Diet and Supplement Myths

The 5-Day Miracle Diet by Adele Puhn, MS, CNS

MYTH: This diet claims that most people live in a state of "bad" or low blood sugar, but by eating the right amounts of the right foods at the right intervals, they supposedly can "stabilize" their blood sugar levels in just 5 days, thereby "conquering food cravings" and going on to lose weight. Alternating hard chew and soft chew snacks at exact intervals and a whole list of other rules like never eating dinner after 8 p.m., spacing your afternoon snacks no more than 3 hours apart, etc. are key factors in helping stabilize blood sugars. If you blunder and eat a soft chew snack in the morning, then apparently blood sugar hell breaks loose, cravings build up, hunger returns, and the diet is abandoned.

TRUTH: Unnecessary rigid rules are only part of the problem with this diet. Numerous scientific claims are simply unfounded such as regular "timing" of fruit and vegetables consumed will relieve the discomfort of enlarged breasts during PMS (if only!). The truth is that even the body of a person who eats a lot of foods much softer and more sugary than bananas is remarkably adept at maintaining fairly stable blood sugar from the blood to function properly. If blood sugar levels solely depended on what we ate and at what intervals, then we’d have much bigger troubles than 20 extra pounds.

The Cabbage Diet

MYTH: The cabbage soup diet is a surefire way to lose weight and was designed by the American Heart Association (AHA) for overweight heart patients.

TRUTH: The AHA as well as other organizations accused of being associated with this diet deny any connection to it. Like any rumor the diet changes as it gets passed along. It basically features unlimited amounts of a "fat-burning" cabbage soup for a week, plus an arbitrary assortment of other foods: only fruit and vegetables during the first three days, bananas and milk on day four, beef on days five and six... You may indeed lose the promised 10 or 17 pounds, since you cut way down on calories, but it has the dangers of all crash diets. One thing is sure: you’ll gain the weight back when you go back to your old eating habits.

The Zone Diet by Barry Sears, PhD

MYTH: I’m hesitant to continue the high-carbohydrate, low-fat approach to nutrition that I’ve been following for the past several years. Eating carbohydrates could be dangerous to your health.

TRUTH: This diet claims that high carbohydrate diets are to blame for so many fat Americans. This high protein diet is simply a low calorie diet in disguise. Like many nutritional and diet fads, Sears tries to appeal to our sense of scientific intellect and makes claims and quotes studies that are simply unfounded and based on unpublished data. Never does Sears suggest that perhaps too little exercise or too much food are to blame for so many obese Americans. Will you lose weight on this diet? As are true of any low calorie diet, initially yes, however given what experts know about long term adherence to low calorie diets the answer is the long run is a resounding No.

Popular Supplements

Chromium Picolinate

MYTH: Taking chromium picolinate will result in: weight lose, reversal or prevention of diabetes, reduced blood cholesterol, and bigger muscles.

TRUTH: Sold as a dietary supplement, there are no studies to date that have demonstrated the effectiveness of chromium picolinate as effective in any of the areas it claims to be. Chromium is a mineral the body needs, but little evidence supports a wide spread chromium deficiency. Unlike some nutrients, minerals don’t just wash away, but accumulate in the body. One study found that chromium picolinate damaged chromosomes thus raising the question of whether it could lead to cancer.

Meridia

MYTH: I need to lose a few pounds and should take Meridia because exercise and dieting don’t work for me and after all, it is FDA approved.

TRUTH: Meridia, like any other medication, can have side effects. Side effects include fatigue, diarrhea, vivid dreams, dry mouth, mood swings, depression, loss of sexual appetite, headaches, and possibly brain damage. Severe obesity puts people at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers, and in the U.S. contributes to 300,000 deaths each year. If these drugs can help these people get thin, it may be worth the risk. However, for someone wishing to shave 10 or 20 pounds, taking these drugs is probably not worth the risk. Besides, experts agree that medications alone will not "cure" obesity and can be dangerous if used too long because over time they lose their effectiveness.

Amino Acid Supplements and/or Protein Shakes

MYTH: Fluoride in the water destroys your natural enzymes. Enzymes in a bottle prevent aging, support bodily functions, eliminate toxins, you name it.

TRUTH: Enzymes are found in all living matter, plant and animal, and you don’t need to figure out which enzymes to take because your body manufactures all of them. Enzymes are chemical "enablers" in the body and assist in virtually every chemical reaction in living things. They enable the body’s immune, endocrine, hormonal, nervous, and other systems to do their work. Buying enzymes in a bottle is simply putting your money into the hands of the manufacturers who have sold you what you wanted to hear.

Melatonin

MYTH: A natural substance that will keep you young, improve your sex life, strengthen your bones, build muscle, prevent cancer, boost your I.Q., improve your sleep, effortless weight loss, thicker hair, a better golf game, etc.

TRUTH: Melatonin is a naturally produced hormone. The French and British governments have already banned sales because of no known therapeutic effects or no guarantee of purity or how it may interact with other drugs you may already be taking. Experts recommend that you do not take this supplement because of the lack of evidence of its effectiveness, and because human hormones are powerful substances and can produce unexpected results in long term use.

Fish Oil, Garlic, and Other Popular Miracle Vitamins

MYTH: Ingesting (insert name) will help prevent heart disease and/or improve health.

TRUTH: There is no evidence to date that ingesting fish oil or garlic or other miracle vitamins supplements will protect you from heart disease. Often these kinds of assumptions are the result of studying various populations that are associated with high intakes of certain foods. However, ingesting a pill form supplement doesn’t give you the same benefit of eating the real foods. Besides, these supplements are not absorbed as well as when they come from real foods. Save your money on these supplements and eat the real thing.

Super Blue Green Algae

MYTH: Food grown in our soils is vitamin and mineral depleted. Eating this supplement puts back valuable vitamins and minerals that you think you are already getting in you diet. You will notice increased energy and vitality, less stress, less anxiety and depression, relief from many allergies, enhanced functioning of you immune system, and more.

TRUTH: The cardinal sign of nutrition quackery is the promise that a single product or line of products can cure or treat a host of conditions. Ira Miller, RD, a board member of the National Council Against Health Fraud, states that the recommended dosages contain fewer vitamins and minerals than a serving of broccoli. Besides, do you really want to ingest something that is basically pond scum that floats on brackish waters?

Phosphagain

MYTH: Build mega muscle by ingesting this product.

TRUTH: Like it’s predecessors Gainers Fuel 1000, Giant Mega Mass 4000, and others this supplement is also a fraud. People are often suckered into buying these products because of the seemingly "scientific" studies that have done on them that supports their value. However, if you were to ever read the fine print, you will notice that these studies are often funded by the manufacturers or a doctor who is the official spokesperson for the product. Weight gain from these products often comes in the form of fat and not muscle mass. Don’t be fooled by the scientific sounding jargon. See the above information on amino acid and protein shakes above.