Caveat Emptor

by: Pm - June 11th, 2008

Caveat Emptor is a foreign phrase. But even though most of you probably don’t speak Latin, anyone who watches old Brady Bunch reruns knows what it means: let the buyer beware. A simple, but very valuable piece of advice – especially in the economic climate that many of us Americans currently find ourselves in.

When money is tight, our natural tendencies are to reduce, or even omit, our purchases and to shop for better and better deals. Even with a weak dollar, soaring fuel costs, and unprecedented food prices, there are deals to be had. The difficulty is identifying the true deals from offerings that only appear to be a deal.

Examples:

• New Vehicles. Sure you knocked $4,500 (~15%) off the sticker price of that new 2008 full-sized 4WD vehicle. But with $4.00-plus/gallon gas prices, higher maintenance costs (& lower fuel efficiency) for four wheel drive than two wheel drive, and newer 2009 (a.k.a. 2008-depreciating) models on the way, was it really a good deal?

• Airline Travel. First, it was for headphones. Next, it was meals. Recently, American Airlines announced that it’s going to start charging to check baggage. It’s bad enough that many online travel sites don’t include all of the taxes and fees in the fares that they show. Now, we need to take into account the costs associated with moving our luggage before we book our flights. A $170.00 flight would bump up to $200.00 if you checked two bags.

• Electronics. Good news: you saved $200 by waiting a few months to buy the new iPhone. Bad news: a month later Apple introduces a faster iPhone with longer battery life and GPS at half the price. Be especially careful when buying LCD/Plasma TVs, computers, and stereo equipment. This stuff practically becomes obsolete the day after it’s made. Buying a computer online or at some Big Box store isn’t a really a deal if the same manufacturer has a similar machine with a faster processor and larger hard drive for a few bucks more on-the-way.

• Housing. Excellent credit and historically low interest rates helped you secure a 5.75% APR for 30 years on your new home. The problem is you paid too much for the house. So, while you enjoyed lower monthly payments for the last couple of years, with the recent drop in the housing market, you can’t even sell your home for what you paid for it. Had you bought it a few years earlier (or waited until now) you would have missed out on the “deal” of low interest rates, but profited much more greatly from the massive price adjustment in most markets.

The “deal” phenomena has been hitting us supplement buyers pretty hard too lately. Based upon the recommendations many of you have made on the Forum, I was shopping on DPS Nutrition’s website last night. As I looked around, I noticed a few 5-10 lb whey proteins that were considerably cheaper than the Optimum stuff that I normally use. Like the rest of you, I’m always out to save some money so I delved in deeper. As you might expect from the build-up thus far, what I found didn’t turn out to be such a good deal after all.

The purpose of this blog is to remind everyone to shop more critically, not to expose the shady underbelly of the supplement industry, so I’m not going to name names.

Whey Protein #1
…claims to be made with all whey protein isolate, to be naturally flavored and contain a “natural sweetener fructose.” Each 28.4 g serving size supposedly contains 20 g of protein, 6 g of carbohydrate, ½ g of fat, no saturated fat or cholesterol, and just a gram of sugar. While I can believe the low sat fat and cholesterol values, I don’t need to rely upon my food science and nutrition background to know that there’s no way that only one of 6 grams of carbs in the product are sugar – especially when the company is relying on fructose (fruit sugar) as the only listed sweetener in the product. Moreover when’s the last time that you’ve seen an all-isolate product with only 20 g protein in a 1 oz serving size? Considering that ON, Dymatize, and other WPI-blends both provide 20% more protein/serving, something’s seriously off here. Finally, the calories are listed at 104/serving instead of the rounded 105 number that the FDA requires. This is a minor point, but makes me question the knowledge of the product formulators.

Whey Protein #2
Chocolate flavor claims to provide 108 calories, 22 g of protein, 2 g of fat (1 g saturated fat), 22 mg of cholesterol, 1 gram of carbohydrate, and 1 gram of sugar per 28.4 g serving size. There’s no ingredient listing, so I can only guess as to what type(s) of whey proteins are being used. Based upon the levels of fat, cholesterol, and carbohydrates, it should be a blend of isolate and concentrate. However, even if artificial sweeteners are being used, the carbohydrate and fat content should be higher. In order to be chocolate flavored, there has to be at least a few grams of cocoa powder – and cocoa powder always contributes fat and carbs. Also, the calories are incorrectly rounded (as is the cholesterol content) making me wonder if these guys have any idea what they’re doing.

In the end, I came back to my original realization. There are deals and then there are “deals.” The only true deals are those that provide exactly what you want at a better price than you can find anywhere else. Everything else? Well, that’s just a compromise.

…till next time.

Happy Heaving,

PM

The information contained in this article is not intended to be used for, or replace, the advice, medical diagnosis, or treatment of your doctor. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other licensed healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, diet, or exercise routine or when you have questions regarding any medical condition. Use of this article indicates that you expressly acknowledge and agree that Optimum Nutrition, Inc., its suppliers, licensees, and sub-licensees are not responsible for the results of your decision resulting from the use of this information including, but not limited to, your choosing to seek or not seek professional medical care based on the information contained in this article.