The Proven 4 brand began in professional baseball. With retired professional baseball player Frank Catalanotto as part of the driving force behind P4 products, P4 found its way into clubhouses across the country accompanied by a strong sense of trust (thanks to NSF Certification) and loyalty to the sport.
Why is that trust so important? Because professional athletes have an entire career hanging in the balance. Still today, professional baseball players purchase their product directly from P4 because they are so careful about what they put into their bodies. All Proven 4 Sports Supplements are NSF Certified for Sport. If you’re considering other supplements, read this first: Reasons you should ONLY choose NSF Certified for Sport products.
1) 50-Game Suspension for Boston Red Sox Prospect
Nineteen-year-old righthander Michael Kopech tested positive for Oxilofrine, a stimulant banned under the minor league drug program resulting in a 50-game suspension. As stated by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, Kopech tried to appeal the suspension, insisting then – as he does now – that he didn’t knowingly take the stimulant, which has been found in supplements. He says that he was stunned by the suspension in no small part because he thought hed been careful to use only National Sanitation Foundation-compliant supplements. Despite Kopechs frustration, the suspension was upheld just after his July start in which he threw five shutout innings to finish out his Greenville S.C. season with a 2.63 ERA in 65 innings.
“Kopech said he’s become incredibly cautious about what goes into his body,” says Speier. “He’s worked with the NSF-certified Herbalife company to ensure that his supplements are compliant with all regulations, and he’s become more cautious about what he eats and drinks as well. ‘I thought I was careful before, so you can imagine how much more careful I’ve been since,’ said Kopech.”
2) Products may be dangerous even without FDA advisories.
You can view safety advisories or sanctions issued against a product or company by searching the FDA’s website. However, an article on PBS.org cautions against relying on that information, “Because the supplement industry is constantly releasing new products, a product may be dangerous even if there are no advisories against it.”
3)Gaps in regulation have led to lapses in quality.
Basically, unless a sports supplement has been qualified by an organization with distinct and strict guidelines, there’s simply no telling what exactly the makeup may be. Katie Worth notes this in her PBS article: “…the New York Attorney General’s tests found that pills labeled as medicinal herbs sometimes contained little more than fillers like rice or houseplants. In some cases, supplements were filled with substances that could be harmful to those with allergies. Similar results were reached by researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada, who in 2013 DNA tested 44 herbal products from a dozen companies. They found that only two of the companies had products without any substitution, contamination or fillers in their products.”
4) Overpromising
NSF Certified products are true to their labels, so the effects of their ingredients cannot be misconstrued. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for other supplements. Worth notes, “The National Institutes of Health has summarized what is known about the most commonly consumed supplements — vitamins and minerals — in a series of fact sheets. These explain how each vitamin or mineral behaves in the body, and the scientific evidence behind its health impacts.
5) Dosing
Even safe vitamins and minerals can cause health problems in excess. While only your doctor can determine exactly what’s safe for you, NSF Certification assures you that the measurement on the label is actually whats in the bottle so there’s no question about how much of an ingredient you’re taking in.
Third verse, same as the first.
We’ve talked about this before: Why we go through the rigorous and (frankly) expensive process of NSF certification. And when we read stories about athletes who have fallen victim to negligence and greed of other sports supplement brands, its still tough to stomach. At P4, we are human first, athletes second. Part of our commitment to our P4 team is not only propelling you through games, practices and toward your goals, but –most importantly – to never get in the way of your career.
Don’t risk it. Drink NSF Certified for Sport P4 Sports Supplements with confidence.
Read the full Boston Globe article on Red Sox Prospect Michael Kopech here.
Check out Katie Worth’s PBS.org article Five Questions to Ask When Considering Health Supplements here.
