Prevalence of Dietary Supplement Use in Professional Athletes and Its Influence

A response to the prevalence of dietary supplement use by athletes when reading further into this article written by Joseph Knapik shows the data suggesting that elite athletes used dietary supplements far more than their non-elite counterparts; and the use was similar for both men and women with few exceptions. This article describes the prevalence of dietary supplement use in athletes by providing a systematic literature review.

“For most dietary supplements, use prevalence appeared similar for men and women, with the exception of iron, creatine, protein, and vitamin E.” is stated in the quote above and can be utilized as a barometer in which to determine which supplements are favored by women as compared to men, also determining the gender specific reasoning as to why males and females add supplements to their diet due to specific nutrients that may belacking due to the gender of the athlete.

When determining the usage rate compiled by sport, elite versus non-elite athletic status, and supplement type, the study found there was a high variability in use prevalence among those studied. Elite athletes appear to use dietary supplements much more than their non-elite counterparts.

Suggestions for improving research on dietary supplement use in athletes, the authors offer suggestions for improving the collection of dietary supplement data due to the lack of homogeneity in dietary supplement use. The authors detail the specific categories they believe need to be specified during the reporting of the conclusions due to the need for comparisons across studies that are being used by the athletes.

Readers may find this article to be useful in determining the scope of dietary supplement use amongst specified sports, specified gender and which supplements in particular are favored by athletes ranging amongst various sporting disciplines. Determining these differences and trends, future studies can provide an accurate and comparable data model comparing the use in specific athletic populations.