Use of dietary supplements among Brazilian athletes

https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-98652017000200002 USE OF SUPPLEMENTS AMONG ATHLETES | 163 ORIGINAL | ORIGINAL Use of dietary supplements among Brazilian athletes Uso de suplementos alimentares entre atletas brasileiros Hellen Clair Garcez NABUCO 1 Vanessa Behrends RODRIGUES 2 Wander Miguel de BARROS3 Fabricio César de Paula RAVAGNANI 4 Mariano Martínez ESPINOSA5 Christianne de Faria Coelho RAVAGNANI6 ABSTRACT Objective To investigate the prevalence and establish the profile of the consumption of dietary supplements among Brazilian athletes. Methods A total of 182 athletes of both genders from 20 different sports participated in this study. The athletes answered a questionnaire containing sociodemographic and sports-related questions and were interviewed about the consumption of dietary supplements. Results Forty seven percent of athletes reported having consumed at least one type of dietary supplement and 38% said they use more than three different types of supplements concurrently. Whey protein was the most commonly 1 Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Mato Grosso, Departamento de Administração e Planejamento. Campus São Vicente, Rodovia BR-64, Km 329, Campo Verde, Cuiabá, MT, Brasil. Correspondência para/correspondência to: HCG NABUCO. E-mail: <>. 2 Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Faculdade de Nutrição, Departamento de Alimentos e Nutrição. Cuiabá, MT, Brasil. 3 Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Mato Grosso, Departamento de Ensino, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos. Cuiabá, MT, Brasil. 4 Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Mato Grosso, Departamento de Ensino, Pesquisa e Extensão. Cuiabá, MT, Brasil. 5 Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Instituto de Ciências Exatas e da Terra, Departamento de Estatística. Cuiabá, MT, Brasil. 6 Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Departamento de Educação Física, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Física. Cuiabá, MT, Brasil. Support: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal Nível Superior and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Process nº 446323/2014-4). Rev. Nutr., Campinas, 30(2):163-173, mar./abr., 2017 Revista de Nutrição 164 | HCG NABUCO et al. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-98652017000200002 consumed supplement, and the most frequently mentioned reason for its consumption was performance improvement. The main source of information was coaches, and individual sport athletes were the greatest consumers and the most likely to seek dietary supplement. Conclusion Approximately half of the participants used dietary supplements, which on most occasions were recommended by coaches. The consumption profile also revealed multiple supplementation practice and showed that nutrition education is essential for this specific population. Keywords: Athletes. Dietary supplements. Prevalence. RESUMO Objetivo Descrever a prevalência e o perfil de ingestão de suplementos alimentares entre atletas brasileiros. Métodos Participaram do estudo 182 atletas de ambos os sexos de 20 diferentes modalidades esportivas. Os atletas responderam a um questionário contendo informações sociodemográficas e esportivas e foram entrevistados quanto ao consumo de suplementos. Resultados Quarenta e sete porcento dos atletas relataram ter consumido pelo menos um tipo de suplemento e 38% utilizavam mais de três tipos de suplementos concomitantemente. O suplemento mais consumido foi o whey protein e a razão mais citada para o consumo foi a melhora no desempenho físico. A maior fonte de informação foi o treinador, sendo os atletas de modalidades individuais os maiores consumidores e também os mais propensos a buscarem essa fonte. Conclusão Quase metade da amostra fazia uso de suplementos, os quais eram indicados, predominantemente, pelos treinadores. O perfil de consumo também revelou a prática da poli suplementação e mostra que a educação nutricional é essencial para essa população específica. Palavras-chave: Atletas. Suplementos nutricionais. Prevalência. INTRODUCTION According to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, dietary supplements are products intended to supplement the diet and contain vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, enzymes, and metabolites. They can be found in many forms such as tablets, capsules, soft gels, gel caps, powders, or liquids [1]. These products are frequently consumed by athletes [2,3]. 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 Revista de Nutrição deficiencies, and also to speed injury recovery [4-7]. 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]. However, aspects such as regulations, safety, and efficacy are of extreme importance for the choice of dietary supplements by professionals who recommend their use or by consumers. Dietary supplement use is a risk factor for illicit substance use [9], and they are associated with the risk of the so-called inadvertent doping since there may be positive results due to the contamination of their ingredients [10]. Another important aspect is that the effectiveness of several supplements on the market is controversial Rev. Nutr., Campinas, 30(2):163-173, mar./abr., 2017 USE OF SUPPLEMENTS AMONG ATHLETES | 165 https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-98652017000200002 and questionable [11,12]. Their use should be recommended only by a qualified professional in specific circumstances, especially when there is restriction of energy or food intake [11]. Despite the growing concerns about harmful consequences on health and physical performance or risk of doping among athletes, the use of supplements in the sports world has increased with prevalence ranging from 37.5% to 98.0% among athletes [13,14], and elite athletes are the main consumers [15,16]. 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]. Although there are several studies on the prevalence of dietary supplement use among athletes from different sports [2,5,8], there are few data regarding its use by Brazilian athletes [19,20]. National studies have investigated dietary supplementation practices among gym users [21], which may be different from the use patterns of athletes. Furthermore, few studies on athletes focus on issues related to the training volume, type of sport, and preparatory training phase. In addition, most of the studies available were carried out in developed countries, and thus they may not reflect Brazilian athletes’ reality. Considering the current participation of Brazil in the major sports events from around the w (...truncated)