Sports Supplements: Be WARNED
The market for supplements is HUGE, especially dietary sports supplements.
Why take a sports supplement? The main reason athletes tend to take a sports supplement is to improve training adaptation, recovery, and sports performance, *** e.g., protein powders, hydration mixes, creatine, sodium bicarb, nitrates etc. Working with your sports dietitian/nutritionist will help determine if these dietary supplements are needed for your training and competition goals.
SIDE NOTE: Aside from sports supplements, micronutrient supplements may also be taken to restore a particular deficiency e.g., iron supplements to restore iron deficiency. The latter is to be determined and prescribed by a health practitioner.
But what are some of the reasons why athletes take dietary sports supplements? I’ve heard from many individuals who have shared these reasons:
“I saw on TV that X [insert well-known athlete] takes or promotes this brand. If they take it, then it must be ok”
“My coach told me to take it”
“My teammate suggested I might benefit from using X product”
“I saw an ad on social media and then read all the positive reviews”
“The product has a cool label”
“The product says it will help me shred”
Are these good enough reasons? [insert long pause here]
As an elite athlete I was (and still am) very cautious of what goes in my body.
To keep sports safe and clean, athletes are subject to drug testing. The testing typically involves a urine sample but can also be a blood sample. And yes, the drug testers do watch you pull your top up and your pants down and must be able to be in the view of you peeing. TMI? It’s fact.
This is all to keep sports clean from illegal and harmful drugs. To make sure you are not accidentally consuming banned and harmful substances, athletes MUST use products that are tested thoroughly. More on how you can check your sports supplements below.
But first…
***BE WARNED. Not all supplements are safe.
Recently there was an article published by Consumer NZ that found six supplement products that contained illegal drugs. Three of these supplement products had substances that are prohibited in sport. The Consumer article touches on research that has tested a range of sports supplements for illegal substances.
The article shares how the supplement industry can be unsafe:
“[A] paper, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, found many of these athletes bought their supplements online. Of those, 15% contained steroids.” … “In 2017, a study by researchers from the University of Otago and the University of Technology Sydney found six sports supplements sold in New Zealand and Australia contained anabolic steroids. These can cause liver damage, acne, aggressive mood swings and endocrine cancer and even heart disease.”
If an athlete was taking these particular supplements, they would have a positive drug doping test and therefore be banned from competing in their sport. Is that supplement worth taking then?
What is the underlying problem?
The underlying problem is that there is no regulation for a product that needs to be tested or proved safe before it is sold to consumers.
“In New Zealand sports supplements don’t need to be tested or proved safe before being available for sale.” … “Poor manufacturing practices and inadequate labelling and regulation mean that you can never be 100% sure what’s inside a supplement.”
This means the responsibility falls on the purchaser. If you are taking a sports supplement, you are taking this at your own risk. And you are responsible for what you consume.
How to avoid consuming products that may have illegal or banned substances?
YOU must check your sports supplements are independently tested for banned and harmful substances. Informed Choice and Informed Sport are great resources for checking what products are tested, as well as where you can source these products. Once you receive your product, cross-reference your product with the tested batch/product number. Also check that the product has not been tampered with, for example, a broken seal or it has been opened.
Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) has a Supplement Decision Making Guide and also more information on supplements. They also have free short and interactive e-learning courses to learn more. I fully recommend you check these out so that you can have the latest knowledge to make the best decisions for you and your sporting goals.