Kelsey Higginson says 99% of sports supplements are overrated, with companies using aggressive marketing to sell BCAAs and other products that don't deliver. The real gains come from nutrition, sleep, and hydration. Only creatine, vitamin D, iron, and omega-3s have solid evidence behind them.
What supplements are overrated for athletes? Supplement companies, their number one goal is to make money. The way that people make money is through marketing, and these supplement companies are marketing to you guys, to athletes, to parents of athletes, promising larger-than-life claims of this supplement's going to do this for your child's muscles and brain and body, when in reality all the benefits that you guys are probably looking for can be solved through good eating good, sleeping, and good hydration. So I would say 99% of supplements are overrated. The BCAAs, the EAAs, all of the gym bro supplements are probably overrated for most of you high school athletes. Now that's not to say that I hate all supplements. There are some very good supplements that can be very beneficial for you guys. I would say creatine is a great one to look into, supplementing vitamin D because you can't get that from food very easily. Iron for a lot of you athletes is a good supplement. Omega-3s not getting enough fatty fish. But I would say stay away from any marketing gimmick coming from a supplement company that just sounds larger than life and that it's going to solve all your problems, because it probably isn't, and they're just going to take your money and run.
