Growing up: the impact of age on dietary supplement use in young athletes
Jill A. Parnell, Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. Vol. 39, 2014 p 634
Athletes often consume supplements believing they will provide them
with a competitive edge. Young athletes have a unique set of nutritional
needs, balancing requirements for growth and development, as well as
optimized athletic performance. Consequently, their perceptions and
intakes may change with age. The aim of this study was to evaluate
age-related differences in dietary supplement use, motivation for con-
suming supplements, and sources of information utilized. A content-
validated and reliability-tested questionnaire was administered to 567
athletes between the ages of 11 and 25 years from the Alberta athletic
community in face-to-face meetings. Intakes of individual supplements
were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Fisher’s Exact tests were used
to examine differences in dietary supplementation patterns and sources
of information regarding dietary supplement use between age catego-
ries. Ninety-eight percent of athletes reported taking at least one dietary
supplement.
Athletes 11–17 years most commonly consumed vitamin and
mineralsupplements;whereas,athletes18–25years consumed more pro-
tein powder (67% vs 48% 0.001), glutamine, and energy drinks (44% vs
24% < 0.001).
Athletes 19 years and older chose supplementation to
“increase or maintain muscle mass, strength, power” and “to improve
diet” (< 0.01); whereas, younger athletes “because someone told you to”
or “because others do” (< 0.05). Younger athletes tended to acquire
information from family and friends.
Conversely, those 19 years and over were more likely to use the internet, sport trainers or health food stores
(p< 0.01). Older athletes also indicated a greater preference for web-based
information as compared to younger athletes (15% in those 11 to 14 years
vs 28% in those 19 to 25 years,= 0.02).
In conclusion, age may influence
dietary supplementation patterns in young athletes. When educating
young athletes, practitioners should be cognizant of the typical patterns
of supplement use and preferred means of education for varying age
groups. (Supported by the Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research