I’m not sure why the NYT titled this article “New Concerns Over Dietary Supplements” – the military has always been vehemently opposed to supps.  In fact, the only thing I find “new” here, is that the doc they interviewed, Col Erin Edgar, sounds refreshingly rational, and isn’t foaming at the mouth like some other military docs I’ve come across.

The problem with supplements, Colonel Edgar said, is that they often contain substances that can make users susceptible to heat stroke. Many products include stimulants, like caffeine or ephedrine, that increase metabolism but also raise the heart rate and blood pressure — not necessarily good thing for troops in combat or a hot climate, he said.

Colonel Edgar, who is assuming leadership of the Army’s 18th Medical Command, said “elite troops,” including Special Operating Forces, seem to use the supplements more cautiously and therefore have fewer problems. He is most concerned, he said, about soldiers who over-consume the supplements, which they view as “magic bullets” that will make them muscle-bound overnight.

This strikes me as a pretty legitimate concern, but one that also should also be manageable through education… objective education, that is, not the “creatine is a gateway drug” jeremiads you typically see from the military brass.*

 

*ok, I’m exaggerating… but not by much.

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