The Nitty-Gritty Underground World of Supplement Ingredients, Sports Nutrition Frankenfuels, Illegally Laced Compounds & More.

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Podcast, Supplements

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Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.

My guest in today's podcast, Shawn Wells, MPH, RD, CISSN, has probably forgotten more about supplements than most people will ever know. His brain contains an extremely unique blend of time spent in the science trenches and a formal education in the fields of performance nutrition and supplementation.

Shawn attended UNC-Chapel Hill, earning a Master’s degree in Nutrition and minor in Exercise Science. His education also includes credentials of Registered Dietitian, Certified Sport Nutritionist (CISSN), and board member of the ISSN. His role as CEO of Zone Halo Research, a consulting group for supplement formulations, and CSO of Biotrust, along with extensive experience in formulating supplements for big companies (likely some of the ones you’ve tried in the past few years) distinguish him as an expert in sports nutrition and supplementation.

If you’re into supplements, you will love this interview with Shawn Wells. We discuss:

-How Shawn went from being a practicing Chief Clinical Dietitian to being in the thick of the supplement industry, and some of the most helpful books he read along the way…

-The most important factors that differentiate a high-quality supplement manufacturer from a low-quality one…

-The deceptive practice of “fairy-dusting” and why many, many supplement manufacturers do it…

-How to know if taking different supplements together (e.g. stacking) can be dangerous, or on the flipside, more efficacious than taking one at a time…

-Why a supplement can rapidly degrade as soon as you put it into your refrigerator or pantry…

-Why everything from solubility to flavor additives can make or break the absorption and efficacy of supplements like whey protein…

-Why you could be getting 600mg of caffeine (6 cups of coffee!) in an average “energy” supplement that says it only has 100mg…

-The surprising development that Shawn things is the next big thing in the world of supplements and nutrition…

-And much more!

Resources we discuss during this episode:

-Book “Optimum Sports Nutrition by Dr. Michael Colgan

-Book “The Four Agreements

The Examine Research Digest

Behind The Scenes Of How A Supplement Is Made

My podcast interview with the folks at LabDoor “The Crazy, True & Scary Facts About The Supplements Industry”

BioTrust supplements

Do you have questions, comments or feedback about how to know supplement ingredients or anything else Shawn and I discuss? Leave your thoughts below.

Ask Ben a Podcast Question

6 thoughts on “The Nitty-Gritty Underground World of Supplement Ingredients, Sports Nutrition Frankenfuels, Illegally Laced Compounds & More.

  1. Carol says:

    Hi Ben and Shawn,

    Thank you for an interesting and informative interview. My question for you is what is the best way for a consumer to research a supplement without spending hours looking at each website? LabDoor looks great but has limited information at the moment. Is Consumer Labs worth joining? Or are there other websites or organizations you recommend?

    Thank you

    1. For researching legality, I like globaldro.com. For researching stacks/latest research, I like bengreenfieldfitness.com/erd. consumer labs is not bad, and also http://www.npainfo.org/ http://info.nsf.org/Certified/Dietary/ and http://www.usp.org/usp-verification-services/usp-…

  2. koraysaritas says:

    The passion and enthusiasm while Shawn was talking about what ingredients work together in pre-workout supplements reminded me Jean Baptiste Grenouille in Süskind's book Perfume.

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