Herbal Supplements and Benefits for Athletic Performance: Fact or Fiction?

Scott W. Tunis MD FACS  | 

We are often asked if herbal supplements, also called phytonutrients, have any real beneficial effects on health, athletic performance and recovery from training.

95% of athletes who are asked the question, “What is the most common herbal supplement consumed in the world?” cannot answer it correctly. Interestingly, this herbal supplement has also been shown in a multiplicity of studies to improve certain parameters of athletic performance.

For the answer, skip to the footnote at the end of this article*

Did you get the correct answer?

Yes, the coffee, tea and carbonated drinks that we seemingly cannot live without containing an herbal supplement. Little doubt then, in addition to the science, that herbal supplements “work.”

At Runners Essentials we prefer to evaluate the claims of efficacy of phytonutrient supplementation in athletes by looking at real science.

By real Science we mean placebo-controlled, double-blind human clinical trials in athletes which employ the generally accepted methods of participant selection, testing, and data collection, that are published in peer-reviewed journals, and which show a 95% certain or greater statistically significant effect.

That rules out 90% of the claims made for a plethora of products by a myriad of unqualified individuals.

Runners Essentials Daily Vitamin Formula contains 4 phytonutrients in its Proprietary Endurance Blend: Beet Root, Rhodiola, Pine Bark Extract, and Ginseng.

They are included based on real science. You should read the science here.

They are also included because 99% of athletes would not ordinarily go to the trouble and expense of taking them separately every day. Simple and easy…. every day with Runners Essentials.

We are also often asked, “If I take targeted phytonutrients will I feel a difference?”

The simple answer is most people do, but if you don’t, it doesn’t mean that you are not getting the beneficial effects.

Let’s suppose that a nutritional supplement improves your performance by just 3-5%. Would you feel that difference? Probably not.  But if your 4 hour marathon time improved by 3-5%, that would be 7-12 minutes. And your 2 hour half marathon time would improve by 3-6 minutes.

Do you think you would you notice that? Our guess is that if you are reading this, you would.

Runners Essentials Daily Vitamin Formula

For runners. By runners.

With 4 powerful phytonutrients in a Proprietary "Endurance Blend".

 footnote (answer): *caffeine

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