The Supplement Scam: What Science Says You Actually Need

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 [e-mail] for a personalized review and start your journey toward evidence-based wellness.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Did you know?
The supplement industry isworth over $40 billion a year
and most of it isn't even backedby science.
Just like toxins from lastweek's episode, supplements are
another area filled withmarketing myths and
misinformation.
Today we're going to be clearin the air on all of this.

(00:26):
Welcome to another podcast ofLiving a Full Life.
I'm Dr Enrico Dolcecori, andtoday we're going to be talking
about which supplements areactually useful, which ones are
mostly hype, and how to avoidwasting money or harming your
health.
There's a general allure tosupplements that are out there.
There's a general allure tosupplements that are out there.

(00:47):
People buy them because of thepromises of quick fixes
influencer marketing, biohackerspretending like they know what
they're talking about and whatthat drives is an emotional
acknowledgement that, as a buyeror someone searching for
answers, there's some typicalthings that this marketing realm
delves into people's emotionson fatigue, weight loss, muscle

(01:09):
gain and anti-aging.
It's just all the roads pointto those big four and if you
look at all the currentmarketing towards supplements
and cosmetics and everythingthat's being pushed right now,
it's all based on those fourthings fatigue, weight loss.
Right now, it's all based onthose four things fatigue,
weight loss, muscle gain andanti-aging.
It seems to be the echochambers of the last probably

(01:29):
five to 10 years and it doesn'tseem like it's letting up.
Why?
Because it makes $40 billion ayear.
Actually, the muscle industryand the anti-aging industry
probably are approaching atrillion dollar industry with
all of that.
So what we need to do is talkabout what is hype and what is
helpful, and that's what we'regoing to do.
We're going to break it downtoday.
Let's divide claim versusrealities with these miracle

(01:54):
supplements and let's talk aboutthe truth.
Today, it's all about truth.
We want to talk about the mythsversus science.
We want to talk about evidenceversus what's missing, risks and
side effects.
And the bottom line is any ofthis really worth it and if it
is, which ones are worth it?
Some examples are things likecollagen powder.

(02:14):
Collagen powder is marketed forskin and joints and going to
get rid of your wrinkles.
There's some modest evidence.
It helps with elasticity in thecollagen fibers, but results
aren't really dramatic.
On longitudinal snuddies thatthey follow people, none of them
claim to have miraculouschanges with their skin or
anything.
Taking just collagen.
It is more useful, believe itor not, for what it was intended

(02:37):
for gut healing the lining ofthe gut.
Collagen plays a really bigrole internally in the elastin
fibers in the body.
Rather than what the marketersare pushing all of this stuff
for, green powders not asubstitute for whole foods or
fruits or vegetables.
They're often expensive andthey have a lot of mixed quality
in them.
They're not that great to take.

(02:57):
These powders are mixed with abunch of other stuff that are
actually maybe even detrimentalto be taking them every single
day.
So these mixed green powdersare not useful on any scientific
evidence at all.
Fat burners and detox teasmostly they're just stimulants.
You're just stimulating yourbody with very little effects

(03:18):
and if they are effects, they'resometimes harmful and they're
rarely effective.
High dose vitamins high dosingvitamin E, high dosing vitamin D
I mean it's helpful if you areclinically deficient, to dose up
and get yourself into a normalrange and a healthy range,
totally effective.
That is great, because beingdeficient has a lot of side

(03:39):
effects to it.
So we know that.
But the high and mega dosingcan actually backfire on some
people sometimes and cause otherissues.
So we know that.
But the high and mega dosingcan actually backfire on some
people sometimes and cause otherissues.
So we have to be careful withall this stuff.
I could talk for another hourabout all the myths, but really
what supplements that can behelpful is going to be more
useful for you on this shortpodcast than anything else.

(04:01):
So vitamin D always tops thecharts when it comes to
supplements.
It's almost unanimous across thescientific community that
vitamin D for everyone daily isa stapled supplement to be
taking because we just want tomaintain levels and the human
body works more efficient withnormal range vitamin D, which

(04:25):
should be between 50 and 70 whenyou do your blood tests.
Anything below 30 is considereddeficient, medically deficient,
where you can get prescriptionvitamin D or you can start high
dosing for that.
But typically 5,000 IUs per dayfor adults from 18 years of age
all the way up to 118 years ofage, that's what we should be
taking to help supplement thevitamin D processes in the body.

(04:48):
That's number one on the listacross the board.
Whether you're in Europe, asia,north America, south America,
all the research community isgoing to agree on that.
Some will push back, sayingit's a hormone.
It does act as a hormone in thebody, but it plays so many
roles that the benefits severelyoutweigh the risks on this when

(05:09):
we use it properly per day.
Kids, you dose up from 1,000,2,000, 3,000, 4,000, based on
body weight.
Omega-3 fatty acids Now this hasto be incorporated in the diet
and we miss the target on thiswhen we talk about omega-3 fatty
acids.
We need to enrich our diet withomega-3 fatty acids.
The oils you cook with have tobe the cleanest and best oils,

(05:33):
and you should never cook withrancid oils ever in your home.
Because you can control whatyou do in your home.
You cannot control when you goto 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 arenot omega-3s.
They actually break down andbecome volatile triglycerides,

(05:56):
which are bad for you.
So omega-3 fatty acids if youcan enrich yourself in the diet
by having coconut oil, avocadooil, avocados, olive oils,
eating olives, good fats, butterthese are the types of things
that have good source omega-3sin them, and the foods come from
seeds, salmon, fish, seafoodtons of omega-3s in there as

(06:21):
well.
So eating this stuff in yourdiet can play a huge role.
Now, if you're not a seafoodperson and you cook with a
little bit of olive oil like me,mediterranean boy, you're not
doing all the coconut stuff andall the other stuff and the
butters and you're not into allof that stuff and you're like I
don't know if I'm getting enoughomega-3.
This is the one you put on yourshelf.
I take it every single day.

(06:42):
Omega-3 fatty acid from small,clean fish krill just because of
the oceans are polluted and bigfish are polluted with heavy
metals as well.
We don't want to be gettingthem just off the shelf at
Walmart or off Amazon.
Please don't buy supplementsoff Amazon.
You want to buy this from aclean source distributor,
usually medical grade, andthey're a couple of bucks more.

(07:04):
It's not going to landslide orway more expensive than the
things you buy at Walmart.
So this one is one you want toresearch Get Clean Source
Omega-3 fatty acids.
If you're a true vegan anddon't eat fish or anything like
that, you can get flaxseedextract.
That gets you the high doseOmega-3s as well.
That plays from a vegetarianperspective.

(07:25):
But those are probably the twobiggest ones, and if you turn
off the podcast right nowbecause you've got to go on with
your day, I think that's a win,but we're going to keep going.
Magnesium Magnesium is a driver.
If you've been part of theresearch I started, you know,
pre-med.
Oh my gosh, pre-med 1999, 2000.

(07:45):
Oh my gosh, so let's say 2000.
It's been 25 years in themedical 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 uphappening is like, oh my gosh,
it's the vitamin D that's doingall the transporting, not the
other way around.
It's the vitamin D that's doingall the transporting, not the

(08:05):
other way around.
Anyways, these two work togetherto help mineralize the body.
This is how you hydrate is byhaving magnesium and vitamin D.
This is why we talk aboutelectrolytes and vitamin D.
You take those two things, youstay hydrated.
What does hydration mean?
And being it means pulling inthe right elements into the body
.
Elements are also metals.

(08:27):
So, like magnesium, selenium,copper, calcium all these things
need to be pulled in and drawnin to the body.
Otherwise the body wants toexcrete these free metals out of
the body.
Makes sense, right?
They want to detox them.
Magnesium plays that role.
So through our diet, the calciumthat we eat gets pulled back
into the bone to help drive redblood cell synthesis and all

(08:47):
this other great stuff that itdoes and it keeps a lot of
stress off the heart.
We found that taking calciumall those years from the 1960s
onward was actually increasinglyslightly elevating the risk of
heart attack, both in men andwomen, but more so in women.
It was increasing the risk ofheart attack.
Once they started tellingpeople to stop taking it, that

(09:07):
little blip that was going up inthe 80s and 90s started to go
down and they're like, ooh,correlation, may, equal
causation on this.
And that's where the researchis today.
Like man, maybe we don't needto be taking calcium supplement.
We need to be eatingbioavailable calcium through our
diet, which means green veggies, your foods, your meats.
That's where you get thosetypes of things.

(09:28):
So magnesium on its own is sogreat.
It helps from sleep to stress,to muscle function all this
great stuff.
Taking a magnesium in theevening before bed probably the
best time to take it because itcan help you both with sleep,
calming down muscles, even helpswith muscle spasm, muscle
cramps.
It just it works, it works, itreally works.
It's one of those electrolytesthat just works really well.

(09:50):
Protein powders and we'll stopthere 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 timeto eat that.
It takes time to prepareprotein.
I think in our fast world we'rejust not getting enough protein

(10:10):
.
You tell people are you eating200 grams of protein?
They're like what They'll know.
They're like that seems like alot.
I'm like it is a lot, butyou're 200 pounds, you need to
eat 200 grams of protein.
If you're 150 pounds, you needto eat 150 grams of protein.
This is men and women.
This is just a general rulethere, just to prevent
sarcopenia above the age of 40.

(10:31):
I mean, it's really importantwith these Protein powders clean
sourced, whey-based, unlessyou're dairy allergy it is
convenient, especially forathletes and busy adults.
But it's super convenient to getthat one protein shake in a day
, or even five days a week whereit just bumps you by that 25,
30 grams more protein per day tosupplement your diet, to push

(10:52):
you above that 100 grams ofprotein 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 allabout.
So what do you need to get andhave in your?
You don't have a medicinecabinet because you're listening
to Dr Rico.
You have a supplement cabinet.
What you're going to have isyour vitamin D, your omega-3

(11:13):
fatty acid fish oil, yourmagnesium and your protein
powder stocked in your home andyou're off to the races with a
fundamental truth that you canrun with on evidence-based
research that supports it acrossalmost unanimously.
Nothing is ever unanimous,nothing is ever zero and nothing
is ever 100.

(11:34):
We need to understand that,especially during these times
and what has happened in recentevents that has shocked the
world.
Truth rings louder thananything else and the more truth
we walk by and talk by, thelouder the vibrations, and
that's what I think this wholepodcast has been about.
For me.
This is my truth.

(11:54):
I'm projecting the truths,trying and weed out the smoke
and sift through the smoke, weedout the weeds and just get
through the truth, and that'swhat I'm trying to deliver to
you every single week.
And it's loud when the truth isthere.
It's loud when you tell peoplewhy are you doing collagen?
Why are you doing selenium?

(12:16):
Why are you taking thismultivitamin 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 becauseyou forgot to get something for
the house, or a t-shirt orsomething.
You went to go buy the t-shirtoh, I should pick up a
multivitamin.
What's the cheapest one on theshelf?
Centrum, I'll take that.

(12:45):
Great, not doing anything foryour health when you do that.
It's the truth.
That's the absolute truth.
Truth hurts sometimes, so wejust need to listen to it and be
humbled by it.
That's really what truth is allabout.
How do you spot misinformation?
You spot misinformation bylistening to the entire piece of
information, not just the sixwords that you want to quote
from that evidence-basedresearch or that person that
spoke in a microphone and makethem sound like bad people or
wrong information.
You go through the entireinformation.

(13:07):
You read the entire paragraph.
You don't just go through theone bold statement reduces
wrinkles, reduces belly fat.
All you have to do is swallowone pill a day.
You take that one punchline andyou run with it.
You're going to miss all theother information that will show
you that that isn't true.
That was just the highlights ofwhat we wanted to take out of

(13:31):
that paragraph to sell theproduct or label someone as good
or label something as evil.
That's the problem, and I thinksocial media, with the fast
five second videos and peopleonly get three seconds of your
attention.
All you have is the punchlinefor four words and unfortunately
that can stir up a lot ofemotion because we're not
getting the full context of theinformation.
So how do you spotmisinformation in the health
industry?
Is with if it just influencerstories.

(13:53):
Red flag Proprietary blendswith no dosing that are listed.
They just list what's in it andthere's no dosing in the
nutrition facts.
Red flag Because it's just ablend.

(14:14):
This is what I was talkingabout with the green powders and
that type of stuff Expensivebut vague results.
Women, you're guilty of thiswith a lot of the cosmetic stuff
you buy Always ask would thiswork without me changing my diet
, my exercise or my sleep?
If yes, it's probably a gimmick.

(14:34):
There you go.
Saved you guys hundreds, if notthousands of dollars for the
rest of your life if you followthose rules.
So some actionable takeawaysthat you can take from this
podcast is that supplements aretools.
They are not magic.
Start with food, sleep,movement and stress management
before you start delving intosupplements or medicines or

(14:58):
anything like that.
Only add supplements afterknowing your deficiencies.
You have to do lab tests.
You can't just come in and sayI think I'm deficient.
How do you know you'redeficient of anything in
particular?
Lab tests and doctor's guidanceare more valuable than anything
else.
They'll save you money.
People are like but I have tospend money to get my lab tests
and I have to spend money totalk to the doctor.

(15:19):
Yeah, it's a one-time thing todelve into and figure out what
we're deficient in and then youzone in, you buy the right stuff
and it saves you a bunch ofother money from buying the
gimmicks.
Save money by skippingoverhyped products.
There you go.
That's what we need to do, justlike with toxins.
Knowledge is power.

(15:40):
Don't let hype drive yourhealth decisions in any way.
Let truth and evidence guideyou when you make these
decisions for you and yourfamily.
So if you know anyone thatspends too much on supplements,
this is one of those podcasts.
You tag them or you text themwith the link and you're like,
hey, I got a podcast you got tolisten to.
Usually a spouse is going tosend this to a spouse saying hey

(16:05):
, I think you spend too muchmoney and they're going to
listen to this.
Invite them to send in theirsupplements 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 intoyour deficiencies or lab tests,
we can look at them.
Pull out the red flags fromthat, if you truly can't pull

(16:26):
out the red flags from what youlearned today?
So the fact that you'relistening to these podcasts, the
fact that you go out and buysupplements, means you're
goodwilled.
It means you're trying to takecare of your health and wellness
, and we're not here to helpsquash that.
Keep doing that.
Keep searching for the truth,keep doing what's right.
Sometimes what feels good canbe actually good for you, but we

(16:50):
can also go through a coupleexamples of things that feel
good that are probably not goodfor you.
So that's what we're protectingyou here from Try those things.
Give us the feedback and infoat Full Life Tampa.
If you have any particularquestions, we love them.
Send them our way and have agreat and healthy week.
Stay well, stay healthy.