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Evan Noonan
English 1102
Cary
Final Inquiry Project
Truth behind Health Supplements
Health and fitness is a major deal nowadays in America. The number of obese people
living in America is growing continuously and almost no one gets the amount of nutrients a
human body requires daily. Supplements for health and fitness are almost mandatory to provide a
body with the correct amount of nutrients it needs. Within this problem lies the question that
many people struggle with; do health and fitness supplements really work? Many studies argue
both sides, but which facts are ones that should be believed and which studies are the ones that
are misleading? Advocare is one of the top leaders in health and fitness supplements and is the
product most of my research will be focused around to eliminate contradicting data between
different supplement providers.
Advocares leading product is the nutritional energy drink called Spark. Spark is
supposed to provide the body with the healthy amount of nutrition and is sugar-free and not
loaded with caffeine like most store-bought energy drinks. Spark is filled with twenty-one
different types of vitamins, minerals, nutrients and multiple amino acid supplements that will
sharpen mental focus, and provide the user with long-lasting energy and without the dreaded
crash. A crash is what many people experience after they drink a store-bought energy drink
like a Red Bull or a Monster Energy drink. It happens when someone ingests a large amount of
caffeine and sugar at once, which provides the energy, and then that caffeine and sugar raise a
humans insulin levels. The energy is short-lived due to the fact that the caffeine and sugar pass
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through the digestive system fairly quickly and once that happens insulin levels drop causing
fatigue, thus establishing the well-known crash. (B)
I have examined a few extensive in depth studies on this specific product from Advocare.
The first study was done on National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football players.
The study was a test on whether or not the football players repeated sprint performance and
anaerobic power would increase after the consumption of an Advocare Spark energy drink. It
was a double-blinded test so neither the athletes nor the data annalists recording the data knew
which athletes had consumed the Advocare Spark energy drink and which athletes had consumed
the placebo. This was to ensure that none of the data was skewed or tampered with. The athletes
were to perform six thirty-five meter sprints with ten seconds of rest between each sprint. Two
trials were conducted and separated by a length of seven days to ensure more accurate results.
There was no statistically significant evidence to prove that the Advocare Spark energy drink had
given those athletes that consumed it an advantage over the athletes that consumed the placebo.
This is where the underlying error was because there was a significant interaction effect between
caffeine use and the Advocare Spark energy drink sprint times. The level of caffeine use by the
collegiate football players likely influenced the effectiveness of the Advocare Spark energy
drink. (Gwacham) Studies like this one is where many people will fail to notice the error that
caused the skewed results thus, creating the belief in their mind that the product does not work at
all. However, I have read many different stories from consumers about how much they love the
energy drink and how much it helps them. The ratio between positive reviews to negative views
was so overwhelming that I could not establish an accurate ratio to show that there were far more
positive reviews than negative reviews. I personally have been taking Advocare Spark energy
drinks every day for the past two weeks and have seen very significant results. My energy levels
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throughout the day are unbelievably greater than the days I dont take my Advocare Spark
energy drink. I tend to take my Advocare Spark energy drink before my workouts and Ive tested
it with and without the energy drink. I work out twice as hard when I take the Advocare Spark
energy drink versus when I dont take it. My fatigue levels are very low during my entire
workout and I feel great the entire time. I never have experienced the crash from my Advocare
Spark energy drinks and they taste great to top it all off. In my opinion they absolutely do
improve mental focus and fitness performance.
A lot of people tend to struggle with whether or not supplements for health and fitness
such as Advocare products are safe to take without any worry of harmful side effects. Of course,
with any drug there are some side effects that can possibly occur. This would all depend on the
person consuming the product, their overall physical health and condition. It is never
recommended that a pregnant woman or someone suffering from some form of health risk take
any supplement products because of the side effects that may occur. This is where Advocares
Informed-Choice studies come in handy. Informed-Choice is a quality assurance program for
sports nutrition products, suppliers to the sports nutrition industry, and supplement
manufacturing facilities. The program certifies that all nutritional supplements and/or ingredients
that bear the Informed-Choice logo have been tested for banned substances by the world class
sports anti-doping lab, HFL Sport Science. Athletes choosing to use supplements can use the
search function above to find products that have been through this rigorous certification
process. (Informed-Choice) Advocare willingly sends their products to Informed-Choice to be
tested for banned substances and to prove that their products are safe. Many product suppliers do
not do this because it costs the company money to do this and it is not government regulated,
therefore it is not required of the company to send their products to Informed-Choice to have
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them tested. Advocare Spark is one of Advocares Informed-Choice products. This is mainly
because of the skeptics believing that there is no form of a healthy sugar-free energy drink when
in fact one does exist, Advocare Spark. Many athletes use Advocare products such as the entire
NFL, the Olympic USA Mens basketball team, and the Olympic USA womens soccer team.
You can look in any NFL locker room and see Advocare products in each players locker
because they are backed up by Informed-Choice, which proves that the products are effective,
safe, and free of illegal substances banned by professional sports. Advocares national
spokesperson is the New Orleans Saints starting quarterback, Drew Brees. The ironic twist to the
story is that they do not pay Drew Brees to advertise their products in any way shape or form. He
loved the products so much that he called Advocares chairman and asked if there was anything
he could do to give back to the company because of how much Advocare improved his
performance and health, thus giving birth to the national spokesperson of Advocare. All of the
products I take help me feel like I'm getting the maximum amount out of my workouts and out of
my practice work. Theyre a big part of preparing and recovering each week." (Brees)
I have recently undergone my own experience with Advocare supplemental products. I
have come to the conclusion that health and performance supplements created by companies
such as Advocare do in fact produce positive results and increase overall health and fitness. I
purchased the 24 Day Challenge from Advocare which included: 2 boxes of Spark, 1 box of
MNS 3 (Metabolic Nutrition System), 1 box of Meal Replacement Shakes, 1 box of Herbal
Cleanse, and 1 bottle of OmegaPlex. The Herbal Cleanse weeks were the worst because of the
fiber one drink that was required to be drunk before lunch. It was difficult to drink because it was
thick and had a bad taste. It caused me to gag at the thought of drinking such a chunky liquid and
was very unpleasant. Thankfully the fiber one drinks was only for the first few days. The Herbal
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Cleanse really flushed the toxins out of my body and made me feel better and have more energy.
I was also eating better on top of that to increase the results as much as possible. I did have to use
the bathroom quite frequently during the Herbal Cleanse weeks, but that was expected. A Spark
was drank every morning, which was by far my favorite product because it contained no sugar,
was a healthy energy drink source, and provided me with much needed energy in the mornings to
start my day. Also, I found that if I took a Spark energy drink before studying, then I was able to
focus better while studying and get more work done. The Meal Replacement Shakes followed
the Herbal Cleanse along with the Metabolic Nutrition System. These products really jump
started my metabolism and gave me even more energy throughout the days and allowed me to
workout harder because I was not as fatigued as I normally tended to be at that hour of the day. I
did lose a few pounds of weight during the 24 Day Challenge, but did not receive any significant
physical results except a slight increase in definition in my legs, my shoulders and arms. Overall
I felt a lot healthier and better each day due to the products, which brings me to the conclusion
that these supplements did in fact improve my overall health and increase my physicality to some
degree. They may not have given me that bodybuilder body that everyone dreams about, but I
did feel a lot healthier providing evidence that these supplements really do in fact work.
After my experience with these health and performance supplements, I looked online to
check in with some other peoples stories and experiences with the same Advocare 24 Day
Challenge to compare my results with theirs. There were many positive results and quite a few
more negative results than I had expected, but nonetheless the positive results outweighed the
negative results by a large margin. The positive results were amazing with some people
achieving far better results than I. I think this was due to the fact that some people just arent as
committed to the new routine as others are. You have to eat better and exercise to see any results
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and I believe a lot of people dont really take that to heart and just expect the supplements to do
all of the work for them. Supplements are to provide your body with the nutrients it is lagging,
not change your body instantly.
Then there are also some cases where people unfortunately cannot physically handle the
supplements and their body rejects the products like in the case of this young man I recently
purchased the Advocare 24 day challenge. I followed the directions, which by the way are simple
but then after the first week I felt like crap and could not tolerate some of the products especially
MNS. The protein shakes are good but did not help with appetite, SPARK Energy drink is ok,
tastes good and works at first but then you begin to build up a tolerance and then it does nothing.
It has very little caffeine. The ingredients are nothing but vitamins in all the other stuff. Overall;
I was disappointed and ADVOCARE is a waste of money. Im going to stick with putting my
money into running shoes because that works. Sorry! L Davis. (Davis). There are also
amazing cases where people have outstanding results as in the case of this young girl I have
been a fitness pal user for about 10 months. I did the Advocare 24 day challenge back at the end
of July 2011. I was someone who was always watching what I ate and tried to exercise but
couldn't lose more than 10 pounds. I started looking for a program that would work for me. I
completed the 24 day challenge and lost 14 pounds and 18.25 inches in 24 days. The products
are fantastic and I have continued to use the Advocare core products (spark, MNS 3, meal
shakes, catalyst) and after this weekend I have lost 45 pounds. I am at a weight I haven't been in
11 years!! It is an investment and in the beginning I'm not going to lie I thought it was too much
money but I don't regret it at all! For anyone who can relate I would definitely suggest you invest
in yourself. The 24 day challenge is a great start!! Good luck! Whatever decision you make
(Erica). This brings me back to my previous question, do health and fitness supplements really
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work? After doing further research on Advocare products and hearing about what people have to
say about them, I have come to the conclusion that by taking health and performance
supplements such as Adovcare, they do in fact increase health and fitness and provide results to
the dedicated consumer.



















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Works Cited
B, Jim. N.p.. Web. 21 Apr 2014. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/420045-why-do-energy-
drinks-make-you-crash/>.
Gwacham, N.. N.p.. Web. 22 Apr 2014.
<http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2067&context=etd>.
Informed-Choice, . "What is Informed-Choice?." Informed-Choice.org. Informed-Choice, n.d.
Web. 22 Apr 2014. <http://www.informed-choice.org>.
Brees, Drew. N.p.. Web. 22 Apr 2014.
<http://www.advocare.com/company/spokesperson.asp&xgt;.
Davis, L. . N.p., 2014. <http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-
company/advocare/advocare-did-not-work-20130323395146.html>.
Erica, . N.p., n. d. 7 May 2014. <http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/437568-advocare-
24-day-challenge-results>.