90% 2008 Olympic athletes used supplements, none tested + for illegal substances

September 15, 2008

S. Kalman recently posted the below on the ISSN forum:

Dietary supplements win Olympic gold

15-Sep-2008 -

To coin a phrase oft-used by winning athletes, Beijing was 'a good

games' for an increasingly mature dietary supplements industry.

Ninety per cent of the 11,000 athletes in attendance at the Games of

the 29th Olympiad used dietary supplements of some kind, according to

the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA). There was

not a single supplement contamination case.

This will have come as some relief to dietary supplements

manufacturers that have not always looked forward to the Olympic

Games and other major sporting events as avidly as the public.

For good reason – the extremely high level of scrutiny attached to

the bodily inputs of athletes at such meets has on occasion revealed

contaminated products that have resulted in athletes being sent home

in shame and banned from their respective sports.

Shame too for the industry, as such events fed allegations it was

under regulated, its products of erratic quality.

Good games

So perhaps Beijing marks a turning point for the industry. Just as

the Chinese capital's hosting of the event boosted China's public

image (at least while it was on), so too has the supplements industry

been given a lift by its clean Games performance.

In the run up to the games, some Greek weightlifters and a US

athlete, Hardy, blamed contaminated supplements for doping

offences, defences that held little water with authorities, and

increasingly, the public. They were duly banned.

At the Games themselves, some athletes were sent home for doping

offences but these were unrelated to supplements use and it seems

athletes are less willing to employ the `blame it on the supplements

I didn't know were contaminated' line trotted by Hardy and co.

It's an argument that has never held much sway with the World Anti-

Doping Agency (WADA) anyway, as the body established in 1999 places a

100 per cent onus on athletes to ensure every bodily input is safe –

and legal.

Change

For this reason many national sporting bodies have warned athletes

against taking any dietary supplements due to contamination fears.

While many of them retain this stance, change is afoot.

The fact is, as ESSNA chairman Dr Adam Carey notes, if there are safe

products on the market that can benefit an athlete's performance and

overall health, it is verging on negligence to advise athletes

against them.

Creatine, peptides, green tea and sports drinks are just a few of

those of most interest to athletes.

" The fact is there are safe supplements out there, " Carey told

NutraIngredients.com today on the eve of a meeting with European

Union regulators in Brussels about the possibility of Europe-wide

sports nutrient guidelines.

" By researching and knowing the manufacturing methods of particular

brands, athletes and the general public can be sure products will not

be contaminated with steroids and other substances. "

In the UK, the group that looks after the interests of elite

athletes – UK Sport – recently advised athletes that dietary

supplements could be safely used as long they were tested in WADA-

certified labs. Previously it had advised athletes against taking

supplements because their safety could not be guaranteed.

Across the pond, the 2007 introduction of Good Manufacturing

Practices (GMPs) and pending Adverse Event Reporting regulations

(AERs), mean quality control in the dietary supplements industry has

never been in better shape.

Fifteen years after the 1994 Dietary Supplements and Health Education

Act (DSHEA) was writ into US law and about ten years after steroids

were banned from supplements there, these regulatory models are also

influencing manufacturing practices in developing regions such as

Asia and Latin America.

Quality

The fact its products can be widely used by athletes at an event like

the Olympics where WADA scrutiny is at its most intense, is testimony

to an industry that has its house in order. WADA had a 4000-strong

banned substances list and conducted about 5000 doping tests in

Beijing.

There is still work to be done. A 2007 HFL survey of the US market

found steroid contamination in 25 per cent of 58 products tested, but

many of these products were manufactured by smaller players on the

periphery of the industry.

But the centre is moving in the right direction and should be praised

for the mature steps it has taken to promote better and safer

supplements to an increasingly interested public.

Many more 'good games' are set to follow.

Shane Starling is the editor of NutraIngredients.com. If you would

like comment on this article email

shane.starling'at'decisionnews.com.

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Carruthers

Wakefield, UK

September 15, 2008

Hey that's pretty funny actually! The athletes finally aren't spending their

money on the pseudo steroids sold by the supplement industry and going straight

for the " gold " so to speak, using hard steroids coupled with the WADA ok things

like green tea and peptides, and creatine...<grin>.

A check of doping violations reported around the Games and still ongoing by the

way shows IOC is busting people around the Games more and less during them.

Perhaps it's the fact there's less media attention when it happens OUTSIDE the

circus that is the Games themselves...

Maybe it's the avoidance of anything that might be borderline during the Games

with regard to supplements - or better testing by athletes before they go to the

Games, or countries trying to avoid embarassment and fines for the athletes'

failures?

Interesting note, thanks for publishing it.

The Phantom

aka Schaefer, CMT, CSCS, competing powerlifter

Denver, Colorado, USA

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