Supplements: Awareness, Analysis, Avoidance

Awareness

Many people use supplements in the hope it might help their performance. However, supplements pose a real risk for athletes. Every year multiple Australian athletes receive anti-doping bans as a result of supplement use.

Being aware of the risks is the first step to staying in the game.

About supplements

Nutritional supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs, meal supplements, sports nutrition products, natural food supplements, and other related products used to boost the nutritional content of the diet.

The marketplace supplies thousands of supplements claiming to provide nutritional support for athletes. Some of these consist of high-protein products, such as amino acid supplements, while other products contain nutrients that support metabolism, energy, and athletic performance and recovery. Supplements can be found in pill, tablet, capsule, powder or liquid form.

The risks

Research has shown that the ingredient list on supplements doesn't always match the product contents. That makes it difficult for you to know exactly what is going into your body. 

It is not uncommon for banned substances to be added deliberately during the manufacturing process or added accidentally through contamination. 

Because of this, we are unable to guarantee whether a specific supplement, or bh of a supplement, is safe to use.

Analysis

The risk of doping through the use of supplements is real and doing research can be your best form of defence.

Prior to using any supplement, ask yourself:

• Has it been tested?
• Is it safe?
• Before taking it, is it effective (in improving performance) or necessary?

Supplement Risk Analysis

We have produced a one-page fact sheet to help people assess the risk of supplement use. This resource should be read alongside the information on this page, so you can make a fully informed decision prior to the use of a supplement product.

• Supplement risk analysis fact sheet [PDF 1 MB]

Avoidance

It is your personal choice to avoid or take supplements. From our perspective, it is safest to avoid supplement products. If you do choose to take supplements, here are some things to avoid:

• Supplements made in China, India or the USA.
• Pre-workout, weight-loss and muscle-building products, as they can be at higher risk of contamination with a prohibited substance.
• Bold claims from the manufacturer about the effectiveness of a product, such as:
  • offering the same benefits as prohibited substances
  • the treatment or prevention of disease, or
  • being an alternative to prescription medicine.
• Claims of WADA or Sport Integrity Australia's endorsement or approval (anti-doping organisations do not test, endorse or approve supplement products).
• Ingredients that include chemical names or plant extracts.
• Supplements that are only available online.
• Supplement products labelled ‘not for human use’ or ‘for research use only’

Additional resources

A number of resources are available to help you reach an informed decision:

eLearning

Our free online education is a free and easy-to-use resource featuring online courses, videos and learning updates about the key areas of anti-doping such as prohibited substances and methods, therapeutic use exemptions, the sample collection process, intelligence and investigations.

Login for courses including:

• Clean Sport Basics (15-minute introductory course)
• Anti-Doping 101
• Annual Update course
• Parents’ course
• Coaches’ courses

Your sport

• Your national sporting organisation’s policy or guidelines about supplements

Sport Integrity app

The free Sport Integrity app (available on Google Play and the App Store) lists every batch-tested supplement sold on Australian shelves and gives athletes a way to assess the risk of other products.

The Sport Integrity app is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for everything about sport integrity and anti-doping, and you can access it all in the palm of your hand.

With the Sport Integrity app you can:

• Check medications (Global DRO) and find low risk ‘batch-tested’ supplements.
• Report an integrity issue or suspicious activities.
• Check whether you need an in-advance Therapeutic Use Exemption
• Give feedback or ask a question about anti-doping.
• Explore further information in the MENU such as details on the rules, testing, health effects of doping, supplement and nutrition advice, and much more.