What supplements are a waste of money for men over 40?

The supplements most heavily marketed to men over 40 with the weakest evidence-to-marketing-claim ratios: (1) proprietary testosterone booster blends (fenugreek, tribulus, D-aspartic acid at standard label doses), Unsupported (5) for producing meaningful testosterone increases in men with normal testosterone; (2) fat burners (green tea extract, synephrine, CLA at standard doses), Early (3) at best for 1–2 kg weight difference in trials; (3) BCAAs beyond adequate protein intake, Unsupported (5) for adding benefit when total protein is already above 1.6 g/kg; (4) colostrum, Early (3) for most marketed applications in adult men ([Santesson et al., JISSN, 2020]).

The supplement industry sells hope efficiently. Men over 40 who feel their performance declining are prime targets for products that use clinical-sounding language and before-and-after photographs to make Early or Theoretical claims look definitive. The Honesty Scale applied to any supplement can be replicated by searching PubMed for "systematic review [supplement name]", the quality of what you find (or do not find) tells you where on the scale the product sits.

Honesty Scale: As rated per supplement.

What to do: Before purchasing a new supplement, search for it on Examine.com, which evaluates the evidence without commercial incentive. If Examine rates a health claim as "weak" or "no evidence," that reflects an honest synthesis of the available literature.

For the full picture, read The Supplementation Deep Dive