10 Supplements Ranked From Worth It to a Total Waste of Money

Walk down the supplement aisle and you will see hundreds of tubs, all promising muscle, energy, or fat loss.

Only a few of them have real research behind them.

A video from the Garage Strength channel sorts popular supplements from top tier down to trash, and the general idea holds up.

Most of what is on the shelf is marketing.

Below are 10 popular supplements ranked from the ones worth your money to the ones that are not.

Two of them stand out as the safest bets in the whole aisle, and they are also two of the cheapest.

1. Creatine Monohydrate: Worth It

Creatine is the most studied sports supplement there is.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition reviewed the evidence in a 2017 position stand.

It concluded that creatine monohydrate is the most effective supplement available for improving high intensity exercise capacity and building lean mass during training.

The same review found no evidence of harm in healthy people at normal doses.

A typical dose is 3 to 5 grams a day, every day, with no need for fancy forms.

Plain monohydrate powder is cheap and does the job.

If you buy only one supplement, buy creatine monohydrate. Nothing else has this much evidence behind it.

2. Caffeine: Worth It

Caffeine is the other clear winner.

A 2021 International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand concluded that caffeine improves many types of exercise performance, including endurance, strength, and power.

Doses of roughly 3 to 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, taken about an hour before training, are the common research range.

For a 180 pound person that is roughly 245 to 490 milligrams.

That is a strong dose, so start low.

Coffee counts, and it is far cheaper than most pre workout tubs.

Late doses can wreck sleep, which will cost you more than the workout gained.

3. Protein Powder: Worth It If Your Diet Is Short

Protein powder is food, not magic.

A 2018 review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine pooled 49 studies and found that protein supplements produced small but real gains in muscle size and strength during resistance training.

The same review found the benefit leveled off at around 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.

That is about 0.73 grams per pound.

If you already hit that from food, a shake adds convenience, not extra muscle.

If you struggle to get there, powder is an easy fix.

4. Beta-Alanine: Worth It for Specific Efforts

Beta-alanine is a narrower tool.

A 2015 International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand found it improves performance mainly in efforts lasting about 1 to 4 minutes.

Think rowing intervals, a hard 400 meter run, or high rep sets taken close to failure.

It does little for a heavy set of 3 or a long slow run.

The harmless tingling many people feel is normal.

Verdict: useful if your sport lives in that time window, skippable otherwise.

5. Vitamin and Mineral Supplements: Only for a Real Gap

A daily multivitamin is often sold as cheap insurance.

For otherwise healthy, well fed adults, the prevention evidence is weak.

A 2013 review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found limited evidence that vitamin and mineral supplements prevent heart disease or cancer in healthy adults.

That is not the same as saying vitamins never help.

People with a diagnosed deficiency, a restricted diet, or certain medical conditions may genuinely need one.

Verdict: treat it as medicine for a specific gap, not as daily insurance.

6. BCAAs: Mostly a Waste

Branched chain amino acids sell well because they sound like protein, only fancier.

A 2017 paper in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition argued that BCAAs alone cannot maximize muscle protein synthesis, because building muscle requires all the essential amino acids, not just three of them.

A normal protein serving already contains those three, plus the rest.

If you eat enough protein, BCAAs are an expensive way to buy something you already have.

Verdict: skip it and buy protein or whole food instead.

7. Glutamine: Mostly a Waste for Healthy Lifters

Glutamine has been marketed for recovery and immunity for decades.

A 2008 review in the Journal of Nutrition concluded that glutamine supplements do not appear to improve exercise performance, and that evidence for boosting immune function in athletes is weak.

Glutamine does have real clinical uses in hospital settings.

Those are very different situations from a healthy lifter after leg day.

Verdict: save your money.

8. Testosterone Boosters: Mostly a Waste

Most over the counter test boosters lean on herbs, and tribulus is the most common one.

A 2005 study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology gave young men tribulus for four weeks and measured their hormones.

It found no significant effect on testosterone or other androgen levels.

Sleep, body composition, alcohol, and training have far bigger effects on natural testosterone than any tub on the shelf.

If you suspect low testosterone, that is a blood test and a doctor visit, not a supplement purchase.

Verdict: skip it.

9. Fat Burners and Thermogenics: Not Worth the Risk

Fat burners usually combine caffeine with a stack of extras.

The caffeine is doing most of the noticeable work, and you can buy that for pennies.

The bigger issue is quality control.

Weight loss supplements are a repeat source of warnings about products found to contain undeclared drug ingredients.

You are paying a premium for a caffeine pill with an unknown ingredient list.

Verdict: if you want the stimulant, buy plain caffeine and know the dose.

10. Detox Teas and Cleanses: A Waste

Detox teas are the bottom of the aisle.

Many contain laxative herbs like senna.

What they take off the scale is food weight and water, not body fat.

Your liver and kidneys already handle detoxification, and no tea improves that job.

Frequent laxative use can cause cramping, dehydration, and worse.

Verdict: the clearest waste of money on this list.

The Two Most Researchers Would Actually Keep

If you forced the whole aisle down to two purchases, the evidence points to creatine monohydrate and caffeine.

Both are cheap.

Both have large bodies of research and formal position stands behind them.

Both work for a wide range of people and sports.

Protein powder is a close third, but only if your daily protein is falling short.

What This Evidence Does Not Prove

Position stands summarize the research at a point in time, and research keeps moving.

“No clear benefit” in healthy adults does not mean “no benefit for anyone,” since people with deficiencies or medical conditions are a different case.

Most supplement studies are short, running weeks rather than years.

Study doses are often higher or cleaner than what shows up in a commercial blend.

And no supplement has ever been shown to fix a poor diet, bad sleep, or an aimless training program.

A Three Question Test Before You Buy Anything

Use this on any product not on the list above.

• Is there research on the finished product, or only on one ingredient in it? A study on an ingredient at a research dose says little about a blend with a pinch of it.
• Does the label show the dose per serving, and does it match that research dose? If the amount is hidden in a blend, treat the claim as marketing.
• What would this money buy instead? Compare the monthly cost to groceries, a program, or a few coaching sessions.

If a product fails any of the three, put it back.

Most supplement spending goes to products that fail all three.

How to Read a Supplement Label

• Look for a third party testing seal, such as NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport.
• Check the dose per serving, not per tub, and compare it to the research dose.
• Be suspicious of “proprietary blends” that hide how much of each ingredient you get.
• Count the total caffeine across every product you take in a day.
• Ignore before and after photos, which are marketing, not evidence.

Supplements are loosely regulated in the United States, so the seal matters more than the brand name.

Who Should Talk to a Doctor First

• Anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding.
• Anyone with kidney disease, liver disease, or heart problems.
• Anyone taking prescription medication, since interactions are common.
• Anyone with high blood pressure, before adding any stimulant.
• Teenagers, who rarely need anything beyond food.

Where Your Money Is Better Spent

Before you buy anything, the basics pay far better.

• Enough total protein across the day, mostly from food.
• Enough sleep, which no supplement replaces.
• A program you can follow for months, with the weights going up over time.
• Good shoes and a gym you will actually visit.
• A simple training log, which costs nothing.

If you want to see how the basics compare with a supplement stack, our look at what the 0.54 gram per kilogram protein study really found shows how much of the protein debate is about total intake, not brand.

The cheapest supplements have the best evidence. That is not a coincidence, it is what happens when a product has been studied for 30 years.

Watch the Original Video

References

Fortmann, S. P., Burda, B. U., Senger, C. A., Lin, J. S., & Whitlock, E. P. (2013). Vitamin and mineral supplements in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer: An updated systematic evidence review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Annals of Internal Medicine, 159(12), 824 to 834. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-159-12-201312170-00729

Gleeson, M. (2008). Dosing and efficacy of glutamine supplementation in human exercise and sport training. The Journal of Nutrition, 138(10), 2045S to 2049S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/138.10.2045S

Guest, N. S., VanDusseldorp, T. A., Nelson, M. T., Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B. J., Jenkins, N. D. M., Arent, S. M., Antonio, J., Stout, J. R., Trexler, E. T., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Goldstein, E. R., Kalman, D. S., & Campbell, B. I. (2021). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Caffeine and exercise performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 18(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-020-00383-4

Kreider, R. B., Kalman, D. S., Antonio, J., Ziegenfuss, T. N., Wildman, R., Collins, R., Candow, D. G., Kleiner, S. M., Almada, A. L., & Lopez, H. L. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z

Morton, R. W., Murphy, K. T., McKellar, S. R., Schoenfeld, B. J., Henselmans, M., Helms, E., Aragon, A. A., Devries, M. C., Banfield, L., Krieger, J. W., & Phillips, S. M. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(6), 376 to 384. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608

Neychev, V. K., & Mitev, V. I. (2005). The aphrodisiac herb Tribulus terrestris does not influence the androgen production in young men. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 101(1 to 3), 319 to 323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2005.05.017

Trexler, E. T., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Stout, J. R., Hoffman, J. R., Wilborn, C. D., Sale, C., Kreider, R. B., Jäger, R., Earnest, C. P., Bannock, L., Campbell, B., Kalman, D., Ziegenfuss, T. N., & Antonio, J. (2015). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Beta-alanine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 12(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-015-0090-y

Wolfe, R. R. (2017). Branched-chain amino acids and muscle protein synthesis in humans: Myth or reality? Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0184-9

This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. If you have an injury, ongoing pain, or a medical condition, talk to a doctor or physical therapist before you change how you train or eat.