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Thursday, April 03, 2008

Vanadyl Sulfate – Old School & Dangerous

I have a friend who has been an athlete for as long as I can remember. He has always been clean, steering clear of any body altering drugs or steroids, but he does take a nice daily regiment of supplements to boost his health, much like the rest of us. Recently, when I was in the health store with him, one of the products he was buying had Vanadyl Sulfate in it – not just a little of it either; we’re talking 25 mg per serving of the stuff. I was livid.

There are a lot of different additives and supplement bases out there that don’t get nearly as much attention as they deserve for their disregard to the health of those who take them. One of the most egregious offenders is Vanadyl Sulfate, an added ingredient in many vitamin and bodybuilding supplements that can actually be downright harmful when ingested at the levels these companies think they can get away with – such as 25mg per serving.

To give you an idea of just how much over the line this supplement had gone, Vanadyl Sulfate can be safely ingested at about 0.5-1.0 mg a day. That’s a pretty small amount and will generally be included in most diets naturally. Unfortunately, no one has told the companies producing the supplements that this is the case and many supplements are showing up with a base of 5 mg and as much as 30 mg in every dose.

What does this do to the human body? A whole lot of bad, to be brief. While some companies even go so far as to promote the fact that they include between 15mg and 100mg of Vanadyl Sulfate in every daily dose, there is no clinical basis for such claims. In fact, all the science on the subject shows that the effects of Vanadium can be downright toxic, to the point of kidney and liver damage.

The only real data available regarding what Vanadium can do as a supplement in studies comes from studies conducted on laboratory animals with almost no scientific data about how it affects human beings. The only information we do have states that the supplement has been linked in more than one case to health problems and organ toxicity. In short, it’s a bad ingredient. Here is a list of potential negative side effects you might encounter if you regularly take too much of this dangerous supplement:

• Digestive and Respiratory Irritation
• Liver Damage
• Kidney Damage
• Eye and Skin Irritation
• Central Nervous System Effects
• Greenish/Black Tongue Discoloration
• Increased Blood Pressure

The few studies done on the product only support that it is a dangerous, untested additive that, regardless of what a few irresponsible manufacturers want athletes to believe, is incredibly unhealthy.
There have been a series of studies in regards to the negative effects that Vanadyl Sulfate may have on the body as well. One such study, published in 1994 by J Inorg Biochem concluded that the resultant free radicals the body produces after ingestion of Vanadyl Sulfate, “may play a significant role in the mechanism of vanadium(V)-induced cellular injury.”

So, with all of this incriminating evidence stacking up against the supplement companies, what has them actively injecting mega doses of the poisonous additive into their products repeatedly, causing ongoing health risks in thousands of athletes who trust their products? Mostly, it’s a matter of trying to bolster a product by overhyping an obscure mineral that was super hyped and popular in the 1990’s. And while you can argue that Vanadyl Sulfate is a safe and possibly useful additive if taken in the right dosage daily (less than 1 mg), these companies are clearly going over the line and risking the health of their customers by including 20, 50, and even 100 or 200 times the daily amount required. Granted that body builders typically need higher dosages of certain things, but even the staple diet of a body builder being ‘protein’ is not eaten at 20 times the daily dosage, let alone 200!  Suffice it to say, I had a long talk with my friend and felt the urge to reiterate my strong stance against Vanadyl Sulfate use in supplements to anyone who might be confused about how effective it can be. 

It’s an old school product that you really don’t need if you’re eating a healthy well balanced diet where you’ll likely get all the vanadyl sulfate you need. 



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