Nutritional supplement use by elite young UK athletes: fallacies of advice regarding efficacy

Abstract

Background: The objective was to study nutritional supplement use among young elite UK athletes to establish whether a rationale versus practice incongruence exists, and to investigate the sources of information. Survey data were analysed for association between supplements used and motives for using such substances among young athletes along with the sources of advice and literature precedents on supplement effects.

Methods: Participants were elite UK male and female athletes, within the age range between 12 and 21 (n = 403), mean age 17.66 +/- 1.99. Associations between type of supplements and reasons for using supplements were tested by calculating Pearson's chi2 and the strength of these symmetric associations shown by phi association coefficients.

Results: Single supplement use was reported by 48.1%, with energy drinks being the most popular, consumed by 41.7% of all athletes and 86.6% of the supplement users in the sample. No agreement was observed between athletes' rationale and behaviour in relation to nutritional supplements except for creatine. Among health professionals, nutritionists and physiotherapists, followed by coaches, were most frequently consulted. Answers regarding reasons and supplements used showed incongruence and suggest widespread misinformation regarding supplements and their effects is an issue for the young athlete.

Conclusion: Widespread supplement taking behaviour was evidenced in the young elite athlete population with the most notable congruence between rationale and practice among young athletes being performance-related. Young athletes in the present sample appear to be less 'health conscious' and more 'performance focused' than their adult counterparts. Further research, using a full list of supplements, is warranted to test the hypothesis that health consciousness is less dominant in supplement choice by young athletes.

Figure 1

Supplement use reported by young (age 12–21) elite athletes; n = 403 (all athletes) and n = 194 (supplement users); each equates to 100%.

Figure 2

Reasons for supplement use reported by young (age 12–21) elite athletes; n = 403 (all athletes) and n = 194 (supplement users) each equates to 100%.

Figure 3

Source of information regarding the supplements reported, expressed as ratio between the number of sources and incidents reported.

Figure 4

Source of advice selected for taking creatine (54), energy drinks (168) and whey protein (86) among supplement user young athletes (n = 194).