Can pills, powders and bars improve performance?
Popular as they may be, there’s little proof supplements live up to their billing
It’s a rare athlete, whether recreational or elite, who doesn’t take some sort of dietary supplement. Whether it’s a couple of tablespoons of protein or creatine powder in a smoothie or a hit of caffeine, the promise of improved performance or enhanced recovery is a powerful motivator for anyone who takes his or her workouts seriously.
Yet as popular as they are, there’s little proof supplements live up to their billing. Most studies have been equivocal regarding their ability to improve performance, with even the best results (carbohydrate, caffeine, creatine, specific buffering agents and nitrate) delivered with the caveat that the benefits aren’t universal.
That’s the good news. Supplements — which come in bars, pills and powders and are loosely defined as products consumed with the aim of improving health or athletic performance — are unregulated. That means there’s no assurance they contain the ingredients listed. Tests done in independent labs have not only discovered discrepancies between what’s on the label and what’s in the product, they’ve also found ingredients listed as banned substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which can have severe consequences for athletes for whom such substances are forbidden.
Then there’s the tendency for athletes to think that if a little bit helps, more is bound to be better, which is rarely the case. Not to mention the inclination to rely on multiple types of supplements that can work against each other to erode, rather than improve, health and performance.
But despite the risk and the probability that they won’t make the difference between finishing first and finishing last, supplements are still used by the majority of athletes.
Even with most nutritionists advising that a good diet precludes the need for supplements, their use is prevalent across almost all sports. The use increases with age and level of training, and is more prevalent among men than women.
Why are supplements so popular? Surveys of athletes have revealed a variety of reasons, including simple convenience. Athletes have busy schedules, so getting some nutrients and calories through a supplement is often easier than cooking a nutritious meal.
Other reasons include the belief that supplements help you recover from a tough workout or build more muscle; both of these supposed benefits would provide added resilience during the long, arduous training cycle on an athlete’s road to success.
And then there’s the simple truth that athletes emulate each other, so if one boasts of the benefits of a certain supplement, it’s likely that others will try it. This level of endorsement and desire to keep up with the pack is often a far more powerful deciding factor than any study suggesting otherwise.
It’s clear that when it comes to supplements, efficacy means different things to different people. The confidence an athlete feels when using supplements can help them push harder during practice. And since most studies feature data produced in a lab and rarely include elite athletes as subjects, the results are often viewed with skepticism.
Faced with the realization that supplements aren’t about to go away, the International Olympic Committee’s Medical and Scientific Commission published a consensus statement to help guide athletes toward safe and responsible use. Acknowledging that some supplements, when used responsibly, can “help athletes to meet sports nutrition goals, train hard and stay healthy and injury-free,” they also pointed out that “it takes considerable effort and expert knowledge to identify which products are appropriate, how to integrate them into the athlete’s sports nutrition plan and how to ensure that any benefits outweigh the possible negative side-effects.”
The IOC urges athletes to ask a few questions before committing to the use of any product that claims to improve performance. Is the product available, affordable, tolerated and compatible with your performance goals? Does your coach, team doctor, personal physician or sports nutritionist know of and support the use of your choice of supplements? Is the supplement manufactured and sold by a reliable source in which the risk of cross-contamination with other substances is low?
Even with all these questions answered and the risk low, nutritionists still urge athletes to get as many essential nutrients as possible from real food. There’s something special about the combination of nutrients found in food that can’t be emulated in a lab, which is why a good diet always trumps powders, pills and bars.
It’s also why an evaluation of your diet by a sports nutritionist is a good investment for athletes of all abilities.
A nutrient-rich diet, timed appropriately and containing the ideal number of calories to support your sport, has been proved to improve performance both in laboratory tests and in real-world situations. When it comes to food, there’s no debate about efficacy.
That said, it’s likely that the combination of a good diet and a few well-chosen supplements is the best complement to a training program. Just be sure that whatever you consume in the name of improved performance delivers on its promise.