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Message from the Editor-in-ChiefResearch-Driven Development of Dietary SupplementsBy Bryan Haycock,
Editor-in-Chief
Hello everyone. Let me be the first to say "Thank You" so much for all the kind emails. Think Muscle readers from all over the world seem to be the most gracious, appreciative, and intelligent readers I have ever witnessed in a magazine of this type. I get a lot of mail from readers and seldom, if ever, is it negative. We at Think Muscle can’t thank you enough for all your support, but we can, and do, commit to continue to bring you the best information available anywhere about exercise, nutrition, supplements, hormones, or anything else important enough to investigate and write about. I have a pressing issue that I must offer up for your consideration and feedback. As most of you know, I love supplements. I have probably spent enough money on supplements over the years to pay off my school loans. I have used them for over 20 years (I’ve calculated that over the years I have consumed at least 1,000 lbs of protein powders alone). I write about supplements for print magazines and websites. I even work as a consultant for the supplement industry. But after all the writing and consulting, what has given me the most satisfaction and sense of purpose, has been (and continues to be) the mail I get from readers. Unfortunately, from the mail that I get from Think Muscle readers from all corners of the globe, it is clear that there is a tremendous amount of confusion about which supplements work and which don’t. This is no surprise considering the type of marketing practiced by the current crop of supplement companies. Supplement companies today are certainly aggressive, and many times deceitful, in their marketing tactics. This is what bothers me most. Let me explain to you why many supplement companies feel compelled to lie to you to get you to buy their products. Supplement companies today are afraid NOT to lie to you in their adds. This fear stems from their lack of faith. Faith in what? Faith in the quality and effectiveness of their own products. Why can’t they have faith in the quality and effectiveness of their own products? Because they lack the education, knowledge, and experience required to formulate high quality and effective supplements. How do I know this? Well, for one thing they call me to ask me questions that a supplement company would not ask if they knew what they were doing. Not only that, but anyone can see the pitiful lack of competence in the industry by picking up a bottle, looking at the ingredients and comparing it with the claims they are making. Now before I offend any of my friends that work for, or own, supplement companies, let me say that not all people working in the industry are incompetent. There are a few (I can count them on one hand) that are extremely intelligent, creative, and very good at what they do. Unfortunately, unless they own the company, they are not usually involved beyond formulation of a single product for any one company. Seldom do they have anything directly to do with marketing either. I have always said that if I had a chance to make my own supplements, I would do it differently. First of all, I would only make supplements that did something measurable or that had a demonstrable effect in research, regardless of what was "flying off the shelves." No one has a truly justifiable reason to sell anything that doesn’t work. Secondly, I would not make any claims about the product except what could be backed up by research. Lastly, I would not overly "hype" my own line of products. If the line really does deserve some hype, let the people who have used it with good results hype it themselves by word of mouth. Not only that, but I would continue to report on and support any ingredient or supplement that was effective, whether I made it or not. Now this has been met with plenty of skepticism by those who feel it impossible to compete with the persuasive yet false advertising of the current crop of companies. I know it seems that way, but when I read your (Think Muscle readers) emails I am confident that if you had a source of trusted "unbiased" information (which we are committed to remain as), and a source for a few key supplements, fairly priced, that you could equally trust, it would work out well for everybody. Let me know what you think. If you think that supplements can still be sold solely on the basis of what they do, instead of what greedy, faithless companies want you to think they do, tell me so (see survey at bottom of newsletter). Now, please take time to do this, even if you never respond to surveys, please take a moment to fill out the survey below. The reason I’m so interested in your opinion is because if Think Muscle readers say they want their own line of supplements, composed ONLY of those few products that actually do something, we are going to pool our resources together to create a Think Muscle line of supplements, formulated by us (using available research) and built to our standards. If these initial products meet with your approval, we will then be able to develop some never before seen supplements that have only seen the light of day in research journals and the Think Muscle collective conscious. More on that later. Thanks again to everyone who lends an ear every month…or so. Sincerely, -bryan P.S. Don’t forget to voice your opinion! Whether you like the idea of Think Muscle creating supplements or even if you just want to vent about being taken advantage of one too many times by false claims. Speak up now! Bryan Haycock MS Editor in Chief - ThinkMuscle |
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