Success Doesn’t Come In A Bottle
Athletes are continually seeking an edge in performance improvement. For as long as there has been competitive sport participants have tried to find some additional strategy which will give them an advantage beyond the level they have achieved thus far through effort and hard training.
Most international and national elite sports have introduced surveillance and testing systems which are designed to detect any illicit practices employed by individuals to gain performance boosts. Despite these systems, every year athletes attempt to beat the testing procedures and obtain benefit from the use of banned agents.
However, there is a far more widespread practice of using nutritional supplements from an enormously varied and frequently bizarre range of product categories. In many cases these products have no scientific evidence for efficacy in the field of human performance improvement. Nevertheless, by virtue of unscrupulous and unaccountable advertising claims, these products gain a following in the athletic world. Unfortunately many of these products are ineffective (if not dangerous) and many are also excreted rapidly by the body without having any beneficial health effect.They contribute to creating some of the most expensive urine in the world! In the USA alone, the health supplement industry is estimated to be worth $US 36 billion.
“ The most concentrated source of vitamins in the world may well be the New York sewer ” (Dr Peter Larkins 2003)
Most of these products do not appear in the standard lists of banned sport drugs (WADA published lists 2021). However, they frequently contain agents not listed on the product labels (if they list any ingredients at all) and are a significant source of inadvertent positive drug tests internationally each year. In particular, many products contain traces of stimulant drugs or steroids, both of which have been associated with positive doping test in well-known athletes, effectively ruining careers.
Athletes are a vulnerable lot and are subject to performance pressures which are often not well understood by the professionals in the health field. It is not surprising that they seek out advice and supplements which promise performance and recovery boosting powers not substantiated by controlled studies.I advise all athletes to completely avoid using any supplement which is not TGA approved or has not been passed as “permitted for use” by WADA. It is important that sportsmedicine professionals keep track of the nutritional practices employed by athletes and provide them with credible advice on the value of such practices. To do so we have to keep an open mind to the possible benefits of some of these products and seek to promote research into this field.
All individuals should take care when ordering supplement products online or from unauthorised suppliers. Speak with your doctor if you wish to get professional advice on the need for supplementation in your nutrition program.