Supplements

Question 1

What are supplements?

Answer 1

Concentrated sources of nutrients or other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, whose purpose is to supplement the normal diet

Question 2

Why are supplements used?

Answer 2

Correct nutritional deficiencies

Maintain an adequate intake of certain nutrients

Question 3

What is the effect of excessive supplement intake?

Answer 3

Harmful

Cause unwanted side effects

Question 4

What are the reasons cited for using dietary supplements? (Depiesse)

Answer 4

71% - aid in recovery from training
65% - convenience
52% - to improve health
48% - to improve performance
40% - to prevent or treat an illness
29% - to compensate for a poor diet

Question 5

What is the prevalence of dietary supplemental data dependent upon?

Answer 5

Definition of ‘supplement’
Regular/routine use vs. occasional use
Current use vs. habitual use
Some may be reluctant to admit the extent of use
Some may exaggerate the extent of use to impress
Some are notoriously forgetful
Some do not want to reveal new products
Amount and frequency of supplements used are often not quantified

Question 6

Ron Maughan’s rules of dietary supplements?

Answer 6

If it works, it’s probably banned
If it’s not banned, it probably doesn’t work
There may be some exceptions

Question 7

Supplements - The AID Approach: Groups A - supported for use in specific situations

Answer 7

Sports drinks/gels
Caffeine
Bicarbonate
Multivitamin/mineral
Electrolyte replacement
Whey protein
Creatine
Iron
Calcium
Vitamin D

Question 8

Supplements - The AID Approach: Groups B - deserving of further research

Answer 8

B-alanine
Carnitine
B-hydroxy-B-methylbutyrate
Quercetin
Beetroot juice
Colostrum
Fish oils
Probiotics

Question 9

Supplements - The AID Approach: Groups C - no meaningful proof of beneficial effects

Answer 9

Ribose
Pyruvate
Chromium picolinate
Medium-chain triglycerides
Coenzyme Q10
Glucosamine
Oxygenated water
ZMA

Question 10

Supplements - The AID Approach: Groups D - banned or at high risk of contamination

Answer 10

Glycerol
Methylhexanamine
190-norandrostenione/ol
Other-pro-hormones
Ginseng and other herbals
Sibutramine
Ephedrine
DHEA

Question 11

Greenhaff’s rules of dietary supplements?

Answer 11

Does the nutritional supplementation result in the substrate reaching its target tissue?
Does the nutritional supplementation result in a meaningful increase in the tissue concentration of the substance?
Does this result in a measurable and reproducible effect on physiological function during exercise?
Does this have a measurable and reproducible effect on performance, fatigue development or training adaptation?

Question 12

What is nandrolone?

Answer 12

An anabolic/androgenic steroid
Increases strength, power, muscle bulk and/or enhances recovery
Many banned athletes have tested positive for nandrolone and have blamed it on contaminated supplements

Question 13

What is the extend of supplement contamination? (Geyer et al. 2015)

Answer 13

15% of dietary supplements contained prohormones not declared on the label

Question 14

WADA code - strict liability?

Answer 14

Many athletes claim to be innocent but under the code, athletes are strictly liable for the substance found in their sample
A violation occurs whether or not the athlete knowingly or unknowingly used a positive substance or was negligent or otherwise at fault

Question 15

What are the implications of contamination?

Answer 15

A 0.00005% level of contamination caused some individuals to test positive for nandrolone
Positive tests only occur in the window soon after ingestion
Highlights the importance of specialised supplement testing that can detect impurities

Question 16

Why are supplements contaminated?

Answer 16

Ineffective cleaning of production equipment

A substance added on purpose to improve the perception of the product

Question 17

What is sibutramine?

Answer 17

Used for treating obesity by suppressing hunger
Some products do not declare sibutramine on the label
Withdrawn in the US due to increased risk of heart attack and stroke
Prescribed does = 10mg/day

Question 18

What’s the solution for contaminated supplements?

Answer 18

Informed sport

Batch testing

Question 19

Can you trust quality assume programs?

Answer 19

Informed sport test substances to a limit of detection

• 10ng/g of steroids
• 100ng/g of stimulants

Question 20

What is the evidence for blaming meat for positive doping cases?

Answer 20

During the 2010 TdF Contador produced a sample found to contain traces of B-agonist clenbuterol
He claimed this occurred from eating contaminated meat
However, only 1 animal sample was positive for clenbuterol out of 83203

Question 21

WADA code - stance?

Answer 21

‘specific substances’ are compounds that are more susceptible to a credible non-doping explanation
If an athlete can prove that they did not intend to enhance performance by using them, the sanction can be reduced

Question 22

What is the mechanisms of action of caffeine?

Answer 22

Adenosine antagonist, block adenosine receptors that cause fatigue

Question 23

What is the evidence for caffeine ingestion on mice?

Answer 23

Good on animal mammals in A2A knockout mice reduces RPE and fatigue and potentially increases fat metabolisms

Question 24

What is the effect of caffeine on performance?

Answer 24

Improvements in the time trial, time to exhaustion, endurance, cognitive function, focus and mental tasks

Question 25

What is an effective dose for caffeine supplementation?

Answer 25

1-1.5mg/kg

Question 26

Is the caffeine response the same in everyone?

Answer 26

No - if you’re regularly using caffeine you won’t have the same response to non-users
No - there are genes responsible for the caffeine performance benefit

Question 27

What source of caffeine is effective?

Answer 27

Caffeine powder
Coffee
Caffeine gum

Question 28

Study controls and design consideration for a caffeine study?

Answer 28

Caffeine withdrawal
Users vs non-users
Fasted vs fed
Timing- before, during or after exercise
Dosage
Ecological validity
Additional ingredients

Question 29

What is the role of carnitine? (Stephens 2007)

Answer 29

Increase fat metabolism

Binds with acyl-CoA to allow entry of fatty acids into the mitochondria

Question 30

How can carnitine enter the muscle?

Answer 30

Through a sodium-dependent high-affinity active transport process

Question 31

The relationship between insulin and carnitine?

Answer 31

Increased insulin and increase transport of carnitine from the circulation into the muscle

Question 32

Research with ketone esters?

Answer 32

Ketone bodies (1 -2 parts) plus 1,3-butanediol-B-hydroxybutyrate are the most promising in terms of research
Di-ester or monomer
Large increase in blood B-hydroxybutyrate

Question 33

Research with ketone salts

Answer 33

Mineral ion
Racemix mixes of D- and L-B-hydroxybutyrate
Dissociate in the blood to give B-hydroxybutyrate
Lower concentrations of B-hydroxybutyrate

Question 34

Research with ketogenic agents?

Answer 34

Medium-chain triglycerides
1,3-butanediol
Processed by the liver to produce B-hydroxybutyrate

Question 35

The effect of ketones on the Krebs Cycle?

Answer 35

1 ketone body produces 2 acetyl-CoA

Inhibits PDH - blocks the glycolysis pathway

Question 36

Factors to consider when researching the effects of substrates on exercise performance?

Answer 36

Dosage
Cost
Other fuels preferential
Fed vs fasted
GI issues
Performance
Failed test