SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

If it's not cancer, but something as simple as exercise performance believing that a pill will fix it will often suffice to fix it ;-) Have you ever wondered why people spend bazillions of dollars on scientifically disproven supplements and claim that they work? Well, if you have read my previous article on "brocebos", you may already know the answer: It's the placebo effect. Now, Danilo V. Tolusso, C. and colleagues from the Green State University did not investigate the subtle ways in which ads, sponsored athletes and the price of a supplement enhance its "efficacy", but their study which was designed give us "a more realistic understanding of the placebo effect in a sport or exercise session" is still enlightening with respect to the powers of belief. The benfits of high(er)  protein intake  are not just placebo, bro ;-) Are You Protein Wheysting? 5x More Than the FDA Allows! Protein requ. of athletes High EAA protein for fa...

Image 1: If you start thinking about whether or not the product you just bought at your local supplement store works, it is - for a non-negligible amount of supplements - unlikely that you will see any results (photo Scientific American ) I guess, I don't have to tell you what the term "placebo effect" stands for, right? It is the occurrence of an effect that - assuming the effect could speak - would say of itself "placebo", i.e. "I am pleasing" (1st person singular, presence active from lat. "placere", i.e."to please" ). And while the medical establishment is still arguing, whether it was feasible, and, in view of the fact that this must obviously happen unbeknown to the patient, even ethical, to deliberately exploit the placebo as a "medical" treatment strategy, there are certain supplement companies that generate up to 90% of their revenue from an allegedly muscle-packed cousin of the placebo effect, the brocebo eff...