The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science: Confronting Myths of the Health and Fitness Industry / Edition 1

by Nicholas Tiller

Overview

The global health and fitness industry is worth an estimated $4 trillion. We spend $90 billion each year on health club memberships and $100 billion each year on dietary supplements. In such an industrial climate, lax regulations on the products we are sold (supplements, fad-diets, training programs, gadgets, and garments) result in marketing campaigns underpinned by strong claims and weak evidence. Moreover, our critical faculties are ill-suited to a culture characterized by fake news, social media, misinformation, and bad science. We have become walking, talking prey to 21st-Century Snake Oil salesmen.

In The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science, Nicholas B. Tiller confronts the claims behind the products and the evidence behind the claims. The author discusses what might be wrong with the sales pitch, the glossy magazine advert, and the celebrity endorsements that our heuristically-wired brains find so innately attractive. Tiller also explores the appeal of the one quick fix, the fallacious arguments that are a mainstay of product advertising, and the critical steps we must take in retraining our minds to navigate the pitfalls of the modern consumerist culture.

This informative and accessible volume pulls no punches in scrutinizing the plausibility of, and evidence for, the most popular sports products and practices on the market. Readers are encouraged to confront their conceptualizations of the industry and, by the book's end, they will have acquired the skills necessary to independently judge the effectiveness of sports-related products. This treatise on the commercialization of science in sport and exercise is a must-read for exercisers, athletes, students, and practitioners who hope to retain their intellectual integrity in a lucrative health and fitness industry that is spiraling out-of-control.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138333130
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/08/2020
Pages:	222
Sales rank:	262,611
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Nicholas B. Tiller is a research fellow in Exercise Physiology, at Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre. He was born in London, England. He holds a master's and doctoral degree in Human Applied Physiology, and is accredited with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). He writes about science, health, exercise, and critical-thinking, and is an avid ultra-marathon runner.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xi

Preface xii

Acknowledgments xv

1 Snake Oil for the 21st-century 1

1.1 Beginnings 1

1.2 Why Do We Take Shortcuts? 3

1.3 A History of Health Claims 10

1.4 The Post-Truth Era 14

1.5 Failures in Education 18

1.6 Carbohydrates, Vaccinations, and the Pope 23

2 Sharpen Your Tools 25

2.1 Consciousness-Raising 25

2.2 Dihydrogen Monoxide 27

2.3 Supermarket Scam? 28

2.4 Out of Control 31

3 Logical Fallacies in Sports Science 37

3.1 Playing by the Rules 37

3.2 The Logical Fallacy 38

4 Show Me the Research 52

4.1 Raise Your Standards 52

4.2 Step 1: Pun with (Red) Flags 53

4.3 Step 2: Prior Plausibility 55

4.4 Step 3: Show me the Research! 58

4.5 Step 4: How to Read a Paper 65

4.6 Statistical versus Clinical Significance 70

4.7 Other Resources 71

4.8 Ask… 72

5 Placebo Products and the Power of Perception 73

5.1 Intuition versus Intellect 73

5.2 Bias 75

5.3 The Placebo Effect: A Historical Perspective 79

5.4 How Do Placebos Work? 82

5.5 Placebo Effects in Sport 84

5.6 The Price of Placebo 86

6 Sports Nutrition 90

6.1 A Lucrative Industry 90

6.2 The Good, the Bad, and the Tasty 91

6.3 Nutritionist or Dietician? 92

6.4 Nutrition in the Media 93

6.5 Chasing the Headline; the Time I urns Offered Money to Bias Data 98

6.6 Organic Food 99

6.7 Fruit, Vegetables, and the Myths of Dietary Fructose 101

6.8 The 5-a-day Initiative 103

6.9 Fad Diets 104

6.10 Detoxing 108

6.11 The Irony of Ignorance 110

7 Supplements and Drugs 112

7.1 Regulations? What Regulations? 112

7.2 What are Supplements? 114

7.3 Are Supplements Safe? 116

7.4 Drugs in Your Supplements 117

7.5 Should I Eva- Use Supplements? 119

7.6 Fat-Burning Supplements 122

7.7 Protein, Protein, Everywhere 124

7.8 Forty Years of Bad Science? 126

7.9 Supplements with Robust Supporting Evidence 128

7.10 Supplements without Robust Supporting Evidence 130

7.11 Food Intended for Sportspeople 130

8 Training Programs and Products 132

8.1 Disproportionate Claims 132

8.2 Recycling 134

8.3 Barefoot Running (Shoes) 136

8.4 Compression Garments and Tights 138

8.5 Altitude Training 140

8.6 Electrical Stimulation Devices 142

8.7 Power Bracelets 144

8.8 Nasal Strips 147

8.9 Respiratory Muscle Trainers 148

9 Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Sport 152

9.1 What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)? 152

9.2 Why Do People Use CAM? 153

9.3 This is Pseudoscience 156

9.4 Out With the Old, in With the New 157

9.5 Cupping 158

9.6 Reiki 160

9.7 Acupuncture 162

9.8 Traumeel 165

9.9 Yoga 166

9.10 Cryotherapy 167

9.11 Chiropractic 170

10 Check Your Ego 175

10.1 Free Yourself 175

10.2 Yearn to Learn 176

10.3 It's OK to Defer 178

10.4 Knowledge of Ignorance 181

10.5 Be Ready (and Willing) to Change Your Mind 183

10.6 A Note on Arguing with Others 187

10.7 Future Directions 188

References 195

Index 205