Living A Full Life

The Supplement Scam: What Science Says You Actually Need

• Full Life Chiropractic • Season 3 • Episode 46

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Ever wonder why you're not seeing results from all those expensive supplements filling your cabinet? You're not alone. The supplement industry rakes in over $40 billion annually by selling products that promise the world but often deliver very little. Marketing tactics prey on our universal desires—fighting fatigue, losing weight, building muscle, and slowing aging—creating an endless cycle of hope, purchase, disappointment, and repeat.

Drawing on 25 years of medical knowledge, Dr. Enrico Dolcecore cuts through the noise to deliver hard truths about which supplements actually work and which are simply draining your bank account. Popular products like collagen powders show modest benefits at best, while green powders and fat burners often contain questionable ingredients with minimal scientific backing. The reality? Just four supplements stand up to scientific scrutiny: vitamin D (5,000 IU daily for most adults), omega-3 fatty acids (from clean sources like krill oil), magnesium (especially beneficial before bed), and high-quality protein powder to meet daily protein requirements.

The path to supplement wisdom requires recognizing red flags: celebrity endorsements without scientific evidence, proprietary blends that hide actual dosages, vague promises of miraculous results, and premium pricing for minimal benefits. Before spending another dollar, ask yourself: "Would this supplement work without me changing my diet, exercise, or sleep?" If yes, it's likely a gimmick. True health begins with optimizing fundamentals—nutrition, sleep, movement, and stress management—then identifying specific deficiencies through proper testing before adding targeted supplements. This evidence-based approach not only improves outcomes but saves money by focusing on what your body genuinely needs. Ready to revamp your supplement cabinet? Send your current supplement list to info@fulllifetampa.com for a personalized review and start your journey toward evidence-based wellness.

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Speaker 1:

Did you know? The supplement industry is worth over $40 billion a year and most of it isn't even backed by science. Just like toxins from last week's episode, supplements are another area filled with marketing myths and misinformation. Today we're going to be clear in the air on all of this. Welcome to another podcast of Living a Full Life. I'm Dr Enrico Dolcecori, and today we're going to be talking about which supplements are actually useful, which ones are mostly hype, and how to avoid wasting money or harming your health.

Speaker 1:

There's a general allure to supplements that are out there. There's a general allure to supplements that are out there. People buy them because of the promises of quick fixes influencer marketing, biohackers pretending like they know what they're talking about and what that drives is an emotional acknowledgement that, as a buyer or someone searching for answers, there's some typical things that this marketing realm delves into people's emotions on fatigue, weight loss, muscle gain and anti-aging. It's just all the roads point to those big four and if you look at all the current marketing towards supplements and cosmetics and everything that's being pushed right now, it's all based on those four things fatigue, weight loss. Right now, it's all based on those four things fatigue, weight loss, muscle gain and anti-aging. It seems to be the echo chambers of the last probably five to 10 years and it doesn't seem like it's letting up. Why? Because it makes $40 billion a year. Actually, the muscle industry and the anti-aging industry probably are approaching a trillion dollar industry with all of that.

Speaker 1:

So what we need to do is talk about what is hype and what is helpful, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to break it down today. Let's divide claim versus realities with these miracle supplements and let's talk about the truth. Today, it's all about truth. We want to talk about the myths versus science. We want to talk about evidence versus what's missing, risks and side effects. And the bottom line is any of this really worth it and if it is, which ones are worth it?

Speaker 1:

Some examples are things like collagen powder. Collagen powder is marketed for skin and joints and going to get rid of your wrinkles. There's some modest evidence. It helps with elasticity in the collagen fibers, but results aren't really dramatic. On longitudinal snuddies that they follow people, none of them claim to have miraculous changes with their skin or anything. Taking just collagen. It is more useful, believe it or not, for what it was intended for gut healing the lining of the gut. Collagen plays a really big role internally in the elastin fibers in the body.

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Rather than what the marketers are pushing all of this stuff for, green powders not a substitute for whole foods or fruits or vegetables. They're often expensive and they have a lot of mixed quality in them. They're not that great to take. These powders are mixed with a bunch of other stuff that are actually maybe even detrimental to be taking them every single day. So these mixed green powders are not useful on any scientific evidence at all. Fat burners and detox teas mostly they're just stimulants. You're just stimulating your body with very little effects and if they are effects, they're sometimes harmful and they're rarely effective.

Speaker 1:

High dose vitamins high dosing vitamin E, high dosing vitamin D I mean it's helpful if you are clinically deficient, to dose up and get yourself into a normal range and a healthy range, totally effective. That is great, because being deficient has a lot of side effects to it. So we know that. But the high and mega dosing can actually backfire on some people sometimes and cause other issues. So we know that. But the high and mega dosing can actually backfire on some people sometimes and cause other issues. So we have to be careful with all this stuff. I could talk for another hour about all the myths, but really what supplements that can be helpful is going to be more useful for you on this short podcast than anything else. So vitamin D always tops the charts when it comes to supplements.

Speaker 1:

It's almost unanimous across the scientific community that vitamin D for everyone daily is a stapled supplement to be taking because we just want to maintain levels and the human body works more efficient with normal range vitamin D, which should be between 50 and 70 when you do your blood tests. Anything below 30 is considered deficient, medically deficient, where you can get prescription vitamin D or you can start high dosing for that. But typically 5,000 IUs per day for adults from 18 years of age all the way up to 118 years of age, that's what we should be taking to help supplement the vitamin D processes in the body. That's number one on the list across the board. Whether you're in Europe, asia, north America, south America, all the research community is going to agree on that. Some will push back, saying it's a hormone. It does act as a hormone in the body, but it plays so many roles that the benefits severely outweigh the risks on this when we use it properly per day. Kids, you dose up from 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, based on body weight.

Speaker 1:

Omega-3 fatty acids Now this has to be incorporated in the diet and we miss the target on this when we talk about omega-3 fatty acids. We need to enrich our diet with omega-3 fatty acids. The oils you cook with have to be the cleanest and best oils, and you should never cook with rancid oils ever in your home. Because you can control what you do in your home. You cannot control when you go to a restaurant and what they decide to choose to cook with, whether it's vegetable oil, canola oil, sesame, seed oil, whatever it is. Seed oils that are rancid are not omega-3s. They actually break down and become volatile triglycerides, which are bad for you. So omega-3 fatty acids if you can enrich yourself in the diet by having coconut oil, avocado oil, avocados, olive oils, eating olives, good fats, butter these are the types of things that have good source omega-3s in them, and the foods come from seeds, salmon, fish, seafood tons of omega-3s in there as well. So eating this stuff in your diet can play a huge role. Now, if you're not a seafood person and you cook with a little bit of olive oil like me, mediterranean boy, you're not doing all the coconut stuff and all the other stuff and the butters and you're not into all of that stuff and you're like I don't know if I'm getting enough omega-3. This is the one you put on your shelf. I take it every single day.

Speaker 1:

Omega-3 fatty acid from small, clean fish krill just because of the oceans are polluted and big fish are polluted with heavy metals as well. We don't want to be getting them just off the shelf at Walmart or off Amazon. Please don't buy supplements off Amazon. You want to buy this from a clean source distributor, usually medical grade, and they're a couple of bucks more. It's not going to landslide or way more expensive than the things you buy at Walmart. So this one is one you want to research Get Clean Source Omega-3 fatty acids. If you're a true vegan and don't eat fish or anything like that, you can get flaxseed extract. That gets you the high dose Omega-3s as well. That plays from a vegetarian perspective. But those are probably the two biggest ones, and if you turn off the podcast right now because you've got to go on with your day, I think that's a win, but we're going to keep going.

Speaker 1:

Magnesium Magnesium is a driver. If you've been part of the research I started, you know, pre-med. Oh my gosh, pre-med 1999, 2000. Oh my gosh, so let's say 2000. It's been 25 years in the medical community learning about this stuff. We were talking about magnesium, transporting vitamin D for many, many years. We're like what's going on? Is it magnesium? And then what ended up happening is like, oh my gosh, it's the vitamin D that's doing all the transporting, not the other way around. It's the vitamin D that's doing all the transporting, not the other way around.

Speaker 1:

Anyways, these two work together to help mineralize the body. This is how you hydrate is by having magnesium and vitamin D. This is why we talk about electrolytes and vitamin D. You take those two things, you stay hydrated. What does hydration mean? And being it means pulling in the right elements into the body. Elements are also metals. So, like magnesium, selenium, copper, calcium all these things need to be pulled in and drawn in to the body. Otherwise the body wants to excrete these free metals out of the body. Makes sense, right? They want to detox them. Magnesium plays that role.

Speaker 1:

So through our diet, the calcium that we eat gets pulled back into the bone to help drive red blood cell synthesis and all this other great stuff that it does and it keeps a lot of stress off the heart. We found that taking calcium all those years from the 1960s onward was actually increasingly slightly elevating the risk of heart attack, both in men and women, but more so in women. It was increasing the risk of heart attack. Once they started telling people to stop taking it, that little blip that was going up in the 80s and 90s started to go down and they're like, ooh, correlation, may, equal causation on this. And that's where the research is today. Like man, maybe we don't need to be taking calcium supplement. We need to be eating bioavailable calcium through our diet, which means green veggies, your foods, your meats. That's where you get those types of things. So magnesium on its own is so great. It helps from sleep to stress, to muscle function all this great stuff. Taking a magnesium in the evening before bed probably the best time to take it because it can help you both with sleep, calming down muscles, even helps with muscle spasm, muscle cramps. It just it works, it works, it really works. It's one of those electrolytes that just works really well.

Speaker 1:

Protein powders and we'll stop there can be super helpful in anyone's diet. We lack protein in our diet. We just don't get it in. It's satiating, it takes time to eat that. It takes time to prepare protein. I think in our fast world we're just not getting enough protein.

Speaker 1:

You tell people are you eating 200 grams of protein? They're like what They'll know. They're like that seems like a lot. I'm like it is a lot, but you're 200 pounds, you need to eat 200 grams of protein. If you're 150 pounds, you need to eat 150 grams of protein. This is men and women. This is just a general rule there, just to prevent sarcopenia above the age of 40. I mean, it's really important with these Protein powders clean sourced, whey-based, unless you're dairy allergy it is convenient, especially for athletes and busy adults.

Speaker 1:

But it's super convenient to get that one protein shake in a day, or even five days a week where it just bumps you by that 25, 30 grams more protein per day to supplement your diet, to push you above that 100 grams of protein per day and maintain lean muscle mass. That's longevity, that's health, that's health, that's metabolism. That's what that stuff is all about. So what do you need to get and have in your? You don't have a medicine cabinet because you're listening to Dr Rico. You have a supplement cabinet. What you're going to have is your vitamin D, your omega-3 fatty acid fish oil, your magnesium and your protein powder stocked in your home and you're off to the races with a fundamental truth that you can run with on evidence-based research that supports it across almost unanimously.

Speaker 1:

Nothing is ever unanimous, nothing is ever zero and nothing is ever 100. We need to understand that, especially during these times and what has happened in recent events that has shocked the world. Truth rings louder than anything else and the more truth we walk by and talk by, the louder the vibrations, and that's what I think this whole podcast has been about. For me. This is my truth. I'm projecting the truths, trying and weed out the smoke and sift through the smoke, weed out the weeds and just get through the truth, and that's what I'm trying to deliver to you every single week. And it's loud when the truth is there. It's loud when you tell people why are you doing collagen? Why are you doing selenium? Why are you taking this multivitamin centrum? Why are you doing this stuff? It's stupid. It's the truth it is. It is You're being cheap. You're going to Walmart because you forgot to get something for the house, or a t-shirt or something. You went to go buy the t-shirt oh, I should pick up a multivitamin. What's the cheapest one on the shelf? Centrum, I'll take that. Great, not doing anything for your health when you do that. It's the truth. That's the absolute truth. Truth hurts sometimes, so we just need to listen to it and be humbled by it. That's really what truth is all about.

Speaker 1:

How do you spot misinformation? You spot misinformation by listening to the entire piece of information, not just the six words that you want to quote from that evidence-based research or that person that spoke in a microphone and make them sound like bad people or wrong information. You go through the entire information. You read the entire paragraph. You don't just go through the one bold statement reduces wrinkles, reduces belly fat. All you have to do is swallow one pill a day. You take that one punchline and you run with it. You're going to miss all the other information that will show you that that isn't true. That was just the highlights of what we wanted to take out of that paragraph to sell the product or label someone as good or label something as evil. That's the problem, and I think social media, with the fast five second videos and people only get three seconds of your attention. All you have is the punchline for four words and unfortunately that can stir up a lot of emotion because we're not getting the full context of the information.

Speaker 1:

So how do you spot misinformation in the health industry? Is with if it just influencer stories. Red flag Proprietary blends with no dosing that are listed. They just list what's in it and there's no dosing in the nutrition facts. Red flag Because it's just a blend. This is what I was talking about with the green powders and that type of stuff Expensive but vague results. Women, you're guilty of this with a lot of the cosmetic stuff you buy Always ask would this work without me changing my diet, my exercise or my sleep? If yes, it's probably a gimmick. There you go. Saved you guys hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for the rest of your life if you follow those rules.

Speaker 1:

So some actionable takeaways that you can take from this podcast is that supplements are tools. They are not magic. Start with food, sleep, movement and stress management before you start delving into supplements or medicines or anything like that. Only add supplements after knowing your deficiencies. You have to do lab tests. You can't just come in and say I think I'm deficient. How do you know you're deficient of anything in particular? Lab tests and doctor's guidance are more valuable than anything else. They'll save you money. People are like but I have to spend money to get my lab tests and I have to spend money to talk to the doctor. Yeah, it's a one-time thing to delve into and figure out what we're deficient in and then you zone in, you buy the right stuff and it saves you a bunch of other money from buying the gimmicks. Save money by skipping overhyped products. There you go. That's what we need to do, just like with toxins. Knowledge is power. Don't let hype drive your health decisions in any way. Let truth and evidence guide you when you make these decisions for you and your family.

Speaker 1:

So if you know anyone that spends too much on supplements, this is one of those podcasts. You tag them or you text them with the link and you're like, hey, I got a podcast you got to listen to. Usually a spouse is going to send this to a spouse saying hey, I think you spend too much money and they're going to listen to this. Invite them to send in their supplements to us at info at fulllifetampacom and say, hey, listen, I'm a 48-year-old mom of two. I take these things. Can you review them for me? And, even without delving into your deficiencies or lab tests, we can look at them. Pull out the red flags from that, if you truly can't pull out the red flags from what you learned today?

Speaker 1:

So the fact that you're listening to these podcasts, the fact that you go out and buy supplements, means you're goodwilled. It means you're trying to take care of your health and wellness, and we're not here to help squash that. Keep doing that. Keep searching for the truth, keep doing what's right. Sometimes what feels good can be actually good for you, but we can also go through a couple examples of things that feel good that are probably not good for you. So that's what we're protecting you here from Try those things. Give us the feedback and info at Full Life Tampa. If you have any particular questions, we love them. Send them our way and have a great and healthy week. Stay well, stay healthy.

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Dr. Enrico Dolcecore

Host
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Dr. Christine Hafer

Co-host