And how much are the supplement companies paying to run this article?!

Seeing as I haven't seen a single name drop.... None of 'em?

Just eat REAL food!

Sounds very impressive. But it would be actually be impressive (rather than just sounding it) if there article had some links to some good studies showing that these supplements worked.

I take it there is evidence that using these supplements is beneficial?

I prefer to eat natural food than a shelve of bottles from the school chemistry lab! I'll be doing that when i'm eighty, unless I'm run over by a driver before.

I dont mind taking these sort of things providing they work.. plus some advise on where to buy this stuff, can you get most of this in 1 or 2 tablets a day, or are you talking £xx to buy all this and spend ages taking it everyday at the right times etc???

Only two of the items listed were given as only available as a chemical supplement (Ribose and ATP); all the others list where it can be found in normal foods - so why does everyone seem to think it is only listing chemicals?!! Maybe I'm reading a different article to everyone else!

Sub headings a bit silly and meaningless though......

chemical reality check, everything is made of chemicals you cannot lead a chemical free life. http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/pdf/MakingSenseofChemicalStories.pdf

If you eat a good variety of food, these chemicals will be in your diet aplenty, only need to take them as supplements if your diet is poor. Lmao at those who think of these as "CHEMICALS I N A SCIENCE LAB", maybe you should educate yourselves on the very basics of science.

What a long and unhelpful list. Might just as well have given the contents on my cereal box. And there I was expecting some nice, healthy recipes...

all of the above can easily be researched on line and you can read published articles on the supplementation of these in relation to your sport, from here you can make an informed choice as their suitability to you or not and no not all of the above are available in a regular balanced diet that can provide the amounts that can enhance performance particularly creatine

Some of these supplements (though not all) have good data supporting their use. Highlighting only a few research supported supplements would be better.

Taking supplements which are appropriate to your training and in ways which are achievable and well thought out maximses any benefits. Giving strategies to get the best from these products with realtion to training is far more useful than just giving people a list of ingredients.

If you have the knowledge then you really should do a better job of distributing it. If you don't understand the products or best practice regarding their use then don't write anything at all. Better yet, get someone involved who does take this approach, real strategies for real cycilsts, most folk won't bother doing the research and so will waste money or join the "they're just marketing" crowd.

Come on - some of the science here is worth of Gillian McKeith!

Apparently, ATP 'Directly boosts levels of ATP, the body’s base energy molecule, so enhancing delivery of oxygen and glucose to muscles. Besides, you've only got about 50 g of ATP in your body at any time, but turnover over 100 kg of the stuff every day. How is 150 mg meant to help anything?'

Utter rubbish.

I dont know about all the other narcotics listed but during my bike ride across Peru, both myself and the doctors on the trip swore by Creatine capsules usually half price at a well known health food store. There is no real prooof this is bad for you as its just a supplement. Only worth taking if you are training hard, not to make the daily commute easier.

pbt150, ATP molecules are recycled via various energy sources which take time to be processed and converted while taking raw ATP will mean the process is simply more efficient thus only a small amount is required to be supplemented with for a short period of exercise.

One thing to bare in minid is that any supplmenting is only worth while if your diet and natural energy levels are in check otherwise they'll simply be making up for these short falls and not really give much added benefit.

militiacore - I am well aware of how ATP is recycled via various energy sources - I'm doing a PhD in Biochemistry. The sheer scale of ATP turnover in the body (even when at rest) means that it's already a hugely efficient system, and that taking a tiny supplement will make precious little difference, other than to your bank account.

What I'm curious about is the claims in the article that it can '[enhancing] delivery of oxygen and glucose to muscles'. Anyone got any data/theories supporting this?

If you're making the process more efficient and in theory increasing it's capacity then you're enabling more energy to be available to the muscles. I think that perhaps the statement may be driving at that this increased efficient may indirectly enhance delivery of oxygen and glucose to muscles but this is simply a suggestion I'm putting forward.

I'm not so convinced about ATP supplementation myself but I can vouch for D Ribose for helping energy levels over a period of around 90-120 mins.

militiacore - how can you be so sure that D Ribose supplementation helps? Have you checked studies on Pubmed and come to a concusion based on the evidence, or have you taken it and thought you noticed an improvement? If the latter, how do you account for confounders, i.e. changes in diet, stress, sleep, tiredness, weather etc etc, not to mention the placebo effect?

Seanos, I've supplemented with D Ribose on and off for around 2 years (as it's good to cycle supplements, although for D Ribose it's not essential) and the improvement in energy levels, stamina and recovery within the period of exercise are definately noticable. I won't ever recommed a supplement unless I've tried it myself as real world application counts for more than any report for which you can easily manipulate the results to suit.

My background is more Rugby based so my time is split between weights and CV work on the pitch and off it. I was into Mountain Biking in a big way back in the late 90's and raced at National Level back when the likes of Ollie B were going through the Junior ranks and although Rugby has taken over I still ride a fair bit, although more in the off season, so I've a great understanding off what my body is telling me, what works and what doesn't. My diet has to stay pretty much constant through the year with obvious changes through holiday or and changes to my calorie output via training and playing.

"I won't ever recommed a supplement unless I've tried it myself as real world application counts for more than any report for which you can easily manipulate the results to suit."

Not sure I agree. At least with a study you can see the methodology and the attempts made to deal with confounders. And I can assess which are good studies and which aren't. Your sporting history is really irrelevant to the question of why I would believe your anecdote. If you haven't tried to account for confounders then there's even less reason to take your word for it.

Riiiiiiiight...

Judging by your last comment you've obviously written off the value of the supplement before you even made your first comment. If I'd said it was rubbish from personal experience I'm sure you would have been more than happy to take my word for it. As I haven't my accessment over a period of 2 years appears to account for nothing and you'd rather take the results of a study made over lets say a few weeks if we're being generous where each individual would not have the same diet, sleep, etc.

My opinion is it's a reasonable supplement.

I haven't written off the value of supplements at all. It's just that there needs to be good evidence to show that they are helpful and safe. Good, well designed studies can show this.

If you had said that D Ribose was rubbish I would have treated that statement as an anecdote and of no more value than if you had said it was fantastic. Because it's just an anecdote from some bloke off the internet. If you want to find out if something really works (i.e. has an effect better than than that of a placebo) then you need to test it on lots of individuals over a reasonable timeframe, account for vafriables (stress/diet/weather/ length of ride/motivation) and randomise against placebo.

(Why would you expect a study be performed over a 'few weeks' btw? And how can you be sure it wouldn't be possible to tell if D Ribose worked over a 'few weeks' anyway?)

Your opinion is just that, an opinion. I'd prefer some real evidence. If some 'nutritionist' (and I put the word in quote marks because anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, it's not a protected title, like 'dietician') is advising me to take supplements, some of which might be potentially harmful, then I expect them to at least reference some good scientific studies to show that they are safe and beneficial. The above article is just an exercise in 'oooh look, these supplements all sound very scientific and clever, they must work!'. Without evidence to back up the claims it's pointless.

I'd just typed out a quite long rewinded reply and decided I just can't be bothered to reason with your negativity. I've used it extensively - it works. Others I know have also used it and found it works for them too.

See you at the top of the hill :)

"I just can't be bothered to reason with your negativity."

Fair enough, but you've mistaken 'reason' for 'argue by anecdote' and 'negativity' for 'demands for evidence'.

But anyway, congratulations on being the only person in the world not to be susceptible to the placebo effect! Now if you could only test every other supplement and drug in the world and let us know whether you think they work or not we could do away with those costly and time consuming medical trials!

Man, you really need to remove your head from your bottom...

The variables you suggest are completely flawed because as individual we all deal with stress, diet, physical and mental challanges very differently. There's no constant variable you could possible use or measure apart from running the the tests themselves in a controlled environment where each individual performs the same task either with the supplement or placebo, either of which cannot be distinguished.

Guess what? The real world isn't as clinical as a controlled study and the real clincher is that you can't unknowingly purchase a supplement to remove the placebo effect. However if I continue to use a supplement over a reasonable length of time and continue to respond well to it then thats simply not down solely to placebo although I would happily conceed that there can be some psychological benefit boosting confindence and aiding performance but that % is small.

If you want hard evidence, try it yourself...

Head from bottom? Really?

I'm sorry but I haven't got time to give you a primer in trial design, simple statistics, the placebo effect or the scientific method. Which is a shame because it's clear that you haven't a clue what you're talking about. Really, you don't. I do this stuff for a living and I feel a bit like a 747 pilot being told by someone who's never flown a plane before how to land Cessna.

"The variables you suggest are completely flawed because as individual we all deal with stress, diet, physical and mental challanges very differently."

Huh? The whole point of a well designed trial is to account for variables to determine whether or not the test is having a greater effect than the placebo.

"There's no constant variable you could possible use or measure apart from running the the tests themselves in a controlled environment where each individual performs the same task either with the supplement or placebo, either of which cannot be distinguished."

Huh? I'm not sure what your point is here. Could you rephrase this?

"Guess what? The real world isn't as clinical as a controlled study"

Huh? What's clinical about a controlled trial?

"and the real clincher is that you can't unknowingly purchase a supplement to remove the placebo effect."

Huh? Again I'm not sure what you're getting at here. But why would this be a problem in a blinded study when the tester and testee both have no idea whether they are administering or receiving the supplement or placebo? (Until the blinding is removed at the end so the data can be gathered).

"However if I continue to use a supplement over a reasonable length of time and continue to respond well to it then thats simply not down solely to placebo"

Please explain why this could not be due to the placebo affect.

"although I would happily conceed that there can be some psychological benefit boosting confindence and aiding performance but that % is small."

Please explain why the 'psychological benefit' is distinct from the placebo effect (if this is what you are driving at) and how you have worked out that the benefit is small. You might also want to give an actual value. 5%? 10%? 15%?

"If you want hard evidence, try it yourself..."

That's hard evidence is it? How do I know I won't be getting a placebo effect?

It's obvious you like these supplements and think they work for you. Good for you. But it could possibly be the placebo effect and you have no way of knowing. If It doesn't bother you then fair enough, but I'd leave it here if I were you, it's always possible that somebody might know more about these things than you do. You don't want to move from placebo effect to Dunning-Kruger effect do you?

Personally I just think you're flustering :)

Heh, yeah, you've got me really flustered!

Trim Spa is the best supplement!

Trim Spa is the best supplement!