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Nutritional supplements: knowledge and behaviors of portuguese athletes

Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Introduction: Supplementation is a practice that has gained popularity among athletes, especially in elite individuals, related with increased physical demands. Several are the reasons for taking nutritional supplements, related to health or sports performance. Objective: To assess the prevalence of nutritional supplements in athletes, including: the type of supplements use, sources of information and main reasons for their usage. Methods: Ninety two athletes (n=92) (41.3% female and 58.7% male) of five different sports participated voluntarily. A thirty-one questionnaire was used characterizing the prevalence of supplement use, sources of information and the main reasons for consumption. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics) version 22 for Windows. Mean and standard deviation were used for continuous variables and proportions for categorical variables. T-tests and Chi-square were applied and the significant level used was 5% (p < 0.05). Results: Only 24 athletes (26.1%) consumed nutritional supplements with a mean of 3 supplements per athletes. Multivitaminics/minerals and protein supplements were the most used (50.0%) and significant associations were found between protein usage and age, gender and education. The main reasons for taking supplements were related to sports performance and the principal source of information was the physician (45.8%) followed by him/herself (20.8%). Twelve significant associations were found between the most consumed supplements and the reasons for taking. The presence of a healthy diet (60.3%) was the main reason for not taking supplements. Conclusion: Few athletes in this study used supplements, and the level of competition can be one of the factors for this result. Errors were found liking the reasons and the type of supplement, which can be related with the adviser. This error shows the necessity for education about this theme at all the engaging parts around the athletes’ life.
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3000435377
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