February/March 2004

Supplements in Fitness and Sport – Why are they so tempting?

by Rory Hornstein , RD, BEd.

The wait to become an Olympic champion was worth it for Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Thursday, December 18, 2003 that the 29-year-old from Vermilion, Alta., should be upgraded to gold because of doping infractions by the Russian winner of her race at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games.

The dietary supplement industry is estimated to be a $17 billion/year industry and takes the lead in creating hype; but what is fact and what is fiction? The sports world is filled with pills, potions, powders, bars and drinks that promise to give the fitness participants and athletes a winning edge. The claims promise better recovery, improved endurance, increased strength, loss of body fat, an enhanced immune system. If you are training an athlete (or a hopeful health nut) who is striving to be at the top, how can your client afford to miss out on these miracles? This is one of the many reasons the general public and athletes are an easy target for supplements and special sports foods.

The Position Statement on Nutritional Supplements from the Sport Nutritional Advisory Committee (SNAC) of the Coaching Association of Canada states,

“ Optimal physical performance requires commitment to a well-designed training and nutrition program, plus working as hard or harder and as smart or smarter than your competitors. Once these fundamentals are in place, supplements such as carbohydrate, along with optimal training, may help keep you at your peak performance level. Supplements, however, are NOT a shortcut to optimal performance.”

Surely if a supplement or sports food makes a promise to improve performance it must be true? Many people, including athletes take dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs and others, to improve their performance and health. But caution is needed! Unlike medications, dietary supplements do not have to be approved in Canada by Health Canada or in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration for safety or effectiveness. Dietary supplements are not standardized, so there is no assurance of product potency (strength) or purity. Some supplements have been shown to contain contaminants or dangerous levels of active ingredients leading to injury or death. Some dietary supplements may contain ingredients, such as androstenedione and ephedrine, that can produce positive tests for banned substances in tested athletes. Competitive athletes may not realize that a product contains a banned ingredient because an unfamiliar name for the ingredient is used or the ingredient is not declared on the supplement label.

In sport, the athlete is ultimately responsible and accountable for all substances used. Although there are no guarantees, ask yourself the following questions if selecting a dietary supplement:

•  Are you informed about all the ingredients in the product? (If you are unsure of what you are consuming, you should not take that particular product.)

•  Do you know if the product is safe (from a short- and long-term health perspective)? (A product that is promoted as "natural" is not guaranteed to be safe.)

•  Does the product contain any banned or restricted substances? (If you are unsure of what you are consuming, you should not take that particular product.)

•  Is the product made by nationally known food and drug manufacturers? ( Reputable manufacturers follow strict quality control procedures. If the company does not answer questions or address complaints, do not use their product.)

•  Is the product supported by research? ( Reputable companies should provide research from peer-reviewed journals to support claims.)

•  Have you sought professional advice from medical, physiological and/or nutritional experts?

•  Is your training plan optimal? (in terms of nutrition, recovery, and mental and physical preparation)

But many famous and successful athletes take supplements. Doesn’t this show that they work? Testimonials from athletes provide a key form of advertising used by manufacturers of supplements and sports foods. Let’s consider the following…Performance is the result of many factors - including talent, training, equipment, diet and mental attitude. In real life, an athlete will be unable to pinpoint how much each of these factors is contributing. In some cases, when the athlete has lots of these factors working well, the supplement may get all the recognition even when it fails to contribute at all! In other cases, any boost to performance that comes with taking a new product may simply be the result of a 'placebo effect'. If the athlete feels that they have received something special, or that they are suddenly receiving more monitoring and attention from their coach or other people, they will be motivated to do better. Thus better performance can come from a psychological belief rather than a real effect from the new product.

So are supplements all the same? Are they all a waste of money? The answer to this is definitely not! However, there are literally thousands of supplements and special sports foods targeted at athletes, with new products appearing on the market each month. To try to sort out the confusion about supplements, it is useful to divide them into two main categories, dietary supplements and nutritional ergogenic aids. The dietary supplements listed in Table 1, play a role in providing a practical alternative to food.

How do sports foods and dietary supplements work?

Fitness enthusiasts and athletes may find these products valuable in helping them achieve their nutrition goals in a busy day or during an exercise session. Sports nutrition guidelines provide specific goals for pre-event intake, during a prolonged session, or for post-exercise recovery. Products such as sports drinks provide a tailor-made way to look after these nutritional needs. They are an alternative to everyday foods, which might need to be juggled to produce the same nutritional composition, or which might be too impractical to consume directly before or during intense exercise. Sometimes, the convenience factor is the selling point – it is easier to grab a bar or gel to take on a long ride, rather than worry about squashing a sandwich. And these products can sit in a sports bag or car for after training without spoiling or needing special preparation.

Some Fitness enthusiasts and athletes use these supplements outside the conditions in which they are likely to achieve a direct sports nutrition goal. For example, some people eat sports bars as a snack, or have a sports drink with their lunch. In these situations sports foods may simply be a more expensive version of food. Over consumption of any sports foods (for example, eating sports bars to replace meals on a regular basis) can lead to dietary imbalances as well as an unnecessary burden on the wallet. Sports nutrition education should make the purchaser aware of the best uses of these special sports foods.

The issue with dietary supplements is knowing when and how to use them so that they assist with sports nutrition goals. When used in the right way – the right amount at the right time on the right occasion - they can help an individual train and compete at their best. In many cases they can be shown to directly enhance performance – for example, there are many studies that show that sports drinks improve performance in prolonged exercise sessions, and more recently, in high-intensity events of about an hour.

Occasionally, when a client or athlete is unable to meet all their nutrient needs from food, a vitamin and/or mineral supplement may be prescribed by a sports dietitian or physician to treat or prevent a nutrient deficiency. These scenarios should be left to the advice of the experts who can put together a total management plan, rather than rely on the pill alone.

The second category of sports supplements is sometimes called nutritional ergogenic aids. These products often contain unusual amounts of nutrients or other components of foods. Many of these chemicals are involved in exercise metabolism or recovery pathways, and the products claim that we can supercharge these processes by bumping up our intake of these chemicals. Many of the claims made for ergogenic aids such as creatine, carnitine, coenzyme Q10 and inosine include sophisticated theories of metabolic pathways and biochemistry. Other products such as 'herbals' trade on being ancient compounds whose mystical advantages have been kept secret until recent times.

Table 2 summarizes the list of nutritional ergogenic aids according to the level of scientific support that they currently deserve.

It should be noted that even Level 1 supplements are supported to enhance performance only for specific types of individuals in specific types of sporting events. And for reasons that are not always understood, some people simply don't respond to these supplements, even when used according to directions. In other words, they are not for everyone, and should only be used in well-defined situations.

So where do supplements fit into the total nutrition package for the fitness enthusiast or athlete?

Although supplements and sports foods receive most of the glamour and attention in sports nutrition, they really should be thought of as "icing on the cake" rather than substantial nutrition. Figure 1 shows that the process of eating well to achieve the nutritional goals of training achieves the most important benefits.

Talent, hard work and time are three extra ingredients in laying this solid foundation. Special sports foods, when used to meet specific goals of workouts and competition can make an important impact. Most young and developing athletes should not consider these products until they have made considerable achievements through the foundation layers. As they begin to reach their peak potential, these special aids may provide a noticeable effect.

In the fitness industry, experience has shown the following problems with the "try anything" approach to supplements:

• Money, time and interest are all finite resources. Many individuals spend these limited resources on products that don't work, or produce very small benefits for the attention they receive.
• Supplements come and go in fashion. Most of the cool sounding supplements are the ones that have no support of their benefits.
• Clients often get sidetracked on chasing these supplements instead of looking to products and sports foods that can provide more substantial performance benefits.
• People use supplements to try to take short cuts. They use them to replace the hard but really valuable factors of effective training, sensible eating, and good recovery techniques. There is no replacement!
• The fact that successful fitness enthusiasts and athletes are using a supplement lends undeserved credibility to the product and inspires other athletes to try them. And the cycle continues…..
• Fitness enthusiasts and athletes often follow hearsay about how to use their supplements, and take them in larger doses than needed or sensible, or in protocols that fail to achieve the real benefit.
• Some supplements can lead to a positive drug test in tested athletes.

The supplement industry is huge and continues to grow. Fitness professionals, enthusiasts and athletes will be increasingly bombarded with nutrition products and face tough choices.   As fitness professionals, the key is to follow research closely, and at all costs, to do no harm to your body or the bodies of your clients by taking questionable supplements. Many supplements won't deliver on their promises, and carry risks that far outweigh the benefits. Fitness enthusiasts and athletes today must choose carefully and seek several, well-informed opinions before jumping into the unknown.

Where can I get more advice about supplements and sports foods?

Check out:

Dietitians of Canada www.dietitians.ca

Coaching Association of Canada www.coach.ca

Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport   www.cces.ca
1-800-672-7775

Centre for Substance Use in Sport and Health
substanceuse@home.com

For individual and specific advice, consult a sports dietitian, accredited sports scientist or sports physician.  Contact Dietitians of Canada for details of a sports dietitian in your area.

Rory Hornstein , RD, BEd. is a Dietitian specializing in nutrition for sports, exercise, weight management (adults and children), and eating disorders. Rory is the Sports Nutrition Consultant to the Glencoe Club, University of Calgary and Mount Royal College recreation services in Calgary, Alberta . She also provides nutritional consulting to many athletes and fitness professionals through her private practice. She is a member of Dietitians of Canada , The College of Dietitians of Alberta , and acts as Co-Chair of DC’s practice group of sports nutritionists (Sports Nutrition Network). An AFLCA certified Fitness, YogaFit and Pilates (MAT I/MAT II) instructor Rory has had over 7 years experience. Her strong health and wellness background and visionary approach to learning make for a very stirring combination in the fields of nutrition and physical activity. You may contact Rory at the Glencoe Club (403) 287-4144 #365 or email her at rhornstein@eleventhstreet.com

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