Nutrition & Hydration

Supplements

The IOC defines a supplement as “a food, food component, nutrient, or non-food compound that is purposefully ingested in addition to the habitually consumed diet with the aim of achieving a specific health and/or performance benefit”(2).

Supplements are becoming increasingly popular with marketing being targeted toward athletes. Although some supplements are supported by strong evidence to improve performance, the benefits may be subjective to the sport and individual factors such as genetics (2). If an athlete has a healthy balanced diet, the use of supplements is often unnecessary, unless they have a specific need, illness or deficiency.

It is important that an athlete seeks the professional advice  of sports dietician when considering the use of supplements. Some supplements may provide potential benefits to athletes to assist them meeting nutrition goals or enhance performance, however expert knowledge is required to determine whether any supplements would be beneficial to an individual (2). The sports dietician will be able to determine if any benefits outweigh the potential negative side effects and risk of an anti-doping rule violation (2). 

Many companies intentionally or unintentionally (through poor quality control) include banned substances in many common supplements (3). A study conducted in 2010 (4) tested 58 different supplements and found that 25% were contaminated with steroids, and a further 11% with stimulants. Even if the manufacturing company are at fault for their poor quality control, it is the athlete’s responsibility to ensure that no banned substance enters their body (3).