Athletes and Dietary Supplements It is always better to find the same supplements in food!!! Even

when you are taking vitamins to supplement your diet the recommendation is that you first try to get the recommended

amount from what you are eating !

Should you be using them?

Whether you hear about sports supplements from your teammates in the locker room or the sales clerk at your local vitamin store, chances are you're not getting the whole story about how supplements work, if they are really effective, and the risks you take by using them.

If you are eating a nutritionally balanced diet, you are getting the necessary amount of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats along with the important vitamins and minerals your body needs for optimum functioning. The only supplement you may need is a B Complex vitamin!

“Performance-Enhancing" Supplements

The promise of increased strength and endurance in athletic performance can be tempting. Many supplements are available without a prescription, and claim to provide unparalleled performance.

It is important to remember that even if such supplements are marketed as "safe," they are tested on adults, not on growing teens. Some supplements, such as anabolic steroids, are legally available only by prescription.

Supplements that claim to increase athletic performance can have adverse effects on growing bodies. Several are derived from hormones that are already being produced by the body. This is effectively disrupting your body's natural hormonal balance and may severely compromise both physical and mental health.

They can increase your body's production of cholesterol, cause the body to produce sex characteristics found more commonly in people of the other gender (for example, breast growth in males and baldness and increased facial hair in females), and damage your liver, kidneys, and heart. “Protein” drinks or powders can have many of these unhealthy ingredients and should be avoided.

CBS news – protein drinks http://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-protein-shakes-harm-your-health/

Androstenedione and DHEA

• Androstenedione (also known as andro) and dehydroepiandrosterone (also known as DHEA) are prohormones or "natural steroids" that can be broken down into testosterone. Andro used to be available over the counter, but now requires a prescription.

• When researchers studied these prohormones in adult athletes, DHEA and andro did not increase muscle size, improve strength or enhance performance.

• Andro and DHEA can cause hormone imbalances in people who use them. Both can have the same effects as taking anabolic steroids and may lead to dangerous side effects like testicular cancer, infertility, stroke, and an increased risk of heart disease. As with anabolic steroids, teens who use andro while they are still growing may not reach their full adult height. Natural steroid supplements can also cause breast development and shrinking of testicles in guys.

Creatine

• Creatine is already manufactured by the body in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. It also occurs naturally in foods such as meat and fish. Creatine supplements are available over the counter.

• People who take creatine usually take it to improve strength, but the long-term and short-term effects of creatine use haven't been studied in teens and kids. Research in adults found that creatine is most effective for athletes doing intermittent high-intensity exercise with short recovery intervals, such as sprinting and power lifting. However, researchers found no effect on athletic performance in nearly a third of athletes studied. Creatine has not been found to increase endurance or improve aerobic performance.

• The most common side effects of creatine supplements include weight gain, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and muscle cramps. People with kidney problems should not use creatine because it may affect kidney function. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that people younger than 18 years old do not use creatine. If you are considering using creatine, talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits, as well as appropriate dosing.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4042829.htm

The bottom line is that no one can confidently state that prolonged creatine supplementation is safe. It is not a regulated substance!

Creatine continued …

• It reduces muscle fatigue by transporting extra energy to the body’s cells, and causes water weight gain – which can make muscles appear larger.

• Creatine makes you look softer. There’s a reason bodybuilders stop using creatine a month or so before a competition. As the creatine hydrates itself, it causes water to flow into the muscle. That extra water may increase the volume of the muscles, but it also makes them look mushy rather than defined.

• DO NOT TAKE CREATINE IF YOU ARE TAKING IBUPROFEN (ADVIL). They are both taxing on kidneys.

• The extra water weight will make you a slower and less efficient athlete.

• Caffeine completely cancels out the effect that creatine has on the ATP ADP chain

Muscle Enhancer?

• Skeletal muscle will only hold a certain amount of creatine; adding more won’t raise levels any more. If you think you’ll see more gains by upping the recommended dose, think again. It will just end up being excreted in your urine.

• There just is not enough information in studies to determine whether it is safe or not.

Fat Burners

• Fat burners (sometimes known as thermogenics) were often made with an herb called ephedra, also known as ephedrine or ma huang, which acts as a stimulant and increases metabolism. Some athletes use fat burners to lose weight or to increase energy — but ephedra-based products can be one of the most dangerous supplements. Evidence has shown that it can cause heart problems, stroke, and occasionally even death.

• Because athletes and others have died using this supplement, ephedra has been taken off the market. Since the ban, "ephedra-free" products have emerged, but they often contain ingredients with ephedra-like properties, including bitter orange or country mallow. Similar to ephedra, these supplements can cause high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and seizures.

• Many of these products also contain caffeine, along with other caffeine sources (such as yerba mate and guarana). This combination may lead to restlessness, anxiety, racing heart, irregular heart beat, and increases the chance of having a life-threatening side effect.

Will supplements make you a better athlete?

• Sports supplements haven't been tested on teens and kids. But studies on adults show that the claims of many supplements are weak at best. Most won't make you any stronger, and none will make you any faster or more skillful.

• Many factors go into your abilities as an athlete — including your diet, how much sleep you get, genetics and heredity, and your training program. But the fact is that using sports supplements may put you at risk for serious health conditions.

• So instead of turning to supplements to improve your performance, concentrate on nutrition and training, including strength and conditioning programs.

What are you buying into?

• Ads for sports supplements often use persuasive before and after pictures that make it look easy to get a muscular, toned body. But the goal of supplement advertisers is to make money by selling more supplements, and many claims may be misleading.

• Teens and kids may seem like an easy sell on supplements because they may feel dissatisfied or uncomfortable with their still-developing bodies, and many supplement companies try to convince teens that supplements are an easy solution

Illegal Substance

• Anabolic Steroids

• Growth Hormone

• Ephedrine / Ephedra

Anabolic Steroids

• “Anabolic steroids” is the familiar name for synthetic variants of the male sex hormone testosterone. The proper term for these compounds is anabolic-androgenic steroids (abbreviated AAS)—“anabolic” referring to muscle-building and “androgenic” referring to increased male sexual characteristics.

• Anabolic steroids can be legally prescribed to treat conditions resulting from steroid hormone deficiency, such as delayed puberty, as well as diseases that result in loss of lean muscle mass, such as cancer and AIDS. But some athletes, bodybuilders, and others abuse these drugs in an attempt to enhance performance and/or improve their physical appearance.

Steroids continued …

• Abuse of anabolic steroids may lead to aggression and other psychiatric problems. Although many users report feeling good about themselves while on steroids, extreme mood swings can also occur, including manic-like symptoms and anger (“roid rage”) that may lead to violence. Researchers have also observed that users may suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility.

Possible Health Effects

Short-termHeadache, acne, fluid retention (especially in the hands and feet), oily skin, yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes, infection at the injection site.

Long-term

Kidney damage or failure; liver damage; high blood pressure, enlarged heart, or changes in cholesterol leading to increased risk of stroke or heart attack, even in young people; aggression; extreme mood swings; anger (“roid rage”); paranoid jealousy; extreme irritability; delusions; impaired judgment.

Other Health-related Issues

Males: shrunken testicles, lowered sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, increased risk for prostate cancer. 

Females: facial hair, male-pattern baldness, menstrual cycle changes, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice.

Adolescents: stunted growth.

Risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases from shared needles.

Growth Hormone

• Human growth hormone occurs naturally in the body. Its primary function is to stimulate growth and cell production in children/adolescents, while helping regulate body composition, muscle and bone growth.

• Teens can suffer side effects like Acromegaly, which is the result of an HGH overdose. Remember teens already have adequate HGH levels so when they choose to take an HGH supplement they are at high risk of overdosing. Acromegaly causes a person’s face and hands to grow abnormally big. Other risk factors include developing cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. Teens can also develop long-term stunted growth, which is exactly the opposite of what they hope to achieve.

• Other side effects teenagers are at risk of developing include:

• Discomfort of the musculoskeletal area. Muscle and joint stiffness and pain in the feet and hands.

• Abnormal facial hair growth.

• Imbalance of the hormones thus bringing forth infertility, stroke, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and tumors (yes in teenagers).

• Breast enlargement in teen boys.

• Edema.

• Increased risk of diabetes.

Ephedrine/Ephedra

• Athletes looking for an edge.

Ephedrine Claims

• Increases body fat loss

• Improves athletic performance

• Improves concentration

Ephedrine/Ephedra continued …

• Ephedrine is banned by the NCAA and the IOC

• FDA has documented 40 deaths and more than 800 side effects linked to Ephedrine use

• Side effects include:• irregular heart rate • elevated blood pressure • dizziness • headache • heart attack • stroke • seizure • psychosis • death

Should Performance Enhancing Supplements be Allowed in Sport Competition?

Yes because … No because …

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