Since its humble beginnings in Ancient Greece to statistically more than half of the pantry cupboards across the western world, diet supplementation is one industry set to steadily continue its growth well beyond the teenage years of this century.
When did protein powders become the norm?
The truth is that the protein powder sitting at home on your kitchen bench is by no means a modern-day supplement. The initial bodybuilding craze of the 1950s saw the rapid development of bodybuilding supplements as they evolved from essentially beef stock- to egg-based powders. Shortly after carbohydrates joined these blends of products, entire ranges were designed with the intent to supplement the immense nutritional needs of bodybuilders taking extreme courses of testosterone therapy or ‘the gear’. These bodybuilders struggled to reach the daily caloric intake required to keep up with the growth-promoting effects of the bodybuilding drugs they were taking. And so was prematurely born, the unregulated supplement industry, where the macromolecular (carb, protein & fat) equivalent of entire meals could now be consumed in the same time it took to drink a glass of milk.
The early days of supplements
Once the business minds of the 1950s had caught onto this new market, some clever advertising and leveraging of very public bodybuilding icons made starting a new supplement company one of the most lucrative ventures of the era.
Both in Australia and abroad, the regulation of sports supplements experienced such a shock-induced lag that even the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Australia’s equivalent (the Therapeutic Goods Administration or TGA) delegated the responsibility of supplement quality and safety solely to manufacturers. At face value, a scheme like this would place businesses under pressure to avoid producing risky new products and conduct their own rigorous testing. In reality, the exact opposite occurred.
The first-wave bodybuilding era started to slow, and the stimulant “rush” of the late 1990s to the early 2000s saw manufacturers and supplement developers chase stimulant-loaded craze after craze to provide consumers with the biggest caffeine-like jitters available; some products of which not lasting long before being banned from shelves.
From then to now
The rumour-mill sure has spun out some fantastic horror stories over the years; from young supplement businesses starting out by combining powders in their garages using concrete mixers, to manufacturers ‘cutting’ products with flour and sugar like common crooks. Although the commonly-used industry term “cake-mix” still aptly describes some of the protein products out there today, the overall quality is still generations ahead of where it once was – before the fear of random independent testing perpetrated the markets.
Can we trust supplements today?
Generally speaking, this decade’s rise in contract manufacture (supplements being produced and packaged by skilled biochemical professionals) has improved the quality of products available in Australia since the 90s. These facilities are often inspected and well-maintained and some are even registered with the TGA to produce medicinal-grade products (subjecting these facilities to even finer inspections and quality standards).
In spite of evolving quality controls, the rapid importation of new products from overseas markets, still riddled with mystifying proprietary blends (you may be quite familiar with seeing the † or * symbol in place of actual ingredient lists), still makes it almost impossible to ascertain what is inside some tubs of protein, amino acids or pre-training products. In due course, badly labelled international supplements are brought under the nose of FSANZ and are generally either: 1) re-stickered with new nutrient panels to reach ANZ compliance or 2) recalled from shelves if they pose any confirmed health risks. It’s important to note that both of these processes do take time and heavily rely on the general public to report any instances of non-compliance or concerns to FSANZ.
At the end of the day, although the boom of the international supplement industry has lead to some very shady productions of supplements along the way, consumer focus on regulation and testing is far more pronounced today. Thanks to the modernisation of consumerism, many athletes, coaches, team managers and parents are considerably more interested in self-education and asking the right questions about the ingredients behind the endless marketing hypes. As a result, the sports supplement industry is heading in the right direction and it has you to thank for it.