Survey of dietary supplement use in intercollegiate athletes

Abstract

It is commonly assumed that dietary supplement use is wide spread in intercollegiate athletes. In order to provide relevant nutrition education to student athletes it is necessary to understand both the type of and the degree to which supplements are used. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of self‐reported supplement use among intercollegiate athletes in a division I university athletic program. Surveys were administered annually to each student athlete in 11 men's and/or women's sports from 2001–2008. Supplements were grouped into 6 categories: vitamins, minerals, protein, performance enhancers (creatine), weight loss, and joint health. At total of 3303 surveys were analyzed. Results indicate that creatine was the most widely used supplement in men's sports while a multi‐vitamin was the most widely used supplement by female athletes. The overall reported use of dietary supplements was considerably less than expected. However, these results suggest the need for continued discussions on the efficacy of creatine supplementation and the beneficial effects of a daily multi‐vitamin.