Nothing. Absolutely Nothing. I have to be honest upfront. There is no new Advocare study. There has never been an Advocare study old or new to show that Advocare products are good. Advocare was founded in 1993 by Charles Ragus – a man with zero education in health but great experience in marketing and direct sales. In over 20 years there has not been a single study to show Advocare products are more effective than a placebo or any other product.
There is only one study I could find with Advocare products. The study actually received first place awards at the American College of Sports Medicine Northland Chapter’s Research Symposium. The involved nutritional supplement was Advocare O2 Gold, which claimed to increase aerobic endurance. According to the study results, the supplement did not have a significant short-term effect on participants. To put it bluntly, Advocare O2 Gold is useless.
So why hasn’t there been studies (other than the one that shows Advocare 02 gold is useless) to show Advocare works? The answer is very simple. The leaders of Advocare are very smart businessmen; they are very good at making money. They know their products are no better than the cheap stuff on department store shelves. They know the study results would not be good. How would one know this? Because they use the same cheap, poor quality, synthetic ingredients!
Now we don’t have any studies that show Advocare products are good. However, there are many studies which show some of the synthetic vitamin ingredients used by Advocare are harmful. Here are just a few:
The Alpha-Tocopherol Beta Carotene (ATBC) Trial observed a higher mortality rate in the ISOLATED SYNTHETIC beta-carotene group and no treatment effect in the ISOLATED alpha-tocopherol group (Blumberg, J, Block, G. The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study in Finland. Nutr Rev. 1994;52(7):242-245).
The Heart Outcomes Prevention and Evaluation (HOPE) study reported greater all-cause mortality with ISOLATED vitamin E (tocopherol) supplementation (Yusuf, S. et al. Vitamin E supplementation and cardiovascular events in high-risk patients. The Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation Study Investigators. N Engl J Med. 2000 342(3) : 154-160).
Dietary consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in carotenoids lowers risk of lung cancer, CHD, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration. Intervention trials of SYNTHETIC, ISOLATED supplemental beta-carotene increased the risk of lung cancer in smokers (van Helden et al, Free Radic Biol Med. 2009 Jan 15;46(2):299-304).
What numerous studies do show is a diet rich in whole food fruits and vegetables improves countless health measures. If you do spend money on supplements, make sure they are whole food supplements, the vitamins in the supplement are exactly the same form as found in nature, and most importantly, avoid the synthetics!
Now I know there are a lot of Advocare distributors out there who are looking to “build champions” and give you an “opportunity” (truth – make money off you) that are going to start spewing out their personal stories or claiming that because Advocare pays some athletes to use the product they must be good. Why personal stories you may ask? That is because they have zero research to cite! You can read some of the hilarious comments left on my Advocare posts (Part 1 and Part 2) by angry distributors. Those posts will show you how bad the ingredients really are.
Adcovare distributors will tell you how much more energy they have. Yes, the caffeine that Advocare loves to add to their products will give you more energy. So will a healthier, less expensive cup of coffee. Some will talk about their short term weight loss. That happens for two reasons. One is from the dietary changes that many do when starting the product, which is a good thing. The second is the laxative effect of the “cleanse” products, which is a bad thing. I highly doubt that poop and water weight is the weight-loss people are looking for. If a distributor tries to tell you that the Advocare products work “synergistically” with a healthy diet to make it more effective, please just slap them for using such a BS marketing line to try and make a sale. Okay, no slapping people. Just ask them for the research that proves this. Deer in headlight look to follow.
Some multilevel companies take the laxative effect the extra mile. In the bio cleanse by Plexus or alkalete by Yoli you find magnesium hydroxide aka Milk of Magnesia. You can buy a gallon of milk of magnesia for $25 and really get the bowels moving.
In summary. Do not buy products that have absolutely zero research to show they are healthy or effective. Especially don’t spend money on the ones in which the only study available shows it is junk (Advocare). Do not trust the personal stories from the people who are trying to make a buck off of you. If you have taken a product and felt short term energy gains or lost some weight, ask yourself what actually caused that. Was it the caffeine and laxative effects of the product? Most likely.
DO NOT take health advice from your friend or co-worker who has zero education in nutrition or health care. It boggles my mind that people who spend $79 to become a distributor, attend a “mixer” or two, and maybe a RaRa event in Texas, will actually have the nerve to tell people they know how to make them healthier. I’ve got over 500 college credits under my belt and have read countless books on how to maximize health. If you have truly done thorough studying on the subject, there is no way you would pay for this stuff. Would you take finance and investment advise from someone with zero education in the subject? 
Can you think of anything more important than your health? Sadly, many people don’t appreciate health as the most important thing in their life until they have lost some of it. Do not trust something as important as your health with a friend, neighbor, co-worker, whomever it is that most likely has no clue what they are talking about with your health! They are more concerned with their pocket book than your health.
Think about this if you buy Advocare. You are paying a lot of money for a product that uses the same ingredients as the cheapest products you can find at Walmart, that has no short or long term studies to show it is safe, no short or long term studies to show it is effective, and based solely on the personal stories of those trying to make money off of you. It makes no sense!
Whatever money you were thinking about spending on Advocare, Plexus, Isagenix, any of them…take that money to the grocery store and buy some broccoli, spinach, ginger, asparagus, fresh fruit, olive oil, eggs, sweet potatoes, any fresh fruits and vegetables. It is without question healthier, less expensive, tastes better and is something you can easily do the rest of your life if you just create the habit.
Comments (8)
Hi Steve,
I’ve brought your article to a friend’s attention and he claims that your statements are biased because you have a grudge against Advocare due to things that have happened in the past. Is this true? If not, can you explain why an argument like this would even be brought to light?
Thanks!
There is absolutely nothing biased in the article, just facts. It’s not just advocare as I brought up the negative aspects of Yoli and Plexus as well. Advocare is the product I get asked about the most and instead of explaining it over and over I refer people to my articles. It’s safe to assume your friend is a distributor and has nothing valid to refute what I’ve written. Therefore, “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”
Hi Doc! I have read both of your articles pertaining to Advocare prior to writing my own, and I was very impressed with your analysis. I have added a link to your website so others can have an opportunity to read your well thought out material. Because you covered everything I was thinking about covering I took my blog into a different direction. I notices many of the negative comments coming from users or distributors of Advocare had no viable proof to support their claims about the product, or against you. So I did the research, you apparently were not able to do (he laughs), and wrote my blog using real research to support my argument. I hope you get a chance to read my blog and want to thank you for inspiring me to start a blog of my own. Thank you for telling it as it is!!
Sorry forgot to leave link to my Advocare blog.
http://advotruth.blogspot.com/
Hi There,
I myself paid $79 dollars to become a nutritional expert. Truth be told a good friend of mine joined and has been obsessed ever since. She tried several times to get me to try a challenge without success. Eventually, she provided me with free samples from her as well as pretty much a free challenge. Out of pure guilt for how much I know that cost her (she isn’t one with tons of money to waste on this but does anyways) I agreed to sign up and order my spark knowing there would be kick back to her. Anyways, long story short I finally agreed to start this challenge. I have no idea why. I think i was ready for a jump-start change even though I know it’s super sketchy. Had a miserable time being hyper aware about the real lack of information and honestly confused at the process. I’m more hungry than I’ve ever been and quite bloated. I’m quitting it now because I find it confusing and a little bit scary. There are a ton of supplements and fiber and I was diagnosed with crohns disease in 2010. There are plenty of diets people recommend like the Special Carb Diet (way too restrictive and I cant do it) for symptom relief. A fellow distributor even tells me how great Advocare is for her Crohns. I am on medication and would like to avoid a switch to biologics. I have always avoided too much fiber because it has only made symptoms worse. I do feel better on the challenge in the sense that I have eaten a lot of greens and don’t have much pain for once. Not sure what to attribute that to. I have too much trouble with very restrictive diets. Weight Watchers is the only diet that has ever worked for me. I honestly would go back with a more healthy outlook in mind since eating (sort of) clean. I am looking for any recommendations you may have nutritionally. I still have a very active toddler and don’t always have the time for a good sit down meal that requires prep or even sitting. I am skeptical about all of the chemicals in Advocare’s meal replacement shakes. I see ingredients that I specially avoided while pregnant which leads me to believe I should still be avoiding them. Any recommends on meal replacement shakes at all, maybe without milk protein?
Any recommendations on any vitamins and supplements? My specialist for my illness doesn’t give enough credit to nutrition but it’s cool. I am well aware doctors are pushed to push patients into trying the newest most expensive medication.
Also, don’t worry I am not selling product to anyone I know. I don’t even know how people honestly ask other people to spend that much money on things. It seems once your sucked in everyone and anyone is fair game. Thanks for the article. Helps keeps things in perspective for at least some of us.
Hi! I recently joined a Crossfit gym and within a few weeks realized it was not for me. The trainers actually, IMHO, went too far. They didn’t seem to care that the sixty year old man or woman that had not worked out in years or possibly never needed time to build up to an expert level. I had taken a fifteen year break from workouts and had become grossly overweight and out of shape- that didn’t seem to register with them and I am much younger than sixty. I noticed the intense pains I was feeling from the WOD’s and decided to go back to my basics that I had learned in my youth. BUT I had already bought the 24 day program. So four months later I decided since I cannot return it why not use it. NOT worth it! I lost six pounds on it and felt no better. I added running and a normal run-of-the-mill gym back in to my daily routine. I am up to three miles per run and making slow gains in the gym the biggest part is I am losing size (in a good way) since I have decided to measure my fat rather than weight it. I modified my diet to eliminate sugar, fried foods, and processed foods; nothing but fresh meats, seafoods, veggies, fruits, and complex carbs. ALL homemade! I have also stopped doing the Advocare system since I didn’t like all of the products I had to take, what seemed like, every minute of the day. Better to go natural with food and exercise. Thanks!!
I am 72,male and smoker, IS there anything on the market that will help breathing, I know quit – please no lecture- my kid are enough. At 72 and still working, sometimes the smallest things have me gasping. Eventually it was phycological, but I did feel it helped.
I’m trusting your knowledge for information. Also, I’m divorced and my eating habits are more than lousy. Looking forward to your response at my email address.
Thank You,
Mike
Many would try and sell you something. I will just give the truth. There is nothing that can override your poor choices. Lets say a tree was unhealthy because someone was dumping diesel fuel on the ground poisoning it. Would you ask what can we give that plant to make it look better or would you take away the diesel fuel…..