Background: Dietary supplementation is a common strategy to achieve a specific health status or performance benefit. Several investigations have focused on the prevalence of dietary supplement use by athletes. However, information on how athletes manage the use and purchase of dietary supplements is scarce. Methods: Five hundred and twenty-seven high-performance athletes (346 males and 181 females), participating in individual and team sports, completed a validated questionnaire about use and purchase patterns of dietary supplements. The dietary supplements were categorized according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus. Results: Sixty four percent of the athletes (n = 337) used dietary supplements (median = 3; range 1 to 12). Age, sex, type of sport, level of competition, and professionalism influenced the prevalence of dietary supplement use (all p < 0.05). The most prevalent dietary supplement consumed was proteins (41%; n = 137), followed by amino acids/BCAA-based supplements (37%; n = 124). Additionally, as per group of supplements according to IOC consensus, 18% of the supplements were rated as having a low level of scientific evidence (e.g., glutamine, HMB, L-carnitine, etc). Most athletes (45%, n = 152) purchased dietary supplements in a store and 24% (n = 81) obtained them from a sponsor. Most athletes also (42%, n = 141) reported a self-organization of supplementation and did not consult with any professional. Last, 81% (n = 273) of athletes consuming supplements did not know any platform to check supplement safety/quality. For those who do not use dietary supplements (36% of the total sample, n = 190), most reported that they do not consider supplements necessary (72%, n = 137). Conclusion: Dietary supplementation appears to be widely used in sport with a considerable proportion of athletes consuming supplements with low level of scientific evidence. Additionally, athletes seem to rely on inadequate sources of information and may be largely unaware of sources to detect supplement contamination.

4 mg.kg did not alter HR but improved performance on SJFT in young judo athletes and reduced the RPE.

ED ingestion improved performance in muscle strength and endurance, endurance exercise tests, jumping and sport-specific actions. However, the improvement in performance was associated with taurine dosage.

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Purpose: Dietary supplement use by athletes has been the topic of previous research; however, the lack of homogeneity among published studies makes it difficult to analyze the differences, if any, in the patterns of use between male and female athletes. The aim of this study was to determine gender differences in the patterns of dietary supplement use by elite athletes. Methods: A total of 504 elite athletes (329 males and 175 females) participating in individual and team sports completed a validated questionnaire on dietary supplement use during the preceding season. The dietary supplements were categorized according to the latest IOC consensus statement. Results: A higher proportion of male versus female athletes (65.3 versus 56.5%, p < .05) consumed dietary supplements. Both male and female athletes reported a similar mean consumption of dietary supplements (3.2 ± 2.1 versus 3.4 ± 2.3 supplements/season, respectively; p = .45). Protein supplements were the most commonly consumed supplements in male athletes (49.8%) and their prevalence was higher than in female athletes (29.3%, p < .01). In females, multivitamins (39.4%) and branched-chain amino acids (39.4%) were the most commonly consumed supplements and iron supplementation was more prevalent than in males (22.2% versus 10.2%, p = .01). A higher proportion of male athletes relied on themselves to plan dietary supplements use (48.0%), while female appeared to rely more on doctors (34.0%, p < .01). Conclusion: In summary, male athletes had a slightly higher prevalence in the use of supplements than their female counterparts, specifically regarding protein supplements, and were more involved in the self-prescription of supplements.