Dietary Supplement Intake in National-Level Sri Lankan Athletes

Abstract

Intake of dietary supplements is widespread among athletes in developed countries. This study evaluated the use of dietary supplements in athletes from a developing country. Dietary supplementation practices of 113 national-level athletes age 15-35 yr in Sri Lanka were assessed. All athletes from track-and-field, badminton, football, swimming, cycling, and karate squads who consented to participate in the study were administered an anonymous questionnaire by an interviewer. Information on number of supplements taken, frequency of use, nature of product, rationale, sources of advice, and reasons for taking supplements was obtained. Most athletes (94%) consumed dietary supplements. On average, 3.7 products/day were consumed. Footballers had significantly lower intake of supplements than other athletes (footballers 71%, others 98%; p < .05). They also consumed fewer products per day (footballers 0.7, others 3.5; p < .05). Popular supplements included multivitamins, vitamin E, calcium, energy foods and drinks, and creatine. Multiple supplement use was common, with 29% athletes taking 4 products/day. The athletes sought advice on supplement use from sports doctors (45%), team coaches (40%), or friends (15%). Most took supplements to improve performance (79%), and 19% claimed to take supplements to improve their overall health status. Dietary supplement use is widespread among national-level Sri Lankan athletes. The ad hoc use of supplements indicates that educational intervention in the sporting community is essential.

Use of dietary supplements among Brazilian athletes

“…The results obtained in present study differ from many others that have found that vitamins, minerals, and/or multivitamin/minerals were the most frequently consumed supplements among athletes [2, 5,6,8,17]. Although 17.5% and 23.3% of the athletes investigated consumed minerals and vitamins, respectively, these supplements were not included in the list of the four most frequently used supplements.…”

“…The most frequently mentioned reasons given by athletes for the use of dietary supplements include increase in energy and strength, improvement in performance, maintenance or enhancement of overall health and the immune system, prevention of nutritional deficiencies, and also to speed injury recovery [4][5][6][7]. Aiming at obtaining these results, the most commonly consumed dietary supplements by this population are sports drinks, multivitamins and minerals, proteins, and amino acids [8].…”

“…Moreover, most of them take more than one supplement daily [4,6], and their family, coach, friends, and the Internet are their main sources for supplement choice [6,17,18].…”

Factores asociados con la suplementación de la dieta entre los atletas brasileños

“…The second most prevalent sport was intermittent sports (40.3%); this result contradicts previous studies, in which intermittent sports presented the least consumption of supplements (12,16). This difference may be due to the grouping of modalities as well as contradictory definitions of dietary supplements.…”

“…The decision to use these products is not always rational (8) and may be influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as age (12), sex (13)(14)(15), type of sport (13,14), training volume (13,14,16), performance level (14), motivation (13,17), an athlete's knowledge on supplementation and the constant charges of coaches, sponsors and media for better results (18,19).…”