Dietary Supplements and the High School Athlete
In the never-ending quest to get better and to gain a competitive edge, many athletes in just about every sport are increasingly turning to supplements in order to gain muscle mass, improve their speed, and recover more quickly from workouts. This trend is becoming more and more prevalent at the high school level, where “as many as 40% of high school students participating in organized athletics use dietary supplements of some variety” (MacKnight). In many cases, this supplement use is encouraged by coaches, parents, and teammates. As high school athletes are looking more intensely to earn collegiate athletic scholarships and to excel at the next level, the pressure to take advantage of every possible benefit is leading many of these athletes to turn to dietary supplements, often with no surety of what ingredients are in these items, and with no real awareness of the possible negative effects of ingesting them.
While John M. MacKnight MD of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) acknowledges that “the major reasons for supplementation in adolescent athletes are growth, illness prevention, illness treatment, enhanced performance, tiredness, and muscle development,” he also argues that “the real interest lies in trying to get more from less. To run faster or longer with less training. Lift more with fewer repetitions or sets.” At the collegiate and especially the professional level, athletes understand that supplements
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enable them to work harder, MacKnight is arguing that high school athletes have yet to develop that sense of work ethic, and are therefore looking for a short cut by taking supplements.
Keare Smith, a professional 110 hurdler who has written plenty diet-related articles for The Hurdle Magazine, would agree with MacKnight’s assessment, based on his own experiences. He feels that the high school athlete assumes that bigger and stronger equals faster, hence the eagerness to take dietary supplements. “My dad was really into supplements,” Smith said in a recent email exchange with me. “He had me drinking protein shakes starting my freshman year of high school. Every night before I’d go to bed he’d ask, ‘did you drink your protein shake?’ They usually consisted of vanilla ice cream (for taste), milk, protein powder, and bananas. To be honest, I disliked the taste of some of them. He tried his best to get me to like them, but I was never truly into them.”
What Smith also discovered, besides the disappointing taste, was that the shakes didn’t help him put any weight onto his relatively thin frame. “I was under the impression that if I drank these shakes and lifted weights I’d get bigger,” he said, “but that never happened. Over time I have come to realize that the belief that pounding the protein makes you bigger is just a myth. I’ve learned that everyone has a specific body type, and you can’t expect to beef up just because you drink and eat a ton of protein. It seems as though our society has an obsession with big muscles and that it is very prevalent in high school and college aged males.”
Tavis Piattoly, sports dietitian for the New Orleans Saints, New Orleans Pelicans, and Tulane University Athletic Department, corroborates Smith’s assessment. In an article that appeared in the March 2014 issue of Health & Fitness Magazine, Piattoly said that, based on a 2007 study done by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, “the primary reasons athletes turned to supplements were to gain mass and weight, get stronger, reduce body fat, and have more energy. Without examining their current dietary habits, they felt a supplement was the answer to their performance issues.” Why do these high school athletes turn to supplements? Piattoly says that the research indicated that the most influential people were “the coach, a teammate, or a friend.”
MacKnight feels that advertising is an additional factor influencing these young minds. “Flashy packaging,” he says, “and claims of enhanced athletic prowess are too much for many young athletes, and their parents, to resist.” Michael Pitzer MD, also of AMSSM, points out that “an $18 billion supplement industry fuels the American athlete at all levels.” MacKnight argues that “further challenges arise from elite and professional athletes who glamorize supplement use and encourage young athletes to mimic their actions. For those who dream of participating on these bigger sports stages, the notion that dietary supplements play a vital role in getting there is unfortunate and unnecessary.”
In a 2005 USA Today article, Dr. Gary Wadler, a professor of sports medicine at New York University and an expert on performance-enhancing drugs, pointed out that dietary supplements are meant for people with dietary deficiencies, not athletes in training who are looking for an edge. “The question,” he says, “is supplementing what? People who need supplements have, basically, a disease or some dietary behavior that would leave them wanting something. It may be quite fashionable to take these things, but whether they really do anything to otherwise healthy people is dubious at best” (Pedroncelli).
Pitzer, however, contends that dietary supplements can be effective and safe for high school athletes, if the proper precautions are taken, full research is done, and dietary experts are consulted. Yet he does acknowledge that “in comparison to supplement studies on adult populations, the data on safety and efficacy in childhood and adolescent populations is very limited.” Piattoly agrees that dietary supplements can be safe for the high school athletes if they take all of the following steps: 1) talk to their parents first, 2) take a supplement that has been well-researched, 3) take the dosage that has been studied in the scientific literature, 4) do not take supplements that haven’t been tested in a 3rd party lab, 5) speak with a doctor or dietitian before taking a supplement, and 6) evaluate their eating habits to determine where changes can be made to see performance improvement (Piattoly).
Why take so many precautions? Because labels can be misleading. Creatine, for example, is one of the most commonly used substances among high school athletes, and its benefits have been proven through studies. Pitzer defines creatine as “a nonessential amino acid that is naturally made in the liver. Creatine is believed to be multifaceted in its ability to aid athletic performance. In skeletal cells, creatine aids in the rephosphorylation of ATP during short-duration exercise, meaning muscles maintain their energy during short-duration exercise. Creatine is thought to assist in cellular energy transport and prevent intracellular acidosis, and is also thought to decrease protein breakdown and increase protein synthesis.” All of which means creatine can be very helpful for athletes in sprinting and hurdling events – events with training sessions that typically consist of short, hard bursts followed by periods of recovery. As Pitzer states, “Multiple studies have concluded that creatine is effective at increasing power and force in short bouts of increased exertion and in repeated efforts of maximal exertion.”
While acknowledging that studies on adolescents are limited, Pitzer says that “the few studies that have looked at adolescent creatine use have found athletic benefits similar to studies on adult athletes. Moreover, when used at appropriate doses, creatine seems to be safe in healthy athletes of all ages, and therefore, using a trusted brand of creatine might be appropriate for some high school athletes.”
So, finding that trusted brand is the key. Hector Cotto, another professional hurdler who contributes to The Hurdle Magazine, recently wrote a manual entitled A Supplement Guide for High Performing Athletes in which he provides details on the supplements he uses. In the guide, he states that “Creatine comes in a variety of forms, but the only one I have ever had real success with is the purest, most basic form, creatine monohydrate.”
Piattoly, who agrees that creatine is safe and effective, states that “it’s finding a legitimate company who makes a clean product with high quality raw materials that is the challenge. Since supplement companies know the majority of consumers are not well educated on product quality, they tend to use less expensive raw materials to increase profitability.”
MacKnight warns that “even supplements that are reasonably studied and accepted to have efficacy for sports, like creatine, can be harmful or tainted. There is simply no means of knowing that a given product is risk-free.” Both MacKnight and Cotto point out that creatine usage in improper dosages can lead to severe cramping. “Creatine,” Cotto says, “can cause muscle cramping if not enough water is consumed during the day, and can also cause some individuals to gain ‘water weight’.”
As for protein, Pitzer states that “athletes of all ages supplement with protein to increase body mass and strength…. Where protein supplements may be most helpful,” he says, “are in athletes with restrictive diets, including vegetarians, wrestlers, and gymnasts, who may not be able to ingest adequate amounts of protein in their diets in order to maintain their lifestyle, appropriate weight and figure. For these types of athletes, amino acid supplementation is prudent to reach their desired protein intake without an unacceptable increase in fat and other caloric intake.”
Smith, a vegan, concurs. “I’d say a simple protein powder and a multi-vitamin are the only necessary supplements for a high schooler. By simple protein powder I mean one that doesn’t have any harmful ingredients such as GMO’s, heavy metals, soy protein isolate, whey protein isolate, maltodextrin, and artificial colors.” As a vegan, there are certain nutrients Smith doesn’t get enough of through his food consumption. He takes hemp protein, vegan creatine, vegan probiotic, arginine, among a few other supplements. “All of these supplements are natural and vegan,” he says. “Some are necessary for vegans because they are hard to get enough of with a vegan diet, and the others are to help with digestion and the overall health of my body. None are for muscle gaining purposes.”
Pitzer concludes that “our adolescent athletes have easy access to protein supplementation and may benefit from correct use.” As for the multi-vitamins mentioned by Smith, Pitzer agrees that they can be useful, but stresses that “there is no benefit to supplementation of vitamins and minerals above the recommended daily amounts, which can be consumed through a well-balanced diet. Vitamin and mineral use beyond the daily recommendation will not enhance performance.”
This emphasis on a well-balanced diet is something we’ll look at a little further into this article.
First, let’s take a look at another supplement commonly used among athletes – stimulants. According to Pitzer, 25% of adolescent athletes reported using caffeine for performance enhancement in the United States. In the general population, caffeine is the stimulant of choice for those who work long hours with little opportunity for a good night’s sleep. For athletes, studies show that caffeine has benefits for adults seeking to “enhance submaximal aerobic and endurance activities” such as distance running and swimming (Pitzer). In addition, caffeine “may also have some benefit in activities that require repeated short bursts of exertion interspersed in more prolonged activity,” which means it can be beneficial to sprinters and hurdlers (Pitzer).
In his supplement manual, Cotto states that he likes to use caffeine on competition days, not during training, “as I do not want to build a tolerance to it.” What he likes about caffeine is that it “stimulates the central nervous system, which means your muscles will fire more quickly when competing. Caffeine can also help you focus. For me personally it helps me get into that tunnel vision I like to have on race day.”
However, Cotto warns that many side effects can come with caffeine intake, including jitteriness, loss of sleep, insomnia, a fast heartbeat, and diarrhea. Pitzer warns that “caffeine has many adverse effects and can produce physiologic dependence,” otherwise known as addiction. MacKnight, who is most aggressive in his anti-supplement stance, laments the fact that “increasing numbers of readily available ‘energy’ drinks, popularized by the feel-good kick from excessive stimulant content, have become the supplement of choice for high school athletes.” Again, high school athletes and their parents must be wary of companies who are eager to take advantage of their desire to get bigger stronger faster.
The general consensus among all experts is that, for high school athletes, anything that can be gained through the intake of supplements can be gained through one’s diet. A well-balanced diet is the key. This method is safer, more logical, and more natural. Piattoly remarks that, for high school athletes who lack the fuel they need to perform at their best, “a few changes to their current eating habits would lead to muscle growth, fat loss, improved strength, and faster recovery.” In the comments section of Piattoly’s article, a reader contends that “It comes down to educating the athletes that there are food sources out there that can give them the vitamins and nutrients that will allow them to recover and perform on a daily basis and do so at a high level…. By simply regulating their diets, they can reap the same, if not better results than their supplements with the colorful labels. Food first. Food with colors that provide anti-inflammatory benefits, essential vitamins, natural glycogen restoration…. In the end it comes down to educating young athletes early that hard work, a great diet and rest is the best way to prepare your body to perform at a high level” (Piattoly).
Some experts are concerned that reliance on supplements can lead to experimentation with performance-enhancing drugs. Piattoly points out that recent research indicates that “5.9% of male high school athletes and 4.6% of female athletes are using anabolic steroids to gain a competitive edge.”
MacKnight rings an even louder alarm bell, stating, “For high school kids who can’t resist the lure of anything that might improve their athleticism, the slippery slope from supplements to stimulants, anabolic steroids and growth hormone is steep and precarious. The moment that supplement use becomes a more important factor in athletic preparation than hard work and dedication is the moment that the true spirit of sport and competition is lost.”
So while there’s no harm in wanting to excel as a high school athlete, and striving to excel should be encouraged by parents and coaches, let’s not forget the importance of making informed decisions when it comes to ingesting dietary supplements. As Cotto makes clear, supplements can benefit performance in training sessions and in competitions, but they can also cause significant damage. In the end, the best route is to work hard, get your proper rest, stick with a diet plan that addresses your nutritional and recovery needs, and accept the results that doing these things gives you. As MacKnight says, “superior athletic ability does not come out of a bottle.”
Sources:
Cotto, Hector. “A Supplement Guide for High Performing Athletes.” Microsoft Word Document. Dec. 2014. Accessed 09 Dec. 2014.
MacKnight, John M, MD. “Cons of Supplement Use in HS Athletes.” N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
http://www.amssm.org/News-Release-Article.php?NewsID=55
Pedroncelli, Rich. “USATODAY.com – Supplements Normal for Prep Athletes.” USATODAY.com – Supplements Normal for Prep Athletes. N.p., 01 Sept. 2005. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-09-01-youth-supplements_x.htm
Piattoly, Tavis, RD. “Should High School Athletes Take Supplements?” – Health & Fitness Magazine. N.p., Mar. 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
http://www.healthfitnessmag.com/Health-Fitness-Magazine/March-2014/Should-High-School-Athletes-Take-Supplements/
Pitzer, Michael, MD. “Pros of Supplement Use in the HS Athlete.” N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
http://www.amssm.org/News-Release-Article.php?NewsID=54
Smith, Keare. Email interview. December 6, 2014.
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