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posted by cmn32480 on Friday August 07 2015, @01:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-is-this-gym-you-speak-of dept.

The American Psychological Association has identified an emerging eating disorder in men: the excessive consumption of bodybuilding supplements. Supplements such as whey protein, creatine, and L-cartinine are legal and not regulated by the FDA.

[Richard Achiro, PhD] and co-author Peter Theodore, PhD, also at the California School of Professional Psychology [at Alliant International University, Los Angeles], found that more than 40 percent of participants [in a study] indicated that their use of supplements had increased over time and 22 percent indicated that they replaced regular meals with dietary supplements not intended to be meal replacements.... On the more extreme end, 8 percent of participants indicated that their physician had told them to cut back on or stop using supplements due to actual or potential adverse health side effects, and 3 percent had been hospitalized for kidney or liver problems that were related to the use of supplements.

An article from Fox News provides additional insight from Achiro:

"Because we just assume sometimes that's what men do, collectively, it's kind of a normal thing, and in fact they're overusing these supplements in a way that is damaging themselves and the people around them in some cases," he said.

"What are these men compensating for? Feelings of impotence in relationships, work life or both?" Achiro said. "It's an underlying behavior men know is problematic, but are unable to change because so few of us men are open to addressing our emotional worlds and sense of inadequacy."

Healthline also reports the study along with more of Achiro's thoughts on the problems men face due to a change in the "'ideal masculine' physique presented by the media... from hyper-muscularity — such as Arnold Schwarzenneger — to a mesomorphic ideal, which is muscular and lean, highlighting the importance of muscular definition."

I'm reminded of the scene from Fight Club where Tyler is staring at a Calvin Klein-esque ad, and the narrator asks, "Is that what a real man is supposed to look like?"


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  • (Score: 1) by AnonymousCowardNoMore on Friday August 07 2015, @02:35PM

    by AnonymousCowardNoMore (5416) on Friday August 07 2015, @02:35PM (#219581)

    the adult human nervous system can only metabolize simple carbs for some of its primary functions, and if you're having nothing but protein powder, you can be at real risk

    Excess protein is deaminised and converted into carbs and fat. Unless I'm missing something, you shouldn't get problems from that. Still bad for you, though. Not to mention the stress all the deamination waste products (urea) must place on the kidneys.

  • (Score: 2) by istartedi on Friday August 07 2015, @05:33PM

    by istartedi (123) on Friday August 07 2015, @05:33PM (#219638) Journal

    If it's just protein would it lead to rabbit starvation [wikipedia.org]? Note, the linked article describes this happening with lean natural meat. I'm not sure what's in the powder that might make it easier for the body to convert to what it needs; but AFAIK such conversion takes energy and that might be why you can starve on protein-only diets. At any rate, eating such a specialized diet can't be good. Humans are evolved to be generalists.

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    • (Score: 1) by AnonymousCowardNoMore on Friday August 07 2015, @05:51PM

      by AnonymousCowardNoMore (5416) on Friday August 07 2015, @05:51PM (#219642)

      The linked article makes no mention of people being incapable of extracting the necessary energy from protein as in the post I replied to. It does say that there are poisonous byproducts from breaking down such an enormous amount of protein, which I mentioned in my reply. In any case, I agree with you that too much protein is bad for you and too much protein supplement powder, especially combined with a very low intake of carbs and fats, would lead to rabbit starvation.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @09:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @09:26PM (#219697)

      Rabbit starvation is not the same thing. Eat some oil or fat and it is not a concern. Carbs have nothing to do with it.