NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT USE AND DIETARY PRACTICES AMONG MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS

Abstract

777 The use of nutritional supplements for improving athletic performance has been prominent and controversial in the popular media in recent months. The prevalence of nutritional supplement use among professional athletes is unknown as are possible correlates of such use, including dietary practices. The purpose of this study was to quantify the prevalence of nutritional supplement use among Major League Baseball players and to evaluate possible associations with dietary practices. During the annual spring training season in 1998, an anonymous survey, designed to assess type, frequency, and seasonality of nutritional supplement use, was conducted of all roster players. Usable surveys were received from 477 players (51.8% response rate). Approximately half of the respondents (51.2%) reported regularly taking nutritional supplements either during the season or in the off season. Vitamin and mineral supplements were the most frequently reported (31.9%), followed by fat burners/muscle builders (26.8%), creatine monohydrate (18.7%), protein bars (18.4%), herbs/energy formulae (10.5%), amino acids (6.9%), weight gain powders (4.8%), anti-inflammatory agents (3.8%) and finally hormone precursors (3.8%). Significantly higher usage of supplement use was seen during the season compared to the off-season in all categories (p < 0.001). There was little evidence that fundamental dietary practices were different between those players who reported supplement use and those who did not, although players who reported supplement use showed significantly different attitudes toward the way food intake affects athletic performance than their teammates who reported no supplement use (p < 0.001). These data provide a baseline for prevalence estimates of nutritional supplement use among professional athletes and suggest that dietary practices may not be related to nutritional supplement use. This study was partially funded by Major League Baseball