Essentials of Nutrition for Sports

The ad copy sounds too good to be true: “After switching to the
PR*Bar and 40/30/30 Nutrition Progra

m, I excelled from ‘sport’ to

‘elite’ class mountain bike racer. I was also able to lose those last 5 pounds of body fat and maintain my racing weight throughout the year.”

24 It is a giant leap, however, to conclude that the product will

do the same for you.

Ploy: Additives

Products may be mixed with other substances to market them

more effectively. Many manufactures add ingredients to give justification to the cost of their products, distinguish their product, create the illusion of quality, or to confound the buyer, who may think: “Maybe

this

part of the product is hope, but maybe

that

part of

the product works.”

Energy bars, for example, apparently cannot stand on their own.

The original intent of providing ready-to-eat calories will not sell enough bars unless consumers believe they should pay for the added value of vitamins and minerals. Consider: •^

Power Bars Vitamins and minerals added. But why?

-^

Cytomax Contains alpha-L-polylactate. Sounds good, maybe? What is this proprietary additive?

-^

Endurox R4 Has used the herb Ciwujia. Has any study shown that this herb is helpful? Might it not be harmful? Might it contain banned contaminants? For a detailed examination of Endurox R4 claims, see page

154

.

-^

VO2 Max Bars That orange nutrient center looks good to some. Does the food coloring improve performance?

24 Jack Orness—Rancho Bernardo, California, in a print copy ad for

PR* Bar. See

Figure 16

on

page 141.

Buzzwords

Low cholesterol becomes a buzzword, and foods that never had

any cholesterol in the first place are now marketed as having none. Diet

, lite

, natural

, and other misleading and meaningless words are

added to advertising copy to sell product.

The FDA limits the use of some buzzwords. Read more about

approved nutrient content in the free supplement to this book available at: http://roadbikerider.com/nutritionforsportssupplement.htm

.

Retailers

Retailers are generally complete

ly uncritical of the marketing

copy for the products of the manufacturers they carry. Retailers typically repeat, verbatim, the advertising copy of manufacturers.

Be Cautious with Health Food Stores

You can get vitamins, minerals, and “natural” foods from the

health food store. You can also get herbs and other “natural remedies.”

There are many reasons to be cautious about this practice.

Substances sold as remedies in health food stores are unregulated. “Natural” is not necessarily any better than synthetic—natural mushrooms or hemlock can kill you too!

Studies show that:

-^

It is uncertain what the active ingredients are.

-^

It is uncertain whether substances are in a form that will be available for your body to use.

-^

It is uncertain what else is mixed in with the pills.

-^

It is uncertain whether the pills are safe.

-^

It is uncertain whether the produc

t is formulated consistently

from batch to batch.

Nutrition for Sports, Essentials of 143