from what it is actually worth? Show me one (just one, out of the millions) retail location in America that sells products for what they are made for and I'll eat my GNC logo shirt that I payed 8.95 for. Also, I will then show you a company that loses money with every transaction.
 
I've got 4 extra tubs of Primal Fuel sitting in my kitchen if anyone wants it.
 
A company can charge whatever it likes, though I haven't been into a GNC since they started trying to charge me $70 for a 3lb canister of isopure whey isolate. The same canister ordered online comes to the front door in 3 days for $40, that includes shipping and the benefit of not having to shew away the goofy sales clerks trying to push the omega 3 chew candies and supplement magazines at you...
 
immovablestone said:
A company can charge whatever it likes, though I haven't been into a GNC since they started trying to charge me $70 for a 3lb canister of isopure whey isolate. The same canister ordered online comes to the front door in 3 days for $40, that includes shipping and the benefit of not having to shew away the goofy sales clerks trying to push the omega 3 chew candies and supplement magazines at you...
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68.99 is the 'regular' price. It hasn't been off a sale of either buy 1 get 1 half price or 49.99 to 54.99 in years ... not arguing because ALL sports brands are super cheaper online but the way people talk about GNC prices are ridiculous. Also, Goldberg is on the cover this month! Come on guy Goldberg! It's Goldberg! GOLDBERG! :redface:

EDIT: from Oct - Nov it's 42.99 ... ... ... ...
 
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