Latest / Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast / 81. Third-Party Testing Supplements for Athletes

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81. Third-Party Testing Supplements for Athletes · Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast

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  Third party testing for supplements is when a outside
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  company or a third party is going to test a supplement under
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  a certain type of regulation or certain type of, you know,
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  certification process that is going to help with quality
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  assurance for an athlete. Hello and welcome to the Eat
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  More Carbs podcast. My name is Jenna Fischer and I'm
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  here with my Co host Riley Baby. Before we jump into today's
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  episode, this is just a quick reminder that you can apply to
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  work with Jenna or myself and our concierge sports nutrition
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  coaching program. Our one-on-one coaching program
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  provides individualized support for athletes who are looking to
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  increase their performance on the field and optimize their
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  health. Off of it today we're going to
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  be talking about supplements and 3rd party testing but first
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  Riley, what's your high and low we're.
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  Going to start with my low. I had this very interesting
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  thing happened to me. I feel like lately I've been
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  sharing a little too much on the podcast, but you know what?
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  I feel like we're all friends here.
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  Poor Jenna has had to hang out with me for the last six years.
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  So just a little bit more awkward things for Jenna to have
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  to talk to me about. I had this incident that has
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  never happened to me before and it just, it was such an
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  inconvenience to my life and it's just such a virtual
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  problem. I got a pimple in my ear, like
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  in my ear, and it was so like I couldn't get rid of it.
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  It was there for like a week and a half and like that sounds so
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  silly but I use headphones when I run and I couldn't put
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  headphones in because of this pimple in my ear.
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  I have had a pimple in my ear before and like they hurt.
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  They hurt so bad. And like I remember when I got
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  it and I was like, what is what is wrong with my ear?
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  Like there's something wrong with my ear.
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  So I had to have somebody else look at my ear and they were
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  like, oh, that's a zit. And I was like, no, no,
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  something's wrong because it just hurts and then it just goes
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  away. It's so oh what a pain I am.
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  So bad that you had this because I have been so self-conscious to
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  share about this as my low on the podcast because I thought it
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  was the only person that this happened to.
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  Because you can't like, do anything to get rid of it.
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  Like obviously to like put your finger in your ear.
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  Like I feel like it's definitely a rarer place to get a pimple
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  for sure, but I don't feel like you and I are the only two in
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  the world who this has ever happened to.
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  That's my love. It's very a very silly one.
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  My high is that for the last like six months I have been
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  trying to get Jenna to read this book and she finally read it and
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  now I'm so excited because now I do not just have a one person
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  book club. I made.
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  Poor Jenna read this book as part of her employment to RBSN
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  and I just wanted to share that I'm very excited that she read
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  this book and that is my high. So thank you for, you know,
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  partaking in my hobbies. No, I like book club and I liked
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  the book, so it worked out good for everybody.
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  And now everybody's going to want to know what the book is,
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  but we're going to keep it to ourselves.
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  Right now it is an internal RBSN.
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  Book club it is, internal, Yes it is.
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  And I'm going to continue to bring up this book for the next
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  couple of months. If we get enough requests, we
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  will share our book. But thank you Jenna for reading
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  this book and joining the book. Clubs, thanks for recommending
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  it. Jenna, what's your high and
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  your? Love my high for the week is
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  that I recently found out that one of my favorite ice cream
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  shops, I believe they are only on like the West Coast.
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  None of them have been in Arizona before.
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  I learned that they opened one about 45 minutes from my house
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  and I am going to go this weekend.
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  The only other times that I've had it is when I've been out in
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  California, but I am so excited to go get ice cream from this
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  place that usually I can't get in Arizona.
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  So that's my high is ice. Cream.
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  Place it's salt and straw. Oh.
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  My gosh, I salt and straw so much.
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  You were the one who introduced me when we went out to
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  California during our internship.
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  That was the first time I've ever had salt and straw.
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  Every time that like I go back to California, I get it again to
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  include when I went out to run my marathon because it's so
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  good. And I was so excited when I
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  learned that they opened one in like kind of in the Phoenix
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  area. So I'm going Oh my.
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  Gosh, I'm so jealous. I'll have some for you.
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  My low for the week actually happened this morning.
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  It's a little just bit of a like an embarrassing situation.
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  I was giving a presentation. It's kind of like an open
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  presentation, I guess you could say, to some members of the RBSN
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  boot camp. Not everybody can join live, but
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  it's always just recorded. And I had some people join today
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  and they let me know ahead of time that they might have to hop
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  off early. And I was like, that's fine.
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  Like no problem, we're gonna record it and you can watch it
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  later. And as I'm going through the
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  presentation, I'm in presenter mode.
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  So I'm not really seeing the other participants in the call.
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  It's just not what I'm seeing on my screen because I'm in
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  presenter mode on Canva. And at one point I asked if
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  there are any questions and it's recording.
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  Everyone is going to watch this later.
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  And no one was left in the call, so there's a recording of me
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  asking an empty room if they had any questions.
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  No one said anything and that's what clued me in.
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  Oh, that is really good. Everybody watches those calls
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  though, and you do such a great job at them.
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  So they're so like super useful and that's I'm sure people do
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  have lots of questions they just will not asking them live.
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  Yes, because usually we stop and we ask questions along the way
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  because most people do have questions or we want to discuss
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  a certain topic and we were getting into one of the
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  consensus statements. So I was like, oh, are there any
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  questions now that we, we've reached into this chapter before
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  we move on And and that's when I found.
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  Out now, our Slack channel makes a lot more sense.
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  Yes, yes, I'm everyone apologizing as to them having to
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  hop off early. Everyone will watch it.
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  Maybe other people will get a good laugh out of it like you
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  and I did. I'm super excited to watch it.
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  I was one of those people that was not able to attend today, so
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  I am very excited. To watch it, one of the things
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  that we did talk about or I talked about on the study called
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  today was the consensus statement on supplements, which
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  brings up a lot about third party testing and supplements in
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  general, especially for athletic use.
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  We're going to be talking a lot today about third party testing
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  specifically when it comes to supplementation and athletes.
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  And the reason why this is so important, especially for
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  athletes, it's that supplements are not as highly regulated like
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  pharmaceuticals are in the United States.
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  So there's a lot of risk for cross contamination for
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  ingredients showing up in supplements that maybe the
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  athlete is not aware of and they end up taking a supplement that
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  either causes harm or causes a positive drug test or something
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  that actually is banned by their sport.
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  So, so they're no longer able to compete.
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  There's a number of reasons why it's really important for
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  athletes to be very aware of the supplements that they're taking
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  to run kind of a benefit analysis as far as if the risk
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  is worth the reward of what the supplement actually offers.
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  And there's a couple ways that registered dietitians can help
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  athletes navigate that field. But one of the big things in the
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  supplement industry right now is third party testing.
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  So Riley, what is third party testing for supplements?
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  Third party testing for supplements is when a outside
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  company or a third party is going to test a supplement under
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  a certain type of regulation or sort of type of, you know,
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  certification process that is going to help with quality
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  assurance for an athlete. Kind of following up with what
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  you said, any product in the United States that has a
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  supplement facts label versus a nutrition facts label is going
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  to fall under this loose regulation when it comes to
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  supplements. So just like Jenna had talked
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  about, you know, supplements are really poorly regulated and any
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  product that is labeled with a supplement facts panel is going
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  to fall under this regulation. It's not going to be tested like
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  medication, it's not going to be tested like food, and it's also
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  not going to be tested like cosmetics.
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  Those are the three kind of categories that fall under FDA
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  regulations and FDA testing. So it is kind of the Wild West
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  with supplements, but not all supplements are, you know,
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  created poorly and are bad quality products.
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  And that's why we really look at these third party testing
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  organizations to help us kind of navigate the space and help find
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  those quality products. When it comes to 3rd party
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  testing, like what does that actually mean?
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  There's a couple different like organizations and we can get
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  into this as far as which ones we trust and which ones we're
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  kind of looking for when we're analyzing supplements that an
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  athlete might be taking. But what does that process
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  involve? Like are they testing this
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  monthly? Are they testing it batch by
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  batch? Like what does that look like
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  from an actual test standpoint? There's lots of different
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  organizations out there that are testing these products from a
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  third party testing perspective. The first kind of like baseline
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  category that a lot of these companies are testing for is
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  just a quality assurance process.
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  So what does the production line look like?
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  What does the factory, you know, qualities look like?
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  And a lot of those times those are being compared to like the
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  FDA and food product quality assured testings.
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  So usually the base testing that is done on supplements is just
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  quality assurance, right? Making sure that again, you have
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  good quality products going in to the bottle or the container
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  and then also just guaranteeing that what is listed on the fax
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  panel is actually what's in the product.
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  That's something that people don't realize that you can just
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  slap a supplement fax panel onto a product and nobody's checking
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  to make sure what's in the supplement is actually what's on
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  the label. So that's the first type of
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  testing and you're going to see that most commonly I feel like
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  with like USP testing that's done a lot with like vitamins
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  and minerals, you'll usually see like USP and that usually is
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  just looking for that quality assurance piece.
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  So when we're thinking of supplements, I think my mind
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  immediately goes to like protein powder when I'm thinking of a
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  supplement. But supplements include a lot of
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  different things like you mentioned, supplements that are
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  micronutrients or vitamins and minerals.
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  Those all fall into the category of supplements.
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  So if we're really wanting or if we really need to take a
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  supplement, whether we're an athlete or not, what are the
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  third party testing companies that you trust as a sports
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  dietitian? So talked about like that USP,
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  USP is usually like what I'm looking for when I'm looking for
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  vitamins and minerals. USP though is not going to be
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  checking for banned substances. So anything that's going to be
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  on the prohibited list or certain organizations, you also
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  have to look at those banned lists as well.
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  Third party testing companies like NSF Certified for Sport or
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  Informed Choice or Informed Sport are going to also test for
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  those banned substances. So there's going to be that
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  quality assurance piece tied in to their testing, but they're
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  also going to take it a step above and make sure that those
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  products are going to be free from any type of banned
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  substance. So those are the two most
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  common, I guess you could say three most common certifications
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  from a third party perspective. You also asked earlier to a
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  little bit more about like third party certifications.
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  And I think that's a really important point to bring up
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  because a lot of companies will claim that they do their own
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  certifications in house and there's no standard for that.
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  So you have to look at these reputable brands like this NSF
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  Certified for Sport. NSF does a ton of different
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  certifications. I mean, especially we've seen
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  this a ton in the field of dietetics, but there's so many
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  different NSF certifications out there that is a really well
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  known company. And then also the informed
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  Sport, Informed Choice like we just mentioned, that is going to
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  be a reputable brand as well. So when we see these third party
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  testing brands listed on a supplement label, is it
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  reasonable to a assume, I guess that this is something that an
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  athlete could be safe to take then?
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  It is going to provide a level of safety, but there's no
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  guarantee and that is something that is really important that
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  you have to understand as an athlete is just these products
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  are thoroughly tested, but you always have to assume their
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  risk. With the three most common types
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  of testing that we're looking for in athletes or the three
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  most common brands. We have the NSS Certified for
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  sport. That is going to be your highest
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  level of testing as well as your informed sport.
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  Every single batch is going to be tested for the banned
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  substances, and from the equality assurance standpoint,
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  Informed Choice is a little bit more of a popular testing option
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  for a lot of supplements because it's cheaper.
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  Because they're not going to test batches, they test random
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  products and I'm simplifying all of their testing requirements.
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  You can definitely go to these websites and check out more.
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  So how do you know then if a supplement has been third party
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  tested? These third party testing
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  certifications cost money. Because of that, companies are
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  going to make sure that you know that they're going to have that
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  testing done on their products. So they're definitely going to
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  be putting the label on their products.
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  So that's going to be one of the easiest ways to check if your
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  product has been third party tested by one of these
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  organizations. If you can't find the label on
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  the product, you can also go to these companies websites and you
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  can type in that product. But something that is really
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  important is you have to make sure that you're also typing in
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  like the batch for products, especially for these MSFS
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  Certified for Sport or the informed sport products, because
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  you want to ensure that the batch has been cleared from a
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  compliance standpoint. There's also documentation
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  online too, if you really want to look into it, unlike detailed
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  reports about the actual testing process and the results for that
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  certification that that supplement has.
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  And then if in doubt and you have questions about whether or
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  not it's actually been third party tested, you can always
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  reach out to the manufacturer Like they, if you send them
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  exactly what you're curious about, your batch number, the
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  exact thing that you're taking, they'll be able to provide those
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  details for you. And then lastly, I think one of
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  the biggest things is that always check with a sports
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  dietitian, especially if you are someone who's regularly involved
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  in competitive sports to go over supplements with you, whether
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  that be some type of a supplement review.
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  Riley and I are never encouraging blanket
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  supplementation of anything, regardless of a micronutrient,
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  vitamin and mineral or something that is directly targeted at
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  sports performance and enhancement or anything like
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  that. We're looking at the overall
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  fueling plan of an athlete before recommending any type of
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  supplementation, and doing so with your sports dietitian is
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  probably a good idea as well because any type of
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  supplementation can be dangerous and I just.
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  Have two more quick points to add on top of that too.
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  Why it is really important to work with a sports dietitian on
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  this because yes, these third party testing companies provide
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  a level of safety when it comes to these products, but you also
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  have to remember that they're testing against the WADA band
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  list and your organization, their band or their prohibited
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  list might be a little bit different.
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  A really common example of this is caffeine because at the IOC
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  level, at the WADA level, caffeine is not a banned
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  substance. But if you are an NCAA athlete,
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  taking caffeine and certain doses is going to be banned and
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  prohibited. So you do have to be careful
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  because if you are, you know, following the NSF certified for
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  sport labeling, then if a product has, you know, high
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  doses of caffeine and it's going to pass that labeling, but it's
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  not going to necessarily align with your organization.
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  And working with a sports dietitian can help navigate
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  that. Additionally, just because of
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  product is safe doesn't mean it's actually effective and
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  present in the effective dose that you need as an athlete.
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  Just because a product doesn't contain banned substances
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  doesn't mean that it's actually going to help with your
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  performance. Example, Jenna talked about
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  protein powder. That's one of the most common
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  products out there. You don't need to necessarily
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  take protein powder if you're meeting your protein needs.
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  So even if your protein powder is safe, it's not going to
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  necessarily be effective if you're feeling the foundation is
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  already. Up to par.
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  If you do have questions for Riley and I about supplements or
• 14:35
  about nutrition, please reach out to us.
• 14:37
  You can find Riley on Instagram at Easy Sports Nutrition and you
• 14:40
  can find me at Jenna Fisher Nutrition.
• 14:43
  Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Eat More
• 14:45
  Carbs Podcast. Please make sure you rate,
• 14:47
  subscribe and review. And as always, remember to eat
• 14:49
  more carbs.