If you’re a health nut or at least partially interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle then chances are you’ve looked into the use of dietary supplements at one point or another, weight loss supplements or otherwise. Well, according to a story running on CNN.com, more than half of Americans are using dietary supplements as of now (if you’re interested in what the most popular health supplements are and then you might want to take a look at the best selling supplements on Amazon.com). That’s a pretty big statistic and goes to show just how big the supplement industry is.

This CNN story is a bit biased when it comes to supplementation as it throws more than a few jabs at the use of supplements. The message the author conveys is that using health supplements is risky business and that it may not be all that helpful to use health supplements in the first place. The reasoning here is a bit flaky at best. There is always a valid reason to look into what you’re putting into your body, but the way it’s conveyed in the article is dancing on the line between fact and scare tactic. Who knows if this was intended, and it’s not my place to accuse the author of their actual intentions, but this is what I got from the story (along with other commenters).

Are Supplements Worth It?

Ultimately, it is up to you the consumer to decide whether or not a particular supplement is worth buying, but that’s the thing, there are products worth buying and using depending on what you’re expectations are. No, you shouldn’t go on a buying spree of dietary supplements just because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that more than half of U.S. based Adults use all kinds of dietary supplements. However, it’s important to realize that people are buying these supplements for a reason, and that there are those that exist which can further benefit your health.

What exactly is the reasoning in this CNN story for not buying weight loss supplements, minerals, herbs, and so on? Essentially, it’s based around the fact that health supplements are not regulated by the FDA and the notion that supplementation can never replace a healthy lifestyle such as a monitored diet. It is true that over the counter supplements are not regulated by the FDA which accounts for products not worthy of your time and money. It’s also true that this kind of thing can be countered with a little bit of research and looking into what other customers are saying about specific supplement products.

Not All Health Supplements Are Based Around Hype

However, the notion that a healthy lifestyle cannot be replaced by supplements and that taking supplements is a game of roulette is only partially true and gives the impression that supplements are just a waste of your money. Again, there’s a reason why some health supplements are so popular and not all of the popularity is based around hype as it is with many weight loss supplements, for instance. You should never try to replace healthy foods entirely with supplements, minerals, and herbs, but there is validity to these types of products. And if someone would for some reason attempt to replace their diet of actual foods with only health supplements, it would be a fault of their own and nothing more, a byproduct of very poor judgement.

Way Too Easy Of A Refute – Just Protein Powder

The thing about this author’s portrayed stance (and I admittedly don’t know CNN’s views relating to topics like these as I don’t visit the site often) is that it can be unraveled and proven wrong with just protein powder. And this is one area where I have personal experience with. If you buy protein powder and look around for protein powder products that have good reviews, then you will absolutely speed up the process of gaining lean muscle mass with weight training or bodybuilding if you’re hardcore like that. These supplements are not FDA approved, tons of money is being spent on protein powder with tons of recurring customers, and they provide a safe and effective protein source.

From personal experience I know for a fact that using whey protein powder has had a huge impact on any lean muscle mass I’ve gained, and again, with research you’ll find that there are many recurring customers with the same results. Protein powder is a very popular supplement and a large industry in it’s own right, and it offers a safe and effective way of gaining muscle, and even losing weight when used properly. How exactly does it help? In order to gain lean muscle mass in conjunction with weight training you should shoot for eating 1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight, which for many is a lot of protein to casually work into a diet consisting of foods and nothing more.

Of course it’s best to get as much high quality protein as you can through food sources, but it’s hard to beat the efficiency of drinking a glass of 24 grams of protein isolate. These are facts and just about anyone with common sense will realize this is true by going to the research that matters, what other customers like you think about their protein powder purchase of a brand known for quality. You pretty much always get the pros and the cons of any given popular product when dealing with bigger merchants such as Amazon.

Should You Buy Health Supplements?

The rule of thumb regarding whether or not to buy something like protein powder or a vitamin c supplement is always whether or not the product will actually offer you some kind of gain in terms of your overall health and wellbeing. And you’ll want to make sure it’s safe for you. It’s some pretty bland news, but I can’t think of anything more realistic.

Factual data telling us that more than half of U.S. adults and buying and using supplements is actually pretty cool, but pondering as whether or not you should personally invest in any given supplement product is really very simple, and there’s hardly more risk involved than most basic dilemmas in life. There are always risks but there’s no need to blow things out of proportion.