There's a trend I've noticed happening in the health industry; nutrition products are going "clean."

Products are increasingly advertising themselves "organic," "green," and "non-GMO." All of the health jargon we see thrown around our food labels has now infiltrated the nutrition markets.

The 2015 FitExpo Los Angeles (Margaux Farrell/Neon Tommy)

In the fitness industry, so many products are focused on one thing and one thing only- protein.

But at the 2015 FitExpo Los Angeles this past weekend, as I walked from one booth to the next, reading and listening to various companies’ philosophies, I couldn’t help but notice that so many of them were moving away from complex ingredients and back to the basics.

Zac Fitzgerald owner of Bake Works, founded by his father, said their products are simple and were created based on what him and his family like to eat.

“It is real food, it should be simple, it should not be complicated. You should not have to read a package and not recognize what you are taking into your body,” said Fitzgerald.

MET-Rx, founded by a doctor, is a well-known brand amongst body builders and protein fanatics alike. Grace Grimes, their national events manager and product specialist, said that you cannot ignore the fact that people care more about the ingredients in the products they consume.

“We really cover everybody’s needs,” said Grimes. “It really just depends on what your athletic goals are.” 

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Grimes said that the majority of their products do have a lot of ingredients that seem foreign, but each product serves a different purpose, just as each consumer has a different need. 

Some consumers, according to Grimes, prefer things like artificial sweeteners because sugar is something they try to avoid, whereas others would rather consume a naturally sweetened item.

For those customers, Grimes says that MET-Rx recently launched a more natural line of bars. I found this to be common amongst traditional power based brands.

MET-Rx bar ingredients (Margaux Farrell/Neon Tommy)

Supreme Protein, owned by Dymatize Nutrition, a major supplement company, was also showcasing their newest, cleaner bar, the Accelerate bar. 

Elspeth Dana, a Dymatize Nutrition-sponsored athlete, said that when Dymatize acquired Supreme Protein two years ago, they began cutting down on artificial ingredients.

“There are a small amount of artificial ingredients, but the scientists are always working on finding ways to make a more natural bar,” said Dana.

Harmful Supplements

This move toward “more natural” isn’t entirely consumer-driven, but also has an element of controversy.

Several supplement companies have been involved in cases where athletes, either unknowingly or knowingly, took a product that resulted in a positive test.

MuscleMeds, which had a booth at the FitExpo, has two products on the United States Anti-Doping Agency High Risk Dietary Supplement List.

Certain athletes in particular, like Olympic athletes, have to be extra cautious when it comes to ingesting products.

Ingredients like growth hormones and stimulants, common in most body building compounds, are prohibited performance-enhancing substances for athletes.

Which begs the question, what is actually good for you? If the best athletes in the world are not allowed to take a lot of these products, what purpose are they serving besides muscle gain, and to what extent are people willing to go to increase their muscle mass?

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Olympic swimmer, Jessica Hardy, understands the trials and tribulations of drug testing all too well. In 2008, she tested positive for a contaminated substance, that she unknowingly consumed. The result of this positive drug test caused her to sit out of the 2008 Olympics.

"I will never consume a nutritional supplement for the rest of my life again, and advise anyone willing to listen to do the same” says Hardy.

Hardy believes that nutritional supplements pose not only a threat to athletes subject to testing, but the general public as well. Ingredient lists are convoluted and not always upfront. 

“There will be no punishment to someone who doesn't fail a drug test," says Hardy. "Yet, there is still the possibility that consuming a contaminated supplement can have negative health repercussions.”

Today, Hardy refuses to consume anything that has not been regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Whether she is eating a granola bar, using toothpaste, or taking cold medicine, Hardy believes you can never know too much about what you are putting into you body.

Nutrition products from FitExpo LA (@AnhNguyen/Twitter)

Kristy Morrell, a nutritionist at the University of Southern California, specializes in dealing with athletes. Morrell's philosophy is all about going back to the basics.

"Food will always trump supplements, hands down," says Morrell. "The work is in eating healthy, reading ingredients, and knowing what you are putting in your body."

Morrell believes that people need to educate themselves about the products they are consuming.

"If you are going to take something, you want it to be as natural as you can get it," says Morrell. "As an athlete or not you should know exactly where a product is coming from, and how it was made.”

We all have different needs and wants, especially when it comes to health and fitness. What I know for sure though, is that while society is moving forward and advancing, ingredients are going back to their roots.

Simple, clean, and natural... how everything originally started.

Reach Staff Reporter Margaux Farrell here or follow her on Twitter here.