Safe sports supplements

All athletes constantly strive to improve their performance through training to boost speed, endurance and strength.

Modern sports science has led to a greater understanding of how nutrition aids athletic training and there are many products on the market that claim to help speed up muscle growth and improve endurance.

However, some of these products contain substances that have been banned by governing bodies. Manufacturers rarely warn customers if a product contains a banned substance and this has resulted in athletes testing positive without realising that they had been using a banned performance-enhancing drug.

Doping classes

There are five types of doping class, each having a different effect on performance:

• Stimulants are designed to make athletes more alert and to work harder during training and competition. They help an athlete to ignore fatigue for longer and therefore provide a boost in performance.
• Anabolic agents, commonly called steroids, help muscle grow faster and also give a boost in training. By optimising training an athlete can become fitter and stronger than possible without the use of medication.
• Narcotic analgesics are used to mask pain that is caused by injury or fatigue. This again can help an athlete to push themselves harder in training and in competition, giving an unfair competitive advantage over other athletes.
• Peptides and hormones, such as EPO (Erythropoietin) and HGH (Human Growth Hormone) are designed to boost performance and fitness. EPO allows red blood cells to work more effectively and deliver more oxygen to muscles, which allows athletes to work harder for longer. HGH aids muscle growth to help improve fitness and strength during training.

All of these substances are designed to ultimately improve the performance on competition days. Athletes who knowingly take them they will do so as isolated drugs.

The World Anti-doping Agency’s (WADA) code explains the purpose of drug testing and why it is needed: WADA states that the main goal of drug testing is to “preserve what is intrinsically valuable about sport. This intrinsic value is often referred to as, ‘the spirit of sport’, it is the essence of Olympism; it is how we play true”.

A good sportsperson is one who does not cheat in any way and performance-enhancing drugs is a form of cheating.

Unfortunately, some sports supplement companies add these drugs to their products to ensure that athletes experience greater gains when training. If the product appears to be working well customers will buy more and recommend it to others.

What is allowed?

Good nutrition is allowed and expected. Athletes have been consuming carefully balanced diets for decades, designed to meet the specific needs of an athlete.

One of the biggest developments in recent years is our understanding of how proteins and amino acids aid muscle repair and growth. The manufacturing of protein supplements for athletes and bodybuilders is now a huge enterprise that has become very competitive.

As we mentioned above, sometimes a manufacturer will add a banned substance to their products to deliberately give customers a boost in performance. Because most of the people buying the products are doing so for their own personal goals and are not competing in athletic competitions, there is no risk. However, sometimes an athlete who has been taking a supplement is tested and found positive.

Informed Sport

To help combat this problem an organisation has been developed called Informed Sport.

Informed Sport is an internationally recognised quality assurance programme for sports nutrition products. They carry out tests of products and inspect manufacturing facilities to ensure that there is no use of a banned substance.

Athletes who purchase products that have been listed on the Informed Sport website can be sure that they will not test positive for banned substances. Informed Sport maintains an up-to-date list of registered products and manufacturers.

If you are serious about improving your performance but also wish to abide by the rules and be a true sports person, only purchase supplements that have been tested for banned substances.