It is now common for every athlete to rely on supplements during trainings and competitions. Most believe that taking supplements will improve their performance and as well as their overall health condition. But a recent study showed that supplements are not properly used by some athletes. This is due to unsupervised training regimen and taking supplements without advice from a health professional.

Supplement intake may just be a waste of money and could even harm the body if not monitored properly. According to Martin Fréchette, a researcher and graduate of the Université de Montréal Department of Nutrition, supplements, particularly protein supplements are often poorly used or unnecessary by both high-level athletes and amateurs. The findings also showed that protein supplements will not improve performance and recovery time from fatigue or injury.

Fréchette conducted the study as part of his thesis at the university. The 42 respondents were given questionnaires with questions about their supplements use. They were asked to document their supplement intake and food intake for 3 days. Athletes who participated in the study came from various field of sports like biathlon, cycling, long-distance running, judo, swimming, volleyball, and skating.

Although the study only used a small sample, the findings were also significant. Food supplements are part of the daily consumption of 9 out of 10 athletes and they consume on the average more than 3 different products. These are energy drinks, multi-vitamins, minerals and powdered protein supplements. The researcher found out that most of the athletes have a poor knowledge on these food supplements.

For protein supplements, a very low percentage of product knowledge is evident. “Only one out of four consumers could associate a valid reason, backed by scientific literature for taking the product,” said Fréchette. “The role of proteins is particularly misunderstood,” he added. Even if most athletes rely on protein supplements, stopping it may not affect their performance. “More than 66 percent of those who believed to have bad eating habits took supplements. For those who claimed to have ‘good’ or ‘very good’ eating habits that number climbs to 90 percent,” he said.

The study also noted that more than 80% of athletes taking supplements already had sufficient protein from their diet. “The use of multivitamins and minerals can make up for an insufficient intake of calcium, folate yet not for lack of potassium,” said Fréchette. Based on the study, most of the athletes took more than the required daily intake of some vitamins and minerals which could result to some side effects. According to Fréchette this makes the athletes more susceptible to health problems such as nausea, vision trouble, fatigue and liver anomalies.

The athletes were also interested on the efficiency, legality and safety of these supplements. This could be due to the issue that a lot of sports supplements were tainted with prohibited substances such as steroids. It was reported in a study that 12 to 20 percent of dietary supplements contain a substance not in the list of ingredients or contain banned substances. “Their purity and preparation aren’t as controlled as prescription medication. Sports supplements often contain other ingredients than those listed on the label. Some athletes consume prohibited drugs without knowing.”

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